For me, Charlie Parker’s music will always be connected with my relocation from Athens to Australia; the moment I was boarding on the plane, by an act of ironic coincidence, my MP3 player (which had been set to shuffle mode) decided to accentuate the event by playing Nows the Time.
“The gig is packed every week and people watching across the street. They say you can hear the band along the whole strip of the cross.”
Considering how much of my life I had devoted to listening and learning this music, and believing it was the greatest music in the world, I was truly shocked when I got to high school to realise that throughout my entire high school years there was hardly any mention of Jazz or the great men that contributed to this music.
When Michael Griffin’s lips touch the mouthpiece, he’s transfomed: the awkward teenager gives his place to a jazz master of superb confidence – and his pinstripe suit becomes a perfect fit. It’s uncanny.
-.Which song reminds you of the best concert you ‘ve ever attended?
– Any version of They Say its Wonderful. I first heard that song performed by Sonny Rollins at the Opera House in 2008. It has since become my favourite song.
To see the two men working together, obviously digging each other’s playing was a thrill that pointed to this being one of the jazz gigs of the year for me. Griffin was overjoyed to be locking horns, literally, with the great Dale; Barlow, for his part, equally seemed to enjoy having the younger player’s sparkling alto nipping at his heels, pushing him into some hair-raising tenor work.
I have come late to the amazing playing of Sydney’s Michael Griffin. Walking into an Andrew Dickerson Quintet gig off the street I was floored […] Read More
