October 2000

This is an awfully tough field to pick winners from. The best known are Muller, Dewhurst, Sherlock, Petrucci and Michailidis. Muller has garnered the most acclaim so far, but the others are not far behind. Sherlock made an enormously satisfying album for JazzHead last year and will go a long way. The others have CDs under their own names and indicate what a hot pool of talent this is.

CD REVIEWS

It’s been a generous few months as far as local jazz releases are concerned. On top of the pile is Bernie McGann’s new disc, Bundeena, on Tim Dunn’s esteemed local label, Rufus. Named after the small enclave on the coast south of Sydney – which is set in a national park with beaches and cliffs and miles of wooded ridges in the hinterland – the album reflects something of the sensual sun and bush environment in which the lauded saxophonist spent some years bringing up his family, “woodshedding” in the park’s natural grandeur and earning a crust as the town postman [see the previous Notes From Down Under]. With no weakening of his usual brawn, McGann nevertheless manages to sound sunny on this disc, the majesty of his sound showing its full profundity, from gravity to gold limned wisps of notes simultaneously.

Sax and flute player Graham Jesse, one of the most in-demand tour and session players in this country, released his second album for the La Brava label. Naturally it wears a highly professional polish – and his sidemen number the top names from the scene -- but it’s much more than that: most of the writing is by Jesse and his material is laden with organic hooks and melodic structures that make it sound like something from the book of jazz standards. A very rewarding album, easy to like and full of riches. Sheer class.

In the same league is Melbourne bassist Frank di Sario’s album, Trust (Newmarket), featuring veteran alto player Barry Duggan in an all-too-rare starring role, and respected pianist Tim Stevens, whose playing graces many of the best Australian jazz recordings. Working without a drummer suits the rubato wanderings in the deepest parts of this program. These are experienced heads who are comfortable playing at such a challenging level. They swing, but it’s more than that. Duggan especially lodges some beautiful playing in the books – from hints of bop to something freer that defies any labelling, all of it with passion and superbly crystallised thought -- in what is basically an underecorded career so far for such a longstanding, top flight player. It’s a lesson in alto jazz playing. Email doodleberrymusic@hotmail.com or sales@newmarketmusic.com.au for more information.

A welcome surprise in the post turned out to be the first CD by pianist Tom Vincent, a 31-year-old who works closely with Europe-based drummer Marc Meader (completing the trio, on bass, is Matt Clohesy). This is part of what I said in the Financial Review: “While restricted to tunes straight out of the book of jazz classics, it showcases a remarkable talent. What’s remarkable, in fact, is that Vincent can make all these stalwart tunes sound so reinvigorated and fresh. As Don Burrows has said, Vincent is full of surprise and inventiveness; his felicitous way of playing has you hankering for the next note and smiling to yourself when it arrives. He can tip-toe through a tune, dripping melody with spare, treble notes but never sounding merely pretty. He is a delight and his follow-up disc, which he acknowledges has to consist of original material, will be fascinating to gauge.”

This trio swing hard. Check them out yourself at www.vincentmeader.dw.com.au

LAND OF THE LOTUS EATERS: WELCOME TO BYRON BAY

Equally as important as the McGann release is the new album, Shrike Like (independent release) from trumpeter Scott Tinkler, which I referred to in the previous column. Tinkler, when he’s at home, can be found at Byron Bay, an idyllic coastal spot about 800 km north of Sydney - see www.bayweb.com.au and it’s here we’re taking a journey to check out a couple of other new releases this month and to see why this area has become a hub of creativity.

Tinkler is a featured player on David Ades’ album, FATS (independent), which, interestingly, was sponsored by a stack of local businesspeople who responded to the call for help. It illustrates the little town’s engagement with the artists in its midst and may serve as a model to other musicians looking for funding – if you need some money it’s a good idea to ask someone who has some!

Ades’ album, which has the leader on alto, Tinkler on trumpet, Thierry Fosmale on bass and Greg Sheehan on drums, is a solid, groove-based effort with a strong improvisational impulse that takes it into interesting corners. Ades has a long track record, playing professionally since 1980. He has been heard with the cream of Australian musicians such as Phil Treloar, Mark Simmonds, Paul Grabowsky and a two and a half-year stint with vocalist Vince Jones. In 1981 Ades journeyed to New York and wound up living in Harlem for the next three years. “It was amazing up there,” he says. “I played in this club called the Blue Book and I never knew who was going to show up and play. On some nights it was Jack McDuff, Sonny Stitt, and Roy Haynes or maybe Stanley Turrentine and Freddie Hubbard would turn up and they’d just hang out and play whenever they felt the urge.

“Most of the time they would encourage me to jump up with them. It was an education you couldn’t buy for all the money in the world.”

In 1984 David returned to Sydney much in demand as a featured soloist. In 1989 he joined the Vince Jones group and spent the next two and a half years touring all over Australia and accompanying Jones twice overseas. It was toward the end of this period that Ades recorded his debut solo album for Roo Art records entitled Bird on a Head.

In 1992 David met his wife to be Australian painter Melissa Jane Thompson and soon after moved to Asia with her for the next five years. There he settled down to consistent performing all over the continent featuring at many of the international jazz festivals in the region. He performed with Wynton Marsalis, Arturo Sandoval, Cristy Lloyd Smith and others.

Ades returned to Australia toward the end of 1998 and moved to his current home of Bangalow on the far north coast of N.S.W. There he met and formed a musical friendship with Scott Tinkler, Greg Sheehan, and Thierry Fosmale who together with David make up the band FATS. Ades is also lecturing in saxophone and jazz studies at Southern Cross University, in Lismore, near Byron Bay. Talk to him at adesd61@nrg.com.au .

INTERVIEW WITH JIM KELLY

Also springing from the lush pastures of Byron Bay’s hilly hinterland is D’volv, by a trio of guitarists, Jim Kelly, Jon Fitzgerald, and Peter Martin. Kelly, as mentioned earlier, is one of this country’s premier guitarists. Anyone visiting jazz joints in Sydney in the ’70s would have seen his band Crossfire, a virtuosic fusion outfit that set the benchmark for a long while. With Kelly on steel string acoustic, Fitzgerald playing gut-stringed Spanish guitar and Martin deploying a beautiful Ibanez electric, the trio have an interesting overlap of timbre in the instruments. It is shimmering, often intricate music and the effect can be entrancing.

The following is an interview in September with Jim Kelly, catching up on his career since he moved north 11 years ago:

Q. What's going on up there?

JK: The unusual circumstance of having a University Degree Course in Contemporary Music in the local area has created a unique music scene in the countryside that perhaps exists nowhere else in Australia. This area has long been a seductive paradise for musicians and with the pull of the natural beauty around here coupled with the hundreds of people that have now been through the Southern Cross University it has definitely allowed for a creative scene to be fostered.

Q. What are the significant names in the local scene?

JK: The members of the FATS group, Scott Tinkler - trumpet, David Ades - alto, Thierry Fosmale - bass and Greg Sheehan - drums. Jack Thorncraft - acoustic bass/vocals (one of the original members of The Last Straw and The Jazz Co-op in Sydney) - a heavy music dude indeed! John Hoffman - trumpet - spends most of his time not living in the area, it seems. David Sanders - drums - head of the percussion studio at SCU and now one of the most respected new drummers in the scene Australia-wide who covers both jazz and rock. Steve Russell - piano and bass - Steve's piano playing in particular is absolutely outstanding. Greg Lyon - bass - ex-Crossfire and head of bass studies at SCU Obviously, the other two members of D'volv - Jon Fitzgerald and Peter Martin. Leigh Carriage - vocal lecturer at the Uni who is, without a doubt, one of the strongest new breed of vocalists in Australia.

JK: Of course, there is the rock scene where the two most notable groups that grew out of the University's web are Skunkhour and Grinspoon. I am sure there are more of those success stories festering up here as we communicate.

There's also the Jack Thorncraft Quartet with Sanders, Kelly and Russell and The Leigh Carriage Quartet with Thorncraft, Sanders and Russell. And there’s my latin band, Jim Kelly's Latent Latin Lovers, with Thorncraft, Russell, Sanders, Juliet Sterling (vocals) and James Cox (percussion). I also perform with the strong up and coming young jazz students. Without a doubt, the mecca for our jazz endeavours is a Tavern called Maggie Moore's in Lismore which is run on a weekly basis by my wife Julie throughout the University year, which also attracts visiting interstate artists.

Q. What are the pros and cons of living and playing in a regional centre?

JK: The pros mean you have much more time on your hands, not having to grapple with big-city 'stuff'., traffic etc. More time can then convert into more energy to musical endeavour. It is much easier to rehearse up here because of people's time and also the ease of rehearsing in someone's house, which is generally in the countryside and doesn't both anyone else with the volume.

The cons - the obvious one is the isolation of there not always being enough stimulus with the variety of musicians you can interact with. But most of the fully professional cats do travel a lot, so I don't see this as a huge problem. Gig opportunities are less, of course, but we seem to make up for it a little bit more because of the ease of being able to get together and rehearse or simply just play.

Q. What overseas work have you done?

JK: Since living here I have performed at Ronnie Scott’s in London for a week with a mostly all-Aussie band consisting of Linda Cable (vocals), David Jones (drums) and Ben Robertson (bass) plus an English piano player whose name I just can't remember. I have also had a sabbatical from SCU which took me to the U.S. to observe the teachings of others in famous institutions over there. The most notable was Berklee College of Music in Boston and apart from hanging around for a week going to classes, I also presented a workshop. Talk about selling ice to the eskimos! But I did get a good reaction to my way of playing and composing.

In fact, there was another Jim Kelly over there who is very famous in Boston and we got on famously and I ended up sitting in with his band and he even wrote a new tune for us to play for that particular jam session. I also did a performance with Margaret Urlich in Auckland, New Zealand shortly after the power came back on over there (sure keeps the volume of the band down without the power!) and it was a street celebration for the return of their electricity.

Coming up in the future, D'volv in November will be going to Bangkok, Singapore and Kuala Lumpur for ten days. We will also be performing in Finland in July next year and hopefully Germany too.

Q. How did you get together with the other guys for this disc?

JK: Peter Martin, the electric guitar player had reached a stage in his life where his true love of guitar playing descended up him one more time. Peter had not done gigs for about twenty years as he had become immersed in jingle writing and production and teaching composition here at SCU. Because I saw the fire in his eyes again about this, I suggested that we get together and play some jazz standards, just at home for our own pleasure. This worked out beautifully and then, because we are both composers, we couldn't resist the temptation of bringing original works to our get-togethers. This really started to work a treat and Jon Fitzgerald reminded us that we had promised to let him sit in and have a play with us.

Jon brought along some tunes and it was fairly well understood at this point that we might be on to something. It took a lot of experimentation and nurturing to get the three guitars to interact in the way that you hear us on the disc but it has all definitely been worth it.

There has been no manufactured intention of any style of music for us other than what our varied backgrounds can bring together and can be manipulated to create interesting music. We are not overtly commercially minded and therefore have not held back any creativity so that we can tow the line in a very commercial world these days and therefore perhaps make us easier to slot. We figure honesty is the best policy and we will win the day with this attitude in the end.

Q. Do you play much acoustic guitar normally?

JK: Prior to this, I'd only ever played acoustic guitar in sessions, as an adjunct to my electric playing. Therefore, in those days, I certainly would not have had the audacity to call myself an acoustic guitarist.

It is only now, after a year and a half with D'volv that I can start to even think of myself as an exponent of this intriguing instrument in any way, shape or form. The acoustic guitar is a totally different creature to the electric and I've had to build strength on it and change a lot of my harmonic approaches that sit well on the electric but which simply don't transfer to this other instrument.

Q. Who do you find are really interesting guitarists?

JK: I would prefer to speak about Australian guitarists because I do like all of the overseas cats that have high profile. Favourite Aussie guitar players ... Steve McKenna, Mark Punch, Dave Brewer, James Muller, Rex Goh, Dave Colton, Geoff Hughes, Doug de Vries, Carl Dewhurst, Carl Orr ...

How can people get your disc?

The D'volv self-titled CD may be obtained by emailing me on jkelly@scu.edu.au or contacting Julie Kelly on (02) 6629-8453 (Phone/Fax) during working hours. It is also available at Birdland in Sydney.

INTERVIEW WITH SCOTT TINKLER:

Q. Your way of playing is inimitable. Is there any particular way you think of this style – how would you describe it?

ST:I guess confronting and angular come to mind. I like to play hard and direct with a lot of intensity and sharp rhythmic jolts. When improvising I like to explore and have fun like a kid in the sandpit playing with his mates.

Q. How did you arrive at this way of playing, which I think of as being one of “pure expression” in that it totally avoids licks, riffs, anything out of a stock bag of musical goodies that musicians almost can’t help absorbing over the years?

ST: When learning to play “Jazz” I initially spent a lot of time trying to absorb the language, transcribing and attempting imitations of great players such as Clifford, Lee Morgan, Freddie etc. Never with great success. I was never able to sound like anyone I liked so I just started working on things I liked.

This involved exploration of tonal centers and various rhythmic devices that enabled me to express myself on the music I was composing. This had varied success on early gigs as my control was not great, but through continued exploration and some disastrous playing I gained control of my direction as a player.

I would always rather sound "wrong" but interesting than "correct" and boring.

Q. You really make the horn work for you. What technical challenges have you had along the way?

ST:I've found most aspects of the instrument challenging. At various points along the way I've centered in on what I perceived to be my weakest point and attempted to turn it into a strength. As often is the case I found (and find) the high register to be a big challenge, though this is mainly psychological and conceptual.

I've have spent much time on articulation and finger exercises aimed at achieving a varied rhythmic control. Flexibility has always been important to me so I'm working on that for more angularity. Also extra techniques like circular breathing, split tones (harmonics), stop tonguing etc are very challenging but are great fun and useful to me.

Q:Where do you want to go musically?

ST:I want to explore as many situations as an improviser as I can. I want to continue improving my ability to interact with other musicians while maintaining and developing my individuality or “style”. The biggest problem I always seem to face is that what I want to play is just out of reach, but that keeps me searching and working on my art.

Jazz is such a diverse world. There are so many areas that have so much to offer. What interests me is the conglomerations of styles, from klezmer to tango, or karnatic to Death Metal, musicians that aren't content in happily swinging along, which is also great and totally valid, but they are wanting to explore various musical genres and involve themselves as improvisers in a broad spectrum of styles.

I'm still working on ideas for my trio with Adam and Simon even though we live a long way apart. We have plans to tour Asia in Jan 2001 followed by some gigs and recording back in Australia.

Earlier this year I did a duet album with Greg Sheehan, an amazing Australian percussionist who was living in Byron, which we are hoping to have released soon. In the next month I'll be recording a duet with pianist Walter Lampie, a fine expat Australian from Amsterdam. I enjoy improvised duet playing as it allows for interaction on a very intimate level.

I’m also involved with a Brisbane based group 'Hydromus Chrysogasta'- with John Rogers (violin), Ken Eadie (junk) and Tony Burr (bass clarinet). We have various funded projects planned over the next few years including installations deep in the mines of Mt Isa (an Australian mining town) with heavy machinery and blasting, through to heavily notated music with the improvisations based on complex rhythmic cycles. Basically we do anything, from improvised noise type gigs where we hardly play our instruments, at least not in the conventional sense, to gigs based on “notes” and rhythms.

In November I'll be performing at the Wangaratta Jazz Festival with various groups. FATS - a Byron based groove band that plays short pieces aimed at a party/dance type atmosphere, promoting our new CD "FATS". The Elliot Dalgleish Quintet which is mainly improvised with limited guidelines and also with Mark Helias which I’m sure will be a great experience.

Q.What about living in Byron Bay?

ST: When I first moved to Byron bay I certainly had my doubts as to the wisdom of the choice. After having lived here for two years I believe it to be the best move I ever made.

Initially it was a lifestyle choice for us and our children, beautiful climate, beaches and the relaxed country lifestyle definitely have there pluses. Luckily as a Jazz muso and improviser in Australia most of my work involves travel so my home base is not so relevant as long as I'm close to an airport, which I am. When I’m not travelling I teach at the Southern Cross University which enables us to survive here financially. There is also a growing number of excellent musicians living here. So I see no advantage in living in Sydney or Melbourne, in fact I get better audiences when I play there because it is a rarer event.

ARTIST PROFILE: Scott Tinkler (see www.stinkler.com).

“I got my first trumpet when I was in grade five and living in Ballarat, a town in western Victoria with a population then of 100,000 people. I started classical training moving through my AMEB studies however after hearing a big band and some tapes of Satchmo that my Dad had I realized that my interests did not lie in classical music.

“When I was 13 we moved to Tasmania where I had a great teacher in Gordon Scott a trombone and vibes player who formed a big band and some smaller ensembles, this is where my true interest in music began. He had us playing some great, classic charts which gave me a strong foundation in jazz.

“When it got to school leaving time I wasn't really sure what I wanted to do and considered a mechanics apprenticeship but fortunately I had wonderful parents who encouraged me to follow my love of music.

“So I moved to Melbourne and started the Jazz studies course at the Victorian College of the Arts. Here I met some great young players who are still some of my very best friends and whom I often play with. I only stayed at the course for 18 months and then left to join "the Blues Brothers Revival Band" with whom I spent the next two years touring Australia in a van and learning and living life on the road.

“I wound up back in Melbourne wondering what to do. So I joined a cabaret band and did the occasional jazz gig around town. I did this for three years before waking up and realizing that my love of music and improvising had taken back seat to earning money and the muso lifestyle. So I quit the band and commenced some serious woodshedding and started getting gigs with my own bands, doing mainly standards.

“Around this time I met and played with a phenomenal Australian tenor player, Mark Simmonds. His power and dedication as a player and composer is a huge influence on me still. I played in his band The Freeboppers and recorded the Fire CD with him. “ I’m still working on things that I learnt from Mark.

“At this time I also met Paul Grabowsky, an extremely talented Australian piano player who was very encouraging of my playing and suggested we do a project together outside of his sextet which we had just toured Europe with. So the Scott Tinkler Quartet was born the next week.

“After intensive work and some wonderful, powerful gigs we recorded my first album as a leader, Back Of My Head. We continued to evolve as a Quartet and did another CD, Hop To The Cow, a year later. Thanks go to Paul also for the introduction to Philip Mortlock of Origin Records who would go on to release several more recordings for me.

“In 1996 we, my wife Veronica and baby Mia, packed our bags and made our way to Sydney. This decision was based mainly on a family home becoming available, but also in the need to keep moving. This is where I formed my present group with Adam Armstrong and Simon Barker.

I’d always loved the sound of a trio and it gave me a chance to explore the ideas that playing with Mark Simmonds had spurred. The first trio CD, Dance Of Delulian, was released later that year. I’m very proud of that recording.

“During this time I toured India with the Australian Art Orchestra where I met and played with some inspiring traditional Indian musicians. In ’97 I received an Australia Council grant to tour Europe with my trio and we decided to incorporate a trip to New York as it was our wish to play and record there. The tour was great fun and we played some sensational gigs. We finished up in New York with a gig at the Knitting Factory and a day in the studio where we completed our second trio recording, Sofa King.

“From New York I went back to Amsterdam where Veronica and I had decided to try and live. The year we spent there allowed me to make some very good contacts and friends but I spent most of my time busking and doing low profile jazz gigs in bars. It was difficult to survive there as a family and we really missed home and all that entailed so we moved back to Australia, Byron Bay in fact.

“We have lived here for just over two years now and love it. I've returned to Europe three times since then. Eric Vloeimons invited me back to Holland for a Quartet tour with two trumpets Christmas ’98, then at the beginning of this year I tour with the "A" records all stars (the label that released SOFA KING in Europe and the States, and again in July 2000 with the Australian Art Orchestra.

“At the end of 1999 I recorded my latest trio album just before Adam moved to the USA to live. I believe this latest recording to be by far my best recording to date. We have released this independently in Australia and are at present looking for an avenue for international release. That about brings me up to today, happy in Byron with a wonderful, happy family and a second little girl called Sunny.”

Shane Nichols is a senior journalist at the Australian Financial Review in Sydney, Australia. Among other things he reviews jazz CDs each week for the paper's Weekend Edition where he is a section deputy editor. As well as being a journalist, in his past Nichols played saxophone in rock bands and has studied improvisation in Sydney and at Alan De Silva's school, IACP, in Paris. He has written about rock and jazz extensively for Australian newspapers and magazines, including Rolling Stone.

Scott Tinkler Photo Credit: Naomi Stevenson