THE OTHER SIDE OF AIR (Firehouse) 9/10 This is gripping music. Pianist Myra Melford may have penned all the compositions, but the members of Snowy Egret fly them to places of which she probably never dreamed. The intensity is unrelenting. Even when it’s in the form of lyrical beauty rather…
Category: Album Reviews – Archive
THE ART ENSEMBLE OF CHICAGO AND ASSOCIATED ENSEMBLES (ECM) 9.5/10 It was a life-changing event: the breadth of music, profundity, virtuosity and presentation elevated one to near-ecstasy. This was in 1980, the Art Ensemble of Chicago’s only Sydney concert. As sensational as their albums were, to encounter one of music’s…
CONFRONTATIONS (https://joeoconnor2.bandcamp.com) 7.5/10 If this music contained any more tension it would snap. Each note seems to be stretched dangerously taut, and the instruments do no so much cohere as collide. Melbourne pianist/composer Joe O’Connor invited the incendiary trumpeter Scott Tinkler to join his trio (with bassist Marty Holoubek and…