THE AUSTRALIAN

The Australian has been Australia’s national newspaper since 1964. This folder contains reviews and articles written by Eric Myers and published in The Australian since September, 2015. Text published in the newspaper is reproduced here, with the addition of photographs which may or may not have appeared in The Australian.

COUNT BASIE ORCHESTRA BOOMS OUT SWINGING STANDARDS

Reviewed by Eric Myers

The Australian, August 3, 2018

The Count Basie Orchestra is a good, hardworking American big band, playing with immense authority, but it is hardly “the greatest jazz orchestra in the world”, as its leader Scotty Barnhart announced. Its two one-hour sets on Tuesday night were a mixed blessing...

LINDA MAY HAN OH IS LIKELY OUR TOP JAZZ EXPORT

Article by Eric Myers

The Australian, September 13, 2018

Playing bass in Pat Metheny’s group— not only the electric instrument but also the unwieldy contrabass — is a diminutive figure from the other side of the world. Her presence is an inspiring sight to many, considering that in jazz female instrumentalists have long been marginalised. But the distinctiveness doesn’t end there. Some critics, such as John Fordham writing in Britain’s The Guardian, have described her as “a Malaysian-born New Yorker”. That’s true but slightly misleading. This outstanding musician speaks with an unmistakable Aussie accent, having grown up in Perth, Western Australia. Her name is Linda May Han Oh…

JEREMY ROSE TACKLES NATION’S DARK PAST

Reviewed by Eric Myers

The Australian, September 26, 2018

Novelist Peter Carey once said that Robert Hughes, in his monumental book The Fatal Shore, “grasped the cruelty of Australia’s birth and shoved it in our face”. Hughes’s words, read at Riverside Theatres last Sunday, were a harrowing experience. In the premiere of his oratorio  Iron In The Blood Jeremy Rose selected those excerpts for maximum impact...