James Ryan Trio with special guest Ben Hauptmann - Bitter Sweet CD launch

A unique and talented player who may well become Australia’s next Bernie McGann. Jim Budd – Jazz Queensland

What leaps out is the near virtuosity of the leader, as a player of three instruments (tenor sax, flute and saxello) and as a composer…. a smorgasbord of hard-swinging excitement… John McBeath, Weekend Australian

Originally hailing from Darwin and arriving in Sydney via lengthy stints in Canberra, Brisbane and London, saxophonist/composer James Ryan hasn’t been one to sit still, geographically or musically.

Bitter Sweet is Ryan’s third CD offering as leader; the second, Long Way Home essentially explored post-bop terrain in a trio format with the same rhythm section of bassist Brendan Clarke and drummer James Hauptmann.

In what seems a logical progression, he’s spread out from there with Bitter Sweet, adding the ubiquitous Ben Hauptmann playing guitar/banjo to broaden his palette and tackle a number of other idiomatic approaches that all seem to reside quite naturally with each other on the disc.

-From the liner notes by Steve Hunter