GIG PREVIEWS:
Bennetts Lane Jazz Club, Melbourne, 8.30pm Sunday September 9, 2012: Black Money plays Alter Ego and James Carter launches After All
John McAll’s Black Money: David Rex (alto sax), Julien Wilson (tenor sax & bass clarinet), Jordan Murray (trombone), Philip Rex (bass) and Sam Bates (drums), plus a very special guest.
James Carter alto saxophone, Dan Sheehan piano, Christian Meyer guitar, special guest James Gilligan electric bass and Mariel Koroibulu vocals
John McAll at the piano in Black Money, with Phillip Rex on bass.
Two gigs tonight will feature special guests. John McAll’s keeping the details close to his chest, but that’s to be expected because he does like a little intrigue. The Melbourne Jazz Co-operative brings us Black Money, and the band is sure to play Assassin from this McAll’s second album, Alter Ego. Sink back and imagine a plot or conspiracy being devised deep in an Arab bazaar. Cue Julien Wilson. As for the special guest, you are likely to have heard him (oops) and you will love his contribution. It’s not Prince, BTW.
In another room at Bennetts Lane the Melbourne Improvisers Collective presents alto saxophonist James Carter. Carter’s guest is James Gilligan on electric bass, filling in for James Christensen on double bass.
Pianist John McAll’s first album as bandleader and composer was the eponymous Black Money, recorded in New York in 2007. It was a great success. More originals followed on his recent release Alter Ego. The band appeared at this year’s Stonnington Jazz Festival in May in a double bill with John’s brother Barney. That was a definite festival highlight.
If you decide to hear James Carter, make sure to stay to hear his moving Tenho saudades tuas (in Portuguese ‘I miss you’). The album After All, released on the Newmarket label, includes nine of Carter’s compositions.
ROGER MITCHELL
