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
REFLECTION Ravi Coltrane at Bird’s Basement, Singers Lane, Melbourne on Sunday, March 6, 2016 IT HAS been said often in recent months, but there’s a lot of live music happening in Melbourne, plenty of it being jazz / improvised. That can’t be bad. But as venues proliferate, the challenge remains to really get more Melburnians — and visitors to town — off their couches and out there listening, … Continue reading OF BIRD’S, BENNETTS AND BEYOND
AFTER days of sunshine uncharacteristic to British Columbia, Canada, it is a grey day in Prince Rupert. That seems appropriate as I feel a deep sense of loss, sharing at a distance what many are feeling — a sense of disbelief that Allan Browne is no longer with us. He was supposed to be the host for the final night at Bennetts Lane. He was supposed … Continue reading A FUTURE WITHOUT AL BROWNE IS UNTHINKABLE YET
