JAZZ VISIONS: Pochee/Robson Duo + Mute Canary Project (Bris) - Steve Lacy Tribute
Pochee/Robson Duo
8.30 – 9.30pm
John Pochee and Andrew Robson are two musicians who have long been considered to be at the very forefront of creative music and improvisation in Australia and are both bandleaders in their own right. Listening to Pochee and Robson perform as a duo allows a listener the rare experience of hearing two generations of Australian jazz collide in a torrent of cascading melodies and rhythms.
Freedman Fellowship and ARIA Award winner, Andrew Robson has performed internationally with numerous jazz and world music groups at the Berlin and Chicago Jazz Festivals, Greenwich and Docklands Festival (London), WOMAD (Reading, UK), Bim Haus (Amsterdam), and prestigious jazz clubs in Germany such as Unterfaht (Munich) and Stadtgarten (Cologne).
Jazz Hall of Fame inductee, John Pochee, has an immediately recognisable style that is solid in the great jazz tradition but that is nevertheless warmly Australian.
He has influenced the sound of Australian contemporary jazz by leading and playing in some of our most important groups including Ten Part Invention, The Last Straw, The Engine Room as well as playing in Bernie McGann’s Trio and Quartets.
Through the open-ended and demanding nature of the saxophone and drums duo, John and Andrew allow their audience a rare close-up of music making. John Pochee and Andrew Robson are musicians who encapsulate the history and the spirit of Australian Jazz. Their music is highly original and at the same time deeply rooted in the jazz tradition. This is melody and rhythm – and music at its most fundamental and most thrilling.
Andrew Robson (saxophones) John Pochee (drums)
Mute Canary Project: Steve Lacy Tribute
10.00 – 11.00pm
Brisbane band leader and saxophonist Elliott Dalgleish is undoubtedly one of Australia’s leading avant-garde figures.
The Mute Canary Project is led by Elliott Dalgleish who has performed with many internationally renowned improvisers such as Misha Mengelberg, Steve Lacy, Shoji Hano, Cecil Taylor, Palle Mikkelborg, Henri Chopin, Roger Dean, Barney McAll, Mike Nock, Roger Frampton, Walter Lampe and Paul Grabowsky; and as a soloist with wide-ranging ensembles, including the Australian Chamber Orchestra, The Interactive Performance Space, AustraLYSIS, Sydney Theatre Company, TSO, AAO, Terra Australis Saxophone Quartet; Melbourne Symphony Orchestra and The Queensland Orchestra. He won the National Jazz Saxophone Competition in 1995 as well as many scholarships and grants to present his collaborative arts projects nationally, and has been featured on over 35 CDs internationally and has toured to over 40 countries.
Established in 2005 and involving 20 of Australia’s leading improvisers, THE MUTE CANARY PROJECT features the interaction of the old and new generations of improvisers, through sonic improvisation and spontaneous composition, drawing upon the traditions of an exciting range of influences – Afro-American Jazz, Fluxus, Dada, Japanese Haiku, Aleatory music, Indeterminate and Game scoring, Improvisational Theatre, Film, and Dance. Working from the heart and the ear, the project decrypts the social sound memories of this sensation-saturated, novelty-hungry age that we find ourselves a part of in the 21st century.
The project’s musical landscapes will explore the sensual appeal of fetishism through sound with a particular focus on spontaneity, primal energy and individuality going against the traditional clichés of eroticism. The musical language is discrete and operates on a microscopic level, able to stimulate the sensibilities of those willing to open their ears to the universe of sonic possibilities.
With performances ranging from pre-determinate compositions to totally free improvisations, the philosophy of The Mute Canary project, as with Elliott’s earlier collective ensembles is one of “no inter-stylistic technical or musical boundaries”. Freedom in the choice of repertoire and the invention of new musical processes and scribal techniques combine to create unique sound.
For this Steve Lacy Tribute, the personnel comprises nine Brisbane-based musicians and two interstate guests from Melbourne and Sydney.
Brisbane: Elliott Dalgleish (sopranino, alto, baritone saxophones, bass clarinet) Sophie Weston (flute, piccolo) Skye McNicol (violin) Jack Saunders (trumpet) Alex Hodgins (piano, keyboard) Jack Richardson (guitar) Yusuke Akai (guitar, koto) Sam Pankhurst (bass) Chris Vale (drums) + Pat Thiele (trumpet – Melb) and Carl Dewhurst (guitar – Syd)
