John Shand Posts

February 26, 2015 / Album Reviews - Archive

Paper Tiger (Assemblers) Without a bass in a band the players can either compensate for its absence or maximise the sonic space that is opened up. Guitarist Stephen Magnusson, saxophonist Jamie Oehlers and drummer Ben Vanderwal favour the former option, while occasionally making the latter work brilliantly. You hear the…

February 24, 2015 / Concert Reviews - Archive

Camelot Lounge, February 15 So many jazz singers shoot themselves in the foot by suffering the delusion that they are also credible songwriters. Limping and bloodied they persist, and we, the forgiving audience, wear the tripe to hear the standards. Jo Lawry, the finest jazz vocalist Australia has produced (and…

February 19, 2015 / Concert Reviews - Archive

Camelot Lounge, February 14 It is curious that the Moral Minority’s more stitched-up members have never tried to ban the tango. Perhaps their seething minds miss its implicit erotic charge, most obvious in the dance steps, but evident in the music, too: a constant collision of dark and light, loud…