“…an uncompromising album, demanding from the listener a certain willingness to engage with its architectural design. Working from scratch, its improvisations explore the tonalities of light and shade.”
The Exquisite Corpse of Beethoven is the second album from his dectet, and comes with the promise that it ‘walks the line between jazz, contemporary classical and popular music’, creating an exciting hybrid of the three.
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
A chain of association began when I first encountered the album’s title, which was some months before I found a copy of this album.
“That this is demonstrably a playful album does not imply that these musicians are not serious…”
“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.”
Joanne Kee may be a name that’s familiar to you; if you’ve been to a Sound Travellers gig of sound art, contemporary classical or jazz […] Read More
You Tunes Tim Rollinson Trio (Rufus Records RF092) Review by Des Cowley Guitarist Tim Rollinson’s eclectic career trajectory to date has tended to obscure his […] Read More
Collected Works bookshop in the Nicholas Building in Swanston Street in Melbourne was the venue for our first jazz poetry reading this year. The bookshop […] Read More
“While a handful of works are more or less invaluable to Ellington studies, none has come as close as a serious work of cultural history than Harvey Cohen’s splendid new book. I hesitate to call it a biography, though it is that. It goes beyond biography, however, in its portrayal of crucial episodes in the development of the American music industry, of American race relations, and the place of jazz in American culture.”