“This might sound silly, but as a kid my parents gave me this dumb quote on a bit of wood to go on my shelf. ‘The best way to get something done is to begin.’ This sickly phrase actually sits really well with me, and has totally been a call to action for me many times. For me creativity requires action.”
In this episode I’m talking to Scott Tinkler, one of the most exciting and formidable trumpet improvising musicians in the world.
Instead of perpetuating the importation of American models of jazz, James McLean went and soaked up the ideas and attitudes of someone who had stepped out from that giant shadow decades ago; someone who might help him find his own path into the music – Phil Treloar.
Songs of Friends allows Josh Kyle to re-imagine works by some of Australia’s leading jazz instrumentalists with the addition of new original lyrics, weaving vocals into an otherwise instrumental context.
Swailing is as free as This is Always is restricted; it is as open as the quartet recording is closed. Swailing is the magpie, picking from electric Miles, Massenet and Fats; This is Always is the osprey, its eye fixed on the one prize.
And both are deliriously beautiful for all of these qualities and more.
‘Several ideas guided my creative process in this project: to interpret Yusef Komunyakaa’s poetry, to pay tribute to Charlie Parker, and to do this in my own way in the context of the vibrant Sydney jazz scene of the 1990s.’ Evans says. ‘I’m very proud of this work and thrilled that, in some small way, it is a vehicle for the voices of some very fine Australian musicians, and their embodiment of Parker’s influence, to be heard internationally.’
These magical buoyancies rise from a persistent, intricate conversation of remarkable cohesion and purpose. Propositions are advanced and tested, sometimes at the same dynamic level, sometimes breaking into sensational bursts of energy. And for long stretches it all moves beyond conversation as if three lines of counterpoint are being written simultaneously by a single composer.
He remains only interested in musicians who ‘slam their heart down on the table, and go, “There I am!”‘
The Freedman Jazz Fellowships provide Sydney audiences with a mini-festival each year that features music by artists hoping to bring their exciting projects to life. We talked to the 2012 finalists about their projects and what the Freedman means to them and to the broader jazz scene in Australia.
