Jazz
i write in public
(with others)
our tangled arcs
threaded on grammar, are screeching chalks
or a sea of question marks
As far as mission statements go, this poem by Allan Browne (featured in his book/ CD, ‘Conjuror‘) pretty much sums ours up.
But wait, there is more:
“This is really this chinoiserie. Last year, we, about this time, we premiered a new suite titled ‘The Afro-Eurasian Eclipse’. And of course the title was inspired by a statement made by a Mr. Marshall McLuhan of the University of Toronto. Mr. McLuhan says that the whole world is going oriental and that no one will be able to retain his or her identity, not even the orientals. And of course, we travel around the world, a lot, and in the last five or six years we too have noticed this thing to be true. So as a result, we have done a sort of a thing, a parallel or something, and we’d like to play a little piece of it for you.
In this particular segment, ladies and gentlemen, we have adjusted our perspective to that of the kangaroo and the didgeridoo. This automatically throws us either down under and/or out back, and from that point of view it’s most improbable that anyone will ever know exactly who is enjoying the shadow of whom.”
This is Duke Ellington, of course. It sounds much better coming from his own mouth:
So, our AustralianJazz website (which began in 2002 as jazz-planet.com), is an online publication about Australian jazz and improvised music.
In the words of the Duke, “we have adjusted our perspective to that of the kangaroo and the didgeridoo. This automatically throws us either down under and/or out back.”
And, like the Duke’s men, we have also found Marshall Mc Luhan’s remark to be true. Nowadays, no one is able to retain their identity – not even the “orientals” (whoever they may be). In other words, what is Jazz and what is Australian is the object of an endless quest, one that we’re happy to pursue, navigating in this “sea of question marks” hoping to find a message in a bottle.
In 2015, the founding publisher/ editor Miriam Zolin stepped away to focus on her writing projects. She will always remain the ‘editrix emerita’ in our hearts.
The site is now run by Nikolas Fotakis. Contact him at editor@australianjazz.net
Our spectacular logo was designed by Hath Designs and updated by the Magnificent Meg Kolac.
