‘I absolutely LOVE Carmen McCrae. She shows us that singing jazz doesn’t always have to be ‘pretty’. Jazz can be raw and gutsy sometimes too.’
A kind of serendipity has been at work to bring Dresser in touch with the Australian musicians he’ll be playing with at Wangaratta.
‘Maybe you could say my ‘moment’ or calling came with my discovery of composition! Writing music is now what drives me the most as a musician.’
I don’t think it was ever a conscious choice. I just sort of knew that’s what I loved to do. I think I love jazz specifically because it can be such an interactive musical medium. The coolest things can happen totally by accident and with the right combination of musicians it is heaps of fun!
‘…it was a bribe from my music teacher that got me singing jazz, as he said I could only sing with the Jazz Combo if I played sax in it too…’
“I also think that the best inspiration comes from experimentation and the element of surprise, which is why I like arranging songs on the spot with a band.”
A ten minute video of Vince and his band at The Basement in July 2009
‘…what I really loved about the musicals was the songs. I fell in love with all the Gershwin, Berlin, Porter, tunes from those movies and stumbled across an Ella Fitzgerald CD somehow, recognised all the songs from the musicals, and after hearing Ella sing them, I just fell in love with the songs even more…’
Phil Treloar reviews Sarcophile in his Recollections Twelve | here and now of Hannaford, Pankhurst and McLean – ‘This music pays tribute to the jazz tradition but in no way competes with it. Nor does it emulate.’
That Galaxstare are capable of creating this huge, deep, wide, bottomless universe of music in a room on Cleveland Street using only bass clarinet, voice, accordion, bass and drums is astounding and humbling.