Mythic travels

I remember being taken by Allan Browne when he presented The Drunken Boat, a dedication to Rimbaud at Wang in 2007. He did it again and I realise now that he did it with the same band. This time, the piece was on Homer's Odyssey. Allan had given a Penguin copy to each of the band and they proceeded to write tunes to relevant myths and a year or so later they recorded and performed it at Wang. I found it deeply satisfying, profound even. It was mostly done with no chatter, although there was a stop or two. There was also some reading form Homer by Allan towards the end. I was a bit surprised by some chatter on stage, but these guys know it and treat it as an old mate, I guess. Some great playing, too. Allan is the senior, herding his crew of adepts through swamps and adventures with the lightest of drums and guidance. Geoff's guitar is deft and speedy; Eugene and Phil up front were one voice or skilled soloists, serious but merry; bassist Geoff was light in line with Allan's lead. There were a ream of written notes here, lots of counterpoint, lots of dots, space for solos all beautifully integrated into the whole, some deeply settled grooves. There was life, deep thought, musical purpose, construction and response to a formative work of Western thought. I guess the word is profound. Allan said they'd make no money from it, like the previous albums of a similar style, but it's an erudite work. I left feeling enlightened. Impressed!

The Quintet was led by Allan Browne (drums) with Eugene Ball (trumpet), Phil Noy (alto), Geoff Hughes (guitar) and Nick Haywood (bass).

Revisiting favourites

Wang JF is mainly composed of the best of the Australian scene and it's a pleasure to catch up with them. In Canberra, I don't see them nearly often enough and Melbourne and Sydney listeners tend to see their own and not those from the other city. As for Brissie, Perth and the rest, I guess they see even less.

I'd recently seen James Muller and Steve Magnusson on two occasions in two different bands. They are such different guitarists and I was intrigued by how they'd work together. James is the ultimate smooth virtuoso; Steve the intriguingly divergent player. In this case, they were playing with Frank Di Sario and Danny Fischer. Scofield and Frisell were obviously on the program, and Solar (claimed by Miles as were many tunes), an original by Frank and some others. Apparently this was the third time that James and Steve have played together. James was breathtaking. I felt Steve didn't quite get the opportunity for his choppy and inventive style. Perhaps there was some competitiveness, conscious or not. I greatly admire each for his playing so I was a little disappointed by this outing. Interesting experiment, but in the end oil and water don't mix.


It's ages since I saw Sam Keevers at gigs with Jamie Oehlers and I've held admiration for his playing ever since. I admire the quiet and respectful with depths to be mined. Certainly his playing was like this when he played a set of tunes by Bernie McGann with his quintet. I felt these was clean, neat, steadily swinging period pieces somewhere around post-bop territory, lithe and steady and admirable as carriages for improv. Spirit song, Brownsville, Sweet Lucy, Mail, Twist. This is standard format with two horns out front. The fabulous pairing of Eugene Ball and Phil Noy were great together and strong apart in solos. Bass was Chris Hale, the first electric bass I'd seen at this festival. From afar, I didn't pick up on the subtleties, but up close this was pick and finger pick and chords with middle, ring and little fingers. This is six-string electric bass, which is an instrument that cries out for a new conception and Chris had one and it was well developed. Not at all standard in this context, but impressive. Craig on drums was steady as presumably required for this outing. Very well played and an admirable tribute and presumably particularly memorable for those who were close to Bernie, for Geoff and others.

James Muller (guitar) met Steve Magnusson (guitar) with Frank Di Sario (bass) and Danny Fischer (drums) supporting. Sam Keevers (piano) led a quintet with Phil Noy (alto), Eugene Ball (trumpet), Chris Hale (electric bass) and Craig Simon (drums) playing a tribute to Bernie McGann.

Awards (Wangaratta 2009)

The National Jazz Awards this year were for the sax – tenor, alto, whatever. I heard little of them, other than the final three players performing their grand final sets over ABCFM as I was driving back to Canberra. It’s interesting how different people hear things differently. But firstly the formalities. Ten players, whittled down to three for the final performance. These were Zac Hurren, Jacam Manricks and Phil Noy. They were backed by Sam Keevers (piano), Phil Stack (bass) and Ben Vanderwal (drums) and judged by Mike Nock, Julien Wilson and Jamie Oehlers. My order was: 1. Phil Noy, 2. Jacam Manricks, 3. Zac Hurren. I liked the technical clarity of Phil and Jacam, Phil’s emotional honesty, and Zac’s individual style. The judges found: 1. Zac Hurren, 2. Phil Noy, 3. Jacam Manricks.

Jacam Manricks also appeared at the National Big Band Composition Competition which was held this year at Wangaratta. The other finalists were Andrew Murray and Joseph O’Conner. The Jazzgroove Mothership Orchestra presented the three compositions and the judges were Mike Nock, Evan Lohning and Dave Panichi. Again I got it wrong (or at least got a different result from the judges). My pick was: 1. Jacam Manricks, 2. Andrew Murray, 3. Joseph O’Conner. The judges gave it to Andrew Murray.