Bernie McGann Quartet - Double Dutch? CD launch

Gorgeous improvisation – not double Dutch, but not over-literal either. McGann is a modern jazz master – Andy Hamilton, The Wire (UK)

On their 2004 European tour, the McGann Quartet performed at the prestigious Amsterdam venue for creative music, Bimhuis, where the Double Dutch? recordings were made.

This second CD launch celebrates the art of this imposing alto saxophonist who, as renowned as he is in Australia, impresses internationally.

The saxophonist is a genial but quiet man of few words, belying the passionate intensity of his music. Born in Sydney in 1937, his mature playing – and striking compositions – reached beyond hardbop to Ornette Coleman, whom he was said to emulate at a time when, apparently, he hadn’t heard his model. What he has in common with Coleman is an intense lyricism, mastery of the blues, a harmonic freedom that’s happiest without accompaniment from a chordal instrument – and a totally individual sound…. In these fine recordings, Pochée, with hard-driving bassist Lloyd Swanton – best known as member of improvising trio The Necks – provides the dynamic basis for the leader’s beguiling explorations. Trumpeter Warwick Alder, with his plangent boppish lines, is an admirable foil.

[Bernie McGann] has always played a mix of his own pieces, and unobvious show tunes. That’s true of this album, which commences with ‘Fried Bananas’, Dexter Gordon’s very engaging version of ‘It Could Happen To You’. The wittily-titled ‘D. Day’ is a McGann original based on Doris Day’s 1954 hit ‘Secret Love’, disguised not least by its fast tempo. But the ballad ‘It’s The Talk Of The Town’ is the most revealing of McGann’s totally distinctive approach as an improviser. His solo, after Warwick Alder’s, develops in a characteristically unobvious way, with a hint of a Braxton-like stutter, a touch of tone-coarsening. A gorgeous improvisation – not double Dutch, but not over-literal either. McGann is a modern jazz master. Extract from Andy Hamilton (The Wire, Jazz Journal, UK)