“The Ball Hanlon Schulz trio is a vehicle for developing pieces that, while fundamentally about facilitating improvisation, sit more in the chamber music world than the jazz paradigm. Of course, neither of us are denying our ‘roots’ – there are pieces in the repertoire that are, in essence, jazz ballads, for instance – but the trio is a space for us to try out ideas that don’t necessarily fit in the context of the music made by some of the other ensembles with which we perform.”
A montage of Australian jazz history snapped through the lens of Melbournes famous bayside destination, St Kilda, and the significant cultural legacy of its music venues.
I hear an anarchic joy on James Macaulay’s ‘Today will be Another Day’
“I didn’t set out to have a band with two basses. It was funny that it didn’t occur to me until a while in, that I’d run the Andrea Keller Quartet for 13 years as a bass-less ensemble and now my next major ongoing adventure as a bandleader involves an ensemble with two bass players!”
Sam Anning in his compositions pulls great emotion out of these disparate experiences and satori. ‘Across a Field as Vast as One’ is an album of great beauty that avoids the trap of complexity to focus on the emotional.
“My idea of excellence is something which takes incredible patience and great care. A master craftsman doesn’t get bored of their craft, but rather finds more depth in it over time. I can’t remember where it is from, but I think it’s a Nietzschean aphorism – ‘seriousness is a child at play’, which I think is important too.”
“The Uptown success story really is the success story of the Melbourne jazz and improvised music scene itself. The original motivation to open a jazz club, after moving back here from New York City, was because of the incredibly high level of playing that I knew Melbourne (and Australia) always had. Also, to try to catch that particular sound that is unique to us here, which I don’t think the New Yorkers quite get.”
‘Comes Love’ is a snapshot of what you’ll hear at one of my gigs, favourite songs sung with two of my favourite musicians; there was no theme in mind other than sharing some lovely songs in a natural way, and I believe that’s how it sounds.
The idea was to foster a collaborative approach to the music making and invite the other musicians to contribute their compositions and favourite tunes as well, rather than me having complete control over the repertoire (as was the case in the Andrea Keller Quartet). By opening things up like this, there’s diversity to the music that otherwise wouldn’t exist to the same degree.
The shortlist for this year’s Australian Jazz “BELL” Awards has been officially announced. This year’s crop has been extraordinary, with many great albums submitted in the competition. The amount of talent in this list is overwhelming, and it is bound to make the work of the judges very hard
