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/FOLK
A SMALL SHY TRUTH
ELIXIR
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ABC Classic
Four-and-a-half stars
Published in the Weekend Australian, December 2, 2023
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When I reviewed a similar album from Elixir in 2018, entitled Gratitude and Grief, I was already enamoured with poet and cartoonist Michael Leunig. I admired him even more when I discovered that, after the National Trust declared him an Australian Living Treasure in 1999, he failed to attend the investiture ceremony, giving the excuse that he did not own a suit. A Small Shy Truth, the fourth album from folk/jazz trio Elixir, is its second to celebrate Leunig’s poetry. Elixir includes Katie Noonan, whose unique voice has made her one of the most instantly recognisable singers in Australian music, and two splendid jazz musicians: Zac Hurren (saxophones) and Ben Hauptmann (guitar). The album presents 10 of Leunig’s poems. He reads a poem unaccompanied, and the following track is a song written by Elixir members so that the words of the poem serve as the song’s lyrics. This is a big production, mobilising some formidable forces. They include additional jazz musicians Jonathan Zwartz (double bass, on one track) and Fabian Hevia (percussion, on two tracks); a string quartet playing arrangements on four tracks written by Steve Newcomb, Iain Grandage and Joe Chindamo; and a six-person choir from Adelaide Chamber Singers on two tracks, singing arrangements by Stephen Leek. Gratitude and Grief, nominated for the 2018 ARIA for best jazz album, was reviewed favourably. I described Hurren’s soprano saxophone solos as “understated and thoughtful, with a glorious sound throughout”. That’s certainly true once again with the new album. Indeed, A Small Shy Truth’s sound quality overall is glorious, and an advance on that of Gratitude and Grief, which was already excellent. This may be down to the fact that, while the earlier album was recorded in a Melbourne studio, the new one has taken shape at Hurren’s Rainbow Room in Eumundi, Queensland. There’s little doubt that a home studio, with more relaxed sessions, and in-house engineering, has produced premium results in sound quality and performance. It was always an inspired idea to bring together the extraordinary talents of two of the country’s popular artists: vocalist Katie Noonan and poet Michael Leunig. Their teamwork on the album is compelling. In using her ethereal voice to bring to musical life the words in Leunig’s whimsical, rather eccentric poems, Noonan has never sounded more exquisite. There’s a delightful synchronicity here in what is essentially an irresistible combination.
Eric Myers
JAZZ
THE ODD RIVER
HELEN SVOBODA
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Earshift Music
Four stars
Published in the Weekend Australian, December 9, 2023
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The Odd River contains music from the mind of 2021 Freedman Jazz Fellowship winner Helen Svoboda. Whereas her vocal ability and bass playing artistry were known through her duo Meatshell, she uses here a 10-piece ensemble of leading Australian improvisers. They include odd instruments - two prepared pianos, toy piano, music box, harmonium, zither - creating lovely soundscapes over which she employs her own singing and playing, plus orthodox jazz instruments: trumpet, alto saxophone and woodwinds. The album is mesmerising in the colours and sounds she explores, much of it freely improvised. The first short track Apple Choir is the sound of two musicians munching apples, foreshadowing sounds which are highly agreeable throughout. This music is whimsical and often subversive of common expectations, but is always entertaining and full of generosity of spirit. The album claims to be “a surreal exploration of humanity’s relationship with nature and the generational malaise surrounding climate change.” Whatever the inspiration, Svoboda has created highly innovative music that I like to categorise as New Jazz.
Eric Myers
JAZZ
THE EYE IS THE FIRST CIRCLE
VANESSA PERICA ORCHESTRA
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Independent
Four-and-a-half stars
Published in the Weekend Australian, December 16, 2023
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Vanessa Perica’s celebrated 2020 album Love Is a Temporary Madness led to her writing a suite of compositions from the album for the MSO, performed in 2021. Not bad for a debut album. Her second album shows once again her two primary assets: her composition and arranging skills; and access to the country’s finest jazz musicians, many of whom - like Perica - hail from a fertile jazz scene in WA: saxophonists Carl Mackey & Jamie Oehlers, trumpeter Mat Jodrell, trombonist Jordan Murray and the rhythm section of bassist Sam Anning and drummer Ben Vanderwal. These players contribute the most notable solos, along with Melburnian saxophonist Julien Wilson, and an odd Sydney ring-in Tessie Overmyer on alto saxophone. Perica has the happy knack of marshalling her available forces sparingly, then writing inspiring passages which really capture the majesty of the jazz big band. The title track is inspired by the painting of the same name by the abstract expressionist Lee Krasner, who was married to the artist Jackson Pollock.
Eric Myers