On the eve of an Australian tour and a UK tour, pianist-composer Alister Spence spoke to Phil Sandford about his influences and approach to music.
Author: Phil Sandford
‘… an intriguing mixture of sound and rhythm…’
On the eve of the 2013 Kinetic Jazz Festival (22-27 January) Phil Sandford spoke to two of the artistic directors, Graham Jones and Jepke Goudsmit, about their background and their vision for the festival.
His ideas are clear and strong, and deceptively simple motifs unfold and develop in unexpected ways, always maintaining the listener’s interest. Suite SIMA is a model of how to write for a medium-sized jazz ensemble that will provide student composers and arrangers with many lessons and lots of inspiration.
‘That’s the thing about this music,’ Nock adds, ‘you can’t just write it without the musicians. It’s who you’re writing for. One of the things that I am really trying to do with the piece is to show that it is a living music in that it depends on the people playing it.’
by Phil Sandford | Mike Gibbs has integrated jazz, classical and popular influences in his composing and arranging into a distinctive sound that is fresh and interesting. Now living in Spain he continues to compose and explore new ways of expressing his musical ideas.
Review by Phil Sandford: The quintet format has proved an enduring one in jazz and this excellent album shows that it still provides a powerful vehicle for creative compositions, solos and group interaction.
There is a calmness and beauty on much of this CD, typified by Saarelaht’s impressionistic solo introductions to three of the tracks, which testifies to the maturity and skill of all four musicians. Phil Sandford reviews Fiveways by the Jex Saarelaht Quartet
“Aurora reflects [a] … wide variety of musical influences and Isaacs emerges with carefully crafted and distinctive compositions which provide a range of different moods and plenty of inspiration for the soloists.”
The distinguished Australian pianist Michael Kieran Harvey has produced a powerful and virtuosic tribute to Frank Zappa. Harvey has created a suite that establishes him as an emerging composer of piano music.