Tag: Bird’s Basement

Interviews Posted on

Zela Margossian’s biographical playlist

If you have been even vaguely familiar with this here website, you probably know Zela Margossian. You know she is a pianist of spectacular prowess, a composer of hear-melting lyricism, and a musical explorer blending the many dialects of jazz with the classical tradition, and the musical heritage of her motherland, Armenia. You might even be aware of her journey in life, that brought her from Beirut to Sydney via Yerevan. Here, she chooses some of the tunes that have been her companions in that journey, leaving an imprint on her life, and influencing the way she creates her version of ‘ethno-jazz’.

Interviews Posted on

Keyon Harrold: ‘Art is meant to make people uncomfortable with realness’

“My music is Jazz for social consciousness, it is music for #blackLivesmatter but not only that. It is music for white, brown, yellow, and purple lives too. I want my music to stir people of all races, creed, age, orientations… to be an empathic elixir to life.”

Interviews Posted on

Leo Genovese: ‘Music is air moving’

“Music comes and goes,” Leo Genovese says. “[It] is not property, it doesn’t have an owner. It is air moving. It is magic, it is medicine. Even if you compose something, it is not yours, it is patrimony of every human. I know the law works different, but the cosmic law is another thing.”

Gigs and concerts, Interviews Posted on

Rita Satch: ‘I thrive in those unplanned moments at gigs’

“Nancy Wilson’s tone, phrasing and interplay with the band on that record had a huge impact on me as a musician. After going deep into those tunes, I think that it’s allowed me to approach my own music in a different way, particularly how I tell my stories through song.”

Gigs and concerts, Reviews Posted on

Review: Mark Isaacs, solo piano extemporisations at Bird’s Basement

Upon first entering Bird’s Basement, I was immediately conscious of the crystalline sound of the piano, each unamplified note lingering in the space, untrammelled by its neighbours. The audience, in darkness, appeared hushed, as if intensely focused on the music: lyrical, melodic and restrained. As I was drawn into this music, I was conscious of its fragile delicacy, as Mark Isaacs mined the upper register, unafraid of summoning sheer beauty from his instrument.

Concerts and tours, Interviews Posted on

Donald Harrison Jr: “I describe our sound as serious fun”

“I grew up thinking of jazz as dance music, just like the music you hear on the radio,” says Donald Harrison Jr. “This element was never taught in school or discussed by any of my music peers so that alone made me realize I had a different thought process then even the cats from New Orleans like the Marsalis brothers and my partner at the time, Terence Blanchard. They are all great players, but including a dance feeling did not seem to be high on their priority list in the early ’80s.”