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'the adventurous label'
The Penguin Guide to Jazz on CD

   
         
     
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Personnel:

Tim Stevens piano
Ben Robertson acoustic bass
Dave Beck drums

 

TIM STEVENS TRIO 'Mickets' - RF088

Audio samples:   Our little systems    …the body desolate as a staircase

The new album from Melbourne’s Tim Stevens Trio, Mickets is a program mostly of original compositions that seek to build on the composed and improvised repertoire the band has developed in its five years’ existence. A return to written forms does not mean a move backwards, for the benefits of having explored collective spontaneous improvisation on Three friends in winter (2005) are evident in the group’s thoughtful and attentive interplay.

This is brought to bear on the thoughtful compositions of Stevens, tunes that explore idiosyncratic harmonic structures and extend his lyrical melodic style. Whether it’s the groovy ‘Rufus redux’, kicking things off, or the more gently expressive ‘Prologue-like’, the compositions draw the band to regions of mutual exchange and varied expression. Stevens (piano), Ben Robertson (double bass) and Dave Beck (drums), draw on a rich and wide-ranging palette of instrumental sound and ensemble texture throughout the recording. ‘Our little systems’, with its more complicated written structure, gives way to challenging material for improvisation, yet the trio sounds unhurried and unflustered, working out its ideas in logical succession and developing a solid overall structure. The openness of the ballad ‘…the body desolate as a staircase’ might challenge the patience of many musicians, but Tim Stevens’ band draws maximum expression from space itself, and each sound is considered and compelling.

For those who have followed Stevens’ compositions since Nine open questions, or even his earlier albums with Browne – Haywood – Stevens (King, Dude and Dunce and Sudden in a shaft of sunlight), these things need not be so very surprising. But the development of his compositional voice and of this trio in dealing with his pieces is an ongoing process of refinement, and Mickets demonstrates that the trio is resisting any temptation to repeat itself, rather, it continues to seek challenge.

 
         
 

Personnel:

Miroslav Bukovsky
trumpet, flugelhorn
James Greening
trombone, didgeridu
Alister Spence
piano, keyboards
Jeremy Sawkins
electric, acoustic guitar
Adam Armstrong
bass
Fabian Hevia
drums, percussion

with special guest
Joseph Tawadros

oud

 

WANDERLUST 'When In Rome' RF077

Audio samples:   Samba Nova    MDD

This new Wanderlust disc When in Rome, Wanderlust’s first live CD, presents a performance at the famous jazz festival at Villa Celimontana. Staged near the Colosseum in the gardens of one of the great Roman villas, the event has run through the summer months for more than 15 years, and features bands from all over the world.

This was their second visit to the Villa and the recording captures the wonderful atmosphere and connection between band and audience.

The musicians who have played in or with Wanderlust over the years are in many ways a phalanx of vibrant contributors to Australian music: Wanderlust’s leader Miroslav Bukovsky (trumpet, flugelhorn) and James Greening (trombone, didjeridu) have a long history of collaboration ¾ in various salsa bands in the early ‘80s, then groups led by funk maestro Jackie Orszaczky (Jump Back Jack, Industrial Accident, Hungarian Rap Sadists), Mark Simmonds’ Freeboppers, Ten Part Invention led by John Pochée, and Bukovsky’s Major Minority; Alister Spence (piano, keyboards) and Steve Elphick from that compelling band Clarion Fracture Zone; the fantastic drummer/percussionist Greg Sheehan also played in the Freeboppers and Major Minority.

They brought their own musical ideas and personalities to an increasingly diverse scene that mixed elements of post bop, free jazz, Latin, African, funk, Electronica, and their own musical heritage (Bukovsky came from Czechoslovakia, Fabian Hevia [drums] from Chile). As a result, the band is influenced by folk music from many parts of the world, but without imitating those influences.

On this occasion they were joined by former bass player Adam Armstrong, for some years now resident in NYC. The disc also includes a guest performance by a remarkable oud player, Joseph Tawadros.

Our dear friend Daniele ‘Chipster’ Di Giovanni was live sound engineer at this performance; he had the presence of mind to press the ‘record’ button, as a recording was not planned.

These pieces from two 60 minutes sets are a cross-section from Wanderlust’s repertoire of the last 15 years, while favouring the more textural, ambient sounds. The playing is freer and more exuberant compared to some of the studio discs, so, even though the sound quality may not be 100 percent HI FI at times, it’s a very good account of Wanderlust in full flight.

 
         
     
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