ERIC MYERS REVIEWS 1980-87
Eric Myers was the Sydney Morning Herald’s inaugural jazz critic, his first review appearing on February 2, 1980. This folder contains text of articles published in the newspaper up to Myers’s resignation in 1982. Photographs which may or may not have appeared in the newspaper have been added. From 1983 Myers was The Australian’s jazz critic until his resignation in 1987. His reviews for that newspaper also appear in this folder. Articles which appeared in other publications are also included, if they serve to document the performances of Australian jazz musicians. Headings which appeared in the newspapers were always written by sub-editors. The most excruciating of them have been modified, but mostly they are reproduced as they appeared in newspapers. Readers can click on the INDEX button for a list of reviews or articles in this folder.
Bob Barnard
HEDONISM IN PUB CULTURE: THE MARBLE BAR
Reviewed by Eric Myers
Sydney Morning Herald, February 11, 1980
One of the more interesting aspects of musical life in Australia is the extraordinary resilience of traditional jazz, which remains alive, long after its heyday during the 1920s in New Orleans and Chicago. A good opportunity to hear a variety of this type of music in one night is the bi-monthly concert which takes place in the elegant surroundings of the Marble Bar of the Sydney Hilton. Last night a capacity crowd enjoyed, not only the music, but an apparently unlimited supply of oysters, served free-of-charge…
Abdullah Ibrahim
JANUARY JAZZ JIGSAW
by Eric Myers
Encore Magazine, February, 1980
During 12 days in January, 1980, there were no less than 17 major jazz concerts, featuring several hundred musicians, who came from Australia, New Zealand, England and America. Nearly 20,000 people attended these concerts, paying a total of approximately $170,000 for tickets to see and hear a jazz jigsaw put together by groups as diverse as Bob Barnard's band and the Art Ensemble of Chicago. The jigsaw fitted together in a remarkable fashion: on the one hand, Horst Liepolt produced an 11-day festival under the auspices of the Festival of Sydney, coinciding with the Peter Korda/Peter Brendlé Sydney International Music Festival on strictly commercial lines...
Earl ‘Fatha‘ Hines
BRINGING OUT EARL ‘FATHA’ HINES
by Eric Myers
Sydney Morning Herald, February 23, 1980
Few musicians have exerted more influence over the course of piano jazz history than Earl (Fatha) Hines. It was he who, in the 1920s, finally broke the last ties with ragtime, opening up new concepts of keyboard improvisation. But, last night, there were few glimpses of the pianistic genius which made him such a legendary figure…