extempore and the Wangaratta Festival of Jazz and Blues have collaborated with National Jazz Award winners from every year of the festival since it began. The result is this eclectic set of souvenir postcards from some of our most creative musicians.
Tag: Barney McAll
Over the 10 day duration of the festival I’d encountered orthodox jazz rhythms, experimental jazz and music that you could argue was not jazz at all. Had I selected a different schedule of artists, I may have had a totally different festival experience altogether, such was the variety of shows on offer.
Prolific, exciting, excitable – Mike Nock is visiting Melbourne to play a duo gig with Laurence Pike at the 2014 Melbourne International Jazz Festival on […] Read More
Barney McAll is in the middle of a tour that takes in Auckland (a trio gig), Wellington (solo piano) Brisbane (solo piano and Julien Wilson […] Read More
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.
In his liner notes (notes worth the price of admission in themselves), NYC based pianist Barney McAll – no slouch in the ‘daring’ department himself – says, ‘(Keller) has been blending memories, sonic pictures, Bartók, Shorter and an immaculate classical technique to ensure her trajectory could never disappoint. Andrea is a serious inventor.’
“Even at their softest, smokiest, most meditational or sensual this band keeps the form strong.”
The compositions, all originals by Zwartz, develop organically and effortlessly, belying the extensive work that has gone into their creation. The soloists tailor their contributions to the mood of each piece, adding to the feeling that the album is a suite of connected pieces. Meanwhile, Zwartz, Stuart, Hevia and McCall lay down a rock solid basis for proceedings.
He had nothing more than a grant of $3000 and a vision for nurturing creative and experimental jazz performance and composition. The Melbourne Jazz Co-operative announced its arrival with a concert at RMIT’s Glasshouse Theatre on the Australia Day weekend in 1983 with a Sunday afternoon concert. On the bill was the Paul Grabowsky Tro, making its debut, with the young Grabowsky on piano, the late Gary Costello on bass and Allan Browne on drums.
The Pulse – it’s recalled fondly as ‘a moment in time’ and ‘a snapshot’ of the jazz scene when it was recorded in the summer of 2000/2001. This excerpt features the Barney McAll Unit, recorded at the Starfish Club, playing ‘Thirty Three’