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 (ECM Records) **** POLISH trumpeter Tomasz Stanko, whose albums Soul of Things (2003) and Suspended Night (2004) were gonged by Australia’s Bell Awards judges, once said he loved the “extremely great melancholy mood” of Antonioni’s film Il Grido. Stanko’s sublimely mournful playing is a brooding presence in this restrained outing, as he welcomes two Finns — pianist Alexi Tuomarila and drummer Olavi Louhivuori … Continue reading DARK EYES — TOMASZ STANKO QUINTET
