Festival review: Melbourne International Jazz Festival 2014

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.

Q&A with Julien Wilson

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.

Album Review: Free Running (Richard Maegraith Band) by John Clare

His sound is dark and it has a grain and an edge, except when he plays in a soft burble or croon. It can bark and crack with a brittle edge, yet all of it is done with tone, with timbre. His lines are full of invention, expressed in melody and in abstract shapes.

Testimony: A Tribute to Charlie Parker

Book review (includes CD): Testimony – A Tribute to Charlie Parker (review by John Shand)

‘…cued by Komunyakaa’s use of multiple voices, Evans assembled discrete bands for each piece, including no less than 11 different lead singers, plus Michael Edwards-Stevens reading some poems as spoken word with musical accompaniment.’

Leigh Carriage Mandarin Skyline cover

Album review by Chris McNulty: Mandarin Skyline – ‘an outstanding, creative accomplishment’

‘ …stunning debut from a vocalist-composer who I’m sure we’re going to hear a lot more from in the future. A wonderfully realized, collaborative effort by an outstanding ensemble headed by a gifted vocalist.’