“In his last dozen years Motian began to sound like a complete neophyte who just happened to be blessed with an unerring instinct for what that music demanded, moment by moment.”
“The chromatic scale is not the easiest thing to do on a harp.”
“To the marvels enfolded within this album, airwaves, there is literally no end…”
“I was reading Cormac McCarthy a lot, just reading, without a purpose, and I kept going back there and reading it again and again.”
His new collection, A Sudden Sentence in the Air, contains a poem entitled A Manual of Style, dedicated to stellar Sydney saxophonist Bernie McGann, and selected by Black Inc for its forthcoming Best Australian Poems 2011. It’s easy to see why the 13-line poetic description of McGann’s playing was selected: Page’s savvy observations inform his lines, taking on a kind of riffing of language, echoing and explaining the music.
… the hum, buzz, & electric crackle coalesce at times into the sounds of the everyday
Jazz Planet has been around since 2002. The site began as a magazine site specialising in information about Australian jazz and improvised music. Then Miriam (who runs this site) started publishing the extempore journal and then moved onto books. The niche extempore imprint publishes writing inspired by jazz and improvised music. We kept the extempore …
The rhythm section, Ben Robertson on bass and Tony Floyd on drums, create every mood you need, from dancesway strollswagger on ‘Walk On By’ to a barely there susurrus on ‘Alfie’ and ‘I just don’t know what to do with myself’.
“All of the singers are very accomplished musicians, who are open minded, interested in exploring new territories and are all great improvisers.”
“… I find I have to focus on my own contribution and sadly miss some of the great musicians who are playing until after I’ve finished my concerts…”