Review: Take Me Higher by John Clare
Reviewed by D. Byrne Sometimes people, places and deeds are hard to separate. Sometimes impossible. John Clare, jazz musician, critic and music lover, is one such person. His love of writing, jazz, his...
View ArticleJackson Pollock, Marc Hannaford And Other Whirling Matter
Some action writing from John Clare Jackson Pollock would throw something down, sometimes directly – splat! – sometimes with a spin, an arabesque of splatter, or splatter-tracked. His canvas was...
View ArticleNat Bartsch Trio | John Clare reviews two releases
by John Clare Art and music traditions are abiding fascinations for me, and for most viewers of this site I imagine. Any genre that has been around long enough to be called a tradition will have moved...
View ArticleAlbum review by John Clare: Wending (Bernie McGann Quartet)
Wending Bernie McGann (Rufus RF113) Review by John Clare At the time of writing the great Bernie McGann is in hospital, following a by-pass with serious complications. We will be realistic. Back on...
View ArticleBern McGann : a Singular Man by John Clare
by John Clare Bern McGann May 2008 © The Shot No sooner had I filed the review of the Bernie McGann album Wending on this site than McGann’s closest musical associate John Pochée phoned me with the...
View ArticleBryce Rohde: A Cushion of Air – feature by John Shand
feature by John Shand Bryce Rohde The writer John Clare once hit upon the perfect adjective for the sound that Bryce Rohde extracts from a piano: ‘pearly’. All the wondrous aspects of a beautiful pearl...
View ArticleAlbum Review: This Is Always (Julien Wilson Quartet) by John Clare
This Is Always (Lionsharecords) Julien Wilson Quartet Review by John Clare These are curious and poignant days for those of us who have felt connections to a stream of Australian music that began...
View ArticleAlbum review: Lost in the stars (Allan Browne Trio) by John Clare
Lost In The Stars: interpretations of the zodiac suites of Mary Lou Williams and Karlheinz Stockhausen (Jazzhead HEAD168) Allan Browne Trio with Mark Hannaford and Samuel Pankhurst Review by John Clare...
View ArticleJohn Clare on Wangaratta – Phil Slater: Sun Music Song Book
Australian composer Peter Sculthorpe was well established internationally by 1965 when the first of his Sun Music series was commissioned by Bernard Heinze, to be performed in London by the Sydney...
View ArticleAlbum Review: The Cope Street Parade Volume One by John Clare
The Cope Street Parade Volume One (Yum Yum Tree YYTR-011) The Cope Street Parade Review by John Clare Okay, I’m offering $50,000 prize money for the person who can guess when it was that I first...
View ArticleAlbum Review: Free Running (Richard Maegraith Band) by John Clare
Free Running, Jazzgroove Records Richard Maegraith Band Review by John Clare Some of the players in Richard Maegraith’s most excellent band are Christian and unafraid to confess it, to use the lingo....
View ArticleAlbum review: The Mango Balloon (Julian Curwin) by John Clare
The Mango Balloon Vol 3, Romero Records March 2014 Julian Curwin Available from Newmarket Music Let us talk a little about the accordion – or piano accordion as we used to call it – because this is...
View ArticleAlbum review: Backblocks (Sam Bates Trio) by John Clare
Backblocks Newmarket Music NEW3334.2 Sam Bates Trio Review by John Clare Read John Hardaker’s review of this CD My memory has been a little funny lately, but I seem to recall having given some...
View ArticleAlbum review: Liminal (Jex Saarelaht Trio) by John Clare
Liminal (Jazzhead) Jex Saarelaht Trio Release date: 6 June 2014 We’ll stick to the most basic meaning. A liminal phase is a transitional one. It may contain elements of a previous stage and...
View ArticleAlbum review: Cosmontology Live (Dave Jackson Quartet) by John Clare
Cosmontology Live Dave Jackson Quartet Review by John Clare ‘Time is a social institution and not a physical reality’. This thorny one is quoted in the press release for Dave Jackson’s new CD...
View ArticleAlbum review: Mozaic (Hammerhead) by John Clare
Review by John Clare Launch this Wednesday! Mozaic will be launched on Wed Aug 13 at Venue 505, 280 Cleveland Street, Surry Hills. Book tickets > We can’t always assume that we are right when we...
View ArticleGig review: Scott Tinkler with Jazzgroove Mothership Orchestra
The Foundry 616 Harris & Mary Ann Streets, Ultimo, Sydney. 3 September 2014 Review by John Clare Scott Tinkler | photo by Marc Bongers marcbongers.com.au Walking from Glebe to the relatively new...
View ArticleGig review: The Vampires at SIMA
Seymour Centre, City Road, Sydney 12 September 2014 The Vampires | image by Karen Steains A good indication of the strange attendance fluctuations that exist for some at the top level of contemporary...
View ArticleJohn Clare reviews Wangaratta’s 25th
Review by John Clare Scott Tinkler, Drub (with Simon Barker and Carl Dewhurst) | image by Marc Bongers Marcel Proust in his great search for lost time talks about the duality of feeling he experienced...
View ArticleJohn Clare reviews Jazzgroove Summer Fiesta
Sydney’s Jazzgroove association fifth Summer Fiesta was spread over three venues in Ultimo: Foundry616, Lord Wolseley (I was judged too declassé to admit here) and APRA (I can’t understand it, but I...
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