John Shand Posts

March 24, 2016 / Album Reviews - Archive

SAKURA (Studio Songs) 6.5/10 Steve Barry’s Insen is a gorgeous ballad to slow the mind and engender a languid wistfulness of mood. It is a mood common to all musical cultures, and here shows the depth of rapport within this cosmopolitan, cross-generational band. Orbiturtle consists of two Sydney based players…

March 16, 2016 / Concert Reviews - Archive

Sound Lounge, March 11 8/10 Amid the plague of deaths sweeping the musicians’ community this year comes a tale of survival against the odds. In 1986 drummer John Pochee formed a 10-piece band from the cream of our jazz musicians specifically to perform music composed by its members. On Friday…

March 15, 2016 / Concert Reviews - Archive

City Recital Hall, March 10 9/10 Always combustible, Diego El Cigala’s voice could suddenly flare up as if it had been doused with petrol. Fine-grained and rather smoky when soft, it sounded like it has been sand-blasted when suddenly unleashed in all its primal force. And of all the stylistic…