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.
‘… a mood of striking conviviality.’
“Even at their softest, smokiest, most meditational or sensual this band keeps the form strong.”
Katz has come up with an appealing, thoughtful and lyrical take on jazz-rock, ‘Mistral’ and ‘Working Title’ being especially 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.
The new release by Jonathan Zwartz The Remembering & the Forgetting of the Air From the Birdland Records site (where you can purchase the CD) […] Read More
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.
‘a strange and beautiful world conjured among the bricks and grime, the litter and the 7-11 stores’
There is a calmness and beauty on much of this CD, typified by Saarelaht’s impressionistic solo introductions to three of the tracks, which testifies to the maturity and skill of all four musicians. Phil Sandford reviews Fiveways by the Jex Saarelaht Quartet
After playing some we retired to the kitchen, a cup of tea, another long rave, and finally off to sleep.The following day, Saturday September 4, we played for hours. Our musical communication, as with our verbal communication too, showed absolutely no signs of having drifted apart over the intervening years, as many as these were.
