Andy Fiddes’ writing shines as bright as Tinkler’s playing. The range of colours, the breadth of ideas – so many audacious chances taken, chances that all work beautifully – the mastery of the idiom: pushing the big idea of The Big Band forward while deeply knowing its traditions (you can hear echoes of the history all across Fiddes vs Tinkler).
The shortlist for this year’s Australian Jazz “BELL” Awards has been officially announced. This year’s crop has been extraordinary, with many great albums submitted in the competition. The amount of talent in this list is overwhelming, and it is bound to make the work of the judges very hard
“The nonet is the ideal mix of the intimacy of small group jazz with the compositional scope afforded by a big band or larger ensemble. It’s hard swinging small group jazz with the force that you get from six horn players.”
‘a strange and beautiful world conjured among the bricks and grime, the litter and the 7-11 stores’
‘That’s the exciting thing about this music – like any human relationships, the variables are so intricate and so intertwined that the result is never predictable.’
