Jazz Articles about Alister Spence

About Alister Spence

Album Review

Alister Spence / Satoko Fujii Orchestra Kobe: Imagine Meeting You Here

Read "Imagine Meeting You Here" reviewed by Karl Ackermann

by Karl Ackermann
January 10, 2019

On the heels of a monthly release year, celebrating her sixtieth birthday, Satoko Fujii takes no break as she dives into a new year. Imagine Meeting You Here is a five-part suite for Fujii's improvising Orchestra Kobe. The compositions are by pianist Alister Spence, who acts as producer and conductor of the fifteen-member ensemble. The suite premiered with Fujii's orchestra in Kobe, Nagoya and Tokyo in 2016 and was performed by the Glasgow Improvisers Orchestra later that year. Orchestra Kobe ...

Album Review

Alister Spence: Live

by Duncan Heining
February 17, 2016

Alister Spence Trio: Live is, apparently, this Australian group's sixth recording. Sadly, the others have passed me by and pianist Alister Spence only recently crossed my CD deck in the company of Scottish saxophonist / improviser Raymond MacDonald. To be honest, much contemporary piano trio jazz--EST, Brad Mehldau, The Necks--bores me. Perhaps unfairly so but to me a lot of it sounds to me like a Michael Nyman soundtrack from some seemingly endless film that Mrs. O'Groove would have me ...

Album Review

Alister Spence and Myra Melford: Everything Here Is Possible

Read "Everything Here Is Possible" reviewed by Eyal Hareuveni

by Eyal Hareuveni
October 18, 2014

This exceptional piano duo featuring American Myra Melford and Sydney-based Australian Alister Spence, known for his local trio and an acclaimed duo with Scottish saxophonist Raymond MacDonald ; (Stepping Behind The Shadows, Rufus, 2012), was recorded during late 2012 while Melford toured Australia with her Trio M. The pianist/composers got to know each other through a mutual friend, Japanese pianist Satoko Fujii, who recorded a duo with Melford, Under The Water, Libra, 2009). This aptly-titled session ...