
It’s been infrequent, recently, this meeting of old friends. The ANU Faculty staged a reunion for Geoff Page’s Jazz at the Gods series. It wasn’t all of the faculty, but most of the core group. I haven’t heard John for a while. He and other remaining staff are madly busy with restructuring the music school. I can only wish them all well. The blurb suggests there’s a new and exciting approach on offer and all praise if that occurs. I can only see it as a hard road, but we’ll see over coming years. In the meantime, the effects on Canberra culture are clear to see.






BTW, the tunes were Footprints, Invitation, Alone together and You don’t know what love is (set 1), and Tenor madness, Body & soul, All the things you are, On Green Dolphin Street and Solar (set 2). All mid-century blowing standards. I was touched by Miro’s head on Body & soul and John’s sparse solo. It’s easy to forget amongst the fireworks that John can be so lyrical. I bopped with Mike’s Alone together, and thrilled with James G’s playful and pitch perfect solos. We all admired James L’s bowed solo on You don’t know what love is and some lively and lengthy solos, especially in the second set, and I was mightily impressed as I closely watched Mark’s strong but delicate stick play on Tenor madness. The opportunity to hear these guys is getting less frequent. Take it while you can. These were old friends, both tunes and players, but goodies.
The ANU Faculty Reunion featured John Mackey (tenor), James Greening (trombone), Miroslav Bukovsky (trumpet, flugelhorn), Mike Price (guitar), James Luke (bass) and Mark Sutton (drums).
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