REVIEW / RAVE Melbourne International Jazz Festival, June 3 to June 12, 2016 One of the most interesting conversations I’ve had during this jazz festival — and I’ve had a few, before and after attending 15 concerts — was about the jazz hero. The person I spoke to was a musician who said he wanted to move away from that approach or model in bands … Continue reading OF JAZZ HEROES AND HIGHLIGHTS
PREVIEW Melbourne International Jazz Festival, June 3 – 12, 2016 SOME of the main drawcards at this year’s festival are well-known knowns — Wayne Shorter, Esperanza Spalding, Gary Bartz — but it’s a big program with plenty of other artists to be excited about. Stats don’t put flesh on the bones, but over 10 days the festival will stage 74 events involving 335 artists (75 international and 260 Australian), … Continue reading LONG LOOK AT A SHORTER FESTIVAL
CD REVIEW The Burden of Memory: Jamie Oehlers, Paul Grabowsky, Reuben Rogers, Eric Harland How much do we need to analyse music and how much to just listen? To what extent can we escape our expectations of music from musicians who we’ve heard many times and yet not nearly enough? To the first question, the answer is probably that to listen is sufficient, and that … Continue reading The Burden of Memory: Oehlers, Grabowsky, Rogers, Harland
