Recent changes to the ANU School of Music in Canberra have created a dismayed buzz in the Australian jazz and improvised music community. We’ll keep […] Read More
Month: May 2012

‘Slumber’ composed and arranged by Belinda Moody, performed by Moody on bass, Gian Slater on vocals, Colin Hopkins on piano, Phil Collings on drums, and string quartet.

“I started writing lyrics to instrumental tunes as a way to practise writing original songs. I was struggling writing melodies and lyrics at the same time so I started doing them independently, then really enjoyed the challenge of matching these existing melodies to lyrics.”
I am so lucky, as a musician, to have to extend my listening in the way that doing the research for presenting a radio show does. And I also deeply enjoy the two hours week when I’m actually doing Mixed Marriage, and the Planet at this point, when I can immerse myself in incredible music going out over the airwaves.

“Every day I do some music of some kind because I need to, like I need to eat food. No big deal, I just get on with it. Because of that it becomes over time quite natural to just play and explore your own things.”
For the band to work the chemistry needs to have, first of all, the purest form of democracy, then empathy then of course enjoying each others’ playing or singing. Mix it all together with one last ingredient—LOVE—then you get stoichiometry.
In 2009, extempore journal spoke to five Australian jazz musicians, asking them all the same set of questions… Kristin Berardi, Vince Jones and Katie Noonan […] Read More