Jazz: The Australian Accent

239 Pages·2008·4.01 MB·English

by  John Shand

Jazz
John Shand is music critic, author, playwright and librettist. He has
written about jazz in over a dozen publications, including being resident
critic at The Sydney Morning Herald since 1993. He has previously
published Don’t Shoot the Best Boy! – The Film Crew at Work (Currency
Press), about feature film-making in Australia, and Phantom of the Soap
Opera (Wizard Books), a play for teenagers.
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Jazz
The
auStralian accent
John Shand
With photographs by Jane March
UNSW
PRESS
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Contents
Acknowledgments vii
]Preface ix
Introduction: Splendid isolation 1
Improvisation: Shades and variations 12
Kiwi Invasion 20
The Godfathers… 
Bernie McGann: Maverick 24
John Pochée: 10-gallon heart 36
Mike Nock: Player on the world stage 46
Allan Browne: Time traveller 55
Phil Treloar: Magus 65
A Big Hand 78
The Firebrands… 0
Mark Simmonds: Volcano 82
The Necks: Hipnotists 95
Chris Abrahams 102
Tony Buck 108
Lloyd Swanton 113
Missing Women 120
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The Pioneers of Now… 
Scott Tinkler: Blast from the future 126
Julien Wilson Trio: Open weave 134
Julien Wilson 139
Stephen Magnusson 145
Stephen Grant 150
Band of Five Names/Phil Slater Quartet: The cutting edge 156
Matt McMahon 162
Simon Barker 170
Phil Slater 179
James Muller: Guitar-slinger 189
Afterthoughts… 
Spreading the word 198
Future Stars 208
Appendices 210
CD contents 210
Lead sheet 211
Glossary 212
Selected bibliography 214
Notes 215
Index 219
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A UNSW Press book
Published by
University of New South Wales Press Ltd
University of New South Wales
Sydney NSW 2052
AUSTRALIA
www.unswpress.com.au
© John Shand 2009
First published 2009
This book is copyright. Apart from any fair dealing for the purpose
of private study, research, criticism or review, as permitted under the
To my mother and father,
Copyright Act, no part may be reproduced by any process without
written permission. Inquiries should be addressed to the publisher.
and the many Australasian musicians
National Library of Australia
who have enriched my life.
Cataloguing-in-Publication entry
Author: Shand, John, 1955-
Title: Jazz : The Australian Accent/John Shand.
ISBN: 978 1 921410 14 7 (pbk.)
Notes: Includes index.
Bibliography.
Subjects: Jazz – Australasia – History and criticism.
Jazz musicians – Australasia.
Dewey Number: 781.65099
Design Josephine Pajor Markus
Printer Ligare
This book is printed on paper using fibre supplied from plantation or sustainably managed
forests.
This project is supported by the Australia Council, the Australian Government’s arts funding
and advisory body, through its Music Board Section.
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Acknowledgments
I am indebted to the seventeen musicians who put up with my prying
]
and harassment, so thank you Bernie, John, Mike, Allan, Mark, Chris,
Tony, Lloyd, Scott, Julien, Stephen, Stephen, Matt, Simon, Phil, James
and especially Phil Treloar, who embraced the whole project with typi-
cal thought, feeling and intensity. A big thank you to Jane March for
her evocative photographs and unstinting support. Thanks also to Jim
McLeod and Kieran Stafford for their time and input, and to Elspeth
Menzies, Heather Cam and Edward Caruso at UNSW Press. Finally,
my heartfelt appreciation to Maya Potter, who accommodated what
became an all-consuming project in the final months, tolerating my
grumbling and offering sound advice.
Acknowledgments vii
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Preface
Jazz is now a globalised mesh of threads, with many countries concur-
]
rently enriching its tapestry with their unique local perspectives. To say
that Australia is prominent among them is not a flag-waving exercise,
merely an objective cultural observation.
This book is not intended as an overview of contemporary Australian
jazz, nor is it a comprehensive history. It focuses purely on unique or
highly original contributions. I have chosen some – by no means all
– of the recent key antipodean practitioners who strike me as fulfill-
ing these criteria, and presented them as case studies. Jazz attempts to
explain the inspirations, attitudes and methodology lying behind these
players’ singularity, and the ways in which they have cross-fertilised and
influenced each other. In the process it places these artists within the
scope of the Australian (and New Zealand) contribution to jazz, as this
particular genre of creative music unravels from its original American
spool.
Because the post-bebop developments in jazz have been most freely
adaptable to the imprint of geographically diverse musical pools of
players, it is to this area of the music that Jazz largely restricts itself.
Discussing the small number of Australians who have found some-
thing uniquely their own to say within pre-bebop forms of the music
is not the province of this book, although their art deserves to be fully
acknowledged. Nor is being gifted and accomplished enough to warrant
coverage in the book’s scheme of things. While originality is assuredly
no end in itself, and I place the highest premium on the emotive qual-
ity of the music made, I have sought out examples of the art that have
not and probably could not have happened anywhere else. Long may
such music continue to be made. Its spontaneity and truth may well be
the most accurate artistic representation of who we are as a people.
Preface ix
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