JAZZ ALBUM REVIEWS IN THE AUSTRALIAN
In September, 2017 Eric Myers commenced reviewing jazz albums in the Review supplement of The Weekend Australian. All reviews in this folder are written by Myers.
JAZZ
MIKE NOCK HAMISH STUART JULIEN WILSON JONATHAN ZWARTZ
THIS WORLD
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Lionsharecords
Four-and-a-half stars
Published in the Weekend Australian, December 28, 2019
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There’s nothing earth-shattering on this album, but that is the secret of its charm. Four Australian jazz masters are performing here with customary authority. Originals make up the repertoire, including angular compositions from pianist Mike Nock, full of surprises; down-home, blues-drenched works by saxophonist Julien Wilson; bassist Jonathan Zwartz’s slow-moving, rather grave hymns to life; and an odd piece from drummer Hamish Stuart. With some of the time-feels redolent of rock music, Zwartz’s big sound is an asset at the bottom of the mix but, at the same time, given the subtlety in Stuart’s playing, turgidity is avoided, and the music is always light and dancing. The art of jazz today is to sound contemporary and forward-looking while at the same time providing familiar signposts so the listener feels the music is part of a tradition. That essential balance is splendidly achieved by these four great musicians.
Eric Myers
JAZZ
JOHN HARKINS QUARTET
THE LIFE OF RILEY
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Independent
Four stars
Published in the Weekend Australian, January 18, 2020
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John Harkins, a master of bop piano, is an American from Chicago, who has lived in Sydney since 1994. This excellent album is dedicated to his son Riley Patrick. The quartet includes two US-based musicians: the African American drummer Carl Allen, and the Australian alto saxophonist Andrew Speight, who guests on three of eight tracks. Bassist Brendan Clarke completes the group. The repertoire includes interesting, somewhat unusual, standards plus two compositions by Harkins. Allen is full-blooded and fiery throughout, while Speight, a voluble, Charlie Parker-influenced altoist, takes The End of a Love Affair at breakneck speed, and doesn’t give an inch. Bop-style piano began with the great American Bud Powell in the 1940s, and has since become one of the richest traditions in the jazz canon. It is a tonic to hear Harkins playing with such authority in this immortal style.
Eric Myers
JAZZ
JOE CHINDAMO
ARIAS
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Origin Recordings
Four-and-a-half stars
Published in the Weekend Australian, January 25, 2020
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I found this album deeply melancholic and elegiac, but at the same time totally life-affirming. In a soft and ruminative mood throughout, Melbourne pianist Joe Chindamo re-imagines eight arias from the Italian Puccini, said to be the most commercially successful composer in opera history. Chindamo says his purpose is “to reinvent the music in such a way so as to reveal an intimate quality inherent in the original work”. I hear this album as a work of superior jazz ballads, and found it an utterly moving experience. Some of Puccini’s immortal melodies, which are dripping with beauty, seep through, but the most telling quality here is Chindamo’s ability to refashion the originals according to his own impeccable vision as an improviser. Accompanists include the brilliant guitarist Doug DeVries, bassist Ben Robertson, drummer Rajiv Jayaweera and violinist Nigel McLean.
Eric Myers