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

Personnel:
Bern McGann alto saxophone
Roger Manins tenor saxophone
Warwick Alder trumpet
Lloyd Swanton acoustic bass
John Pochée drums

AU$28.00 incl postage

McGann ‘Solar’ RF093

Audio samples: Blues for Pablo Too  Salaam

2 CD Live Set

There are plenty of thrilling solar flairs in this complete live performance, recorded with energy and ecstatic crowd reactions intact. Who is the sergeant major who shouts "Yes! Yes sir!" through the second set? He is often at The Sound Lounge. On this special double CD you are too.

When superb tenor saxophonist Roger Manins made one of his return trips from New Zealand to Sydney, his second home, he was asked if he wanted to play as guest with the great Bernie McGann Quartet. ‘Bernie is my hero’, he replied. And both saxophonists are right up there throughout this performance. Their solos are tough, fiery and inventive and their overlapping lines are like heated conversations.

And so is the superb rhythm team of bassist Lloyd Swanton and drummer John Pochée up there. Free, interactive, erupting in all the right places, pulsing and driving at all times: a curious pairing of personalities who have given us some of the most exciting music of the past twenty years.

This is also some of the very best of trumpeter Warwick Alder on record. His flying runs, high torrid repetitions and surprise skips and jabs are deployed with a feverish edge.

There are some great McGann tunes and everything you could want from a live jazz performance: the McGann originals -- Birthday Blues, Spirit Song, D. Day, Blues for Pablo Too and Salaam – and a Ballad Medley -- Lover Man (Oh, where can you be?) Jimmy Davis, Roger ‘Ram’ Ramirez, Jimmy Sherman, Where are you? Jimmy McHugh, My Old Flame Arthur Johnston, Sam Coslow.

Personnel:
Alister Spence piano
Lloyd Swanton double bass
Toby Hall drums, glockenspiel

AU$28.00 incl postage

Alister Spence Trio ‘fit’ RF085

Personnel:
Chris Abrahams piano
Mike Majkowski acoustic bass
James Waples drums

AU$25.00 incl postage

Roil ‘Meaning’ RF099

Formed in 2007, the Sydney--based trio has been developing its own approach to jazz improvisation. 'Meaning' is its first release and was recorded in one uninterrupted session on 2 April 2008.

There is a controlled elegance to Roil's music -- not that this precludes the energetic. The music has an eddying quality that moves between group utterance and multi--stranded counterpoint, a weaving of textures that coagulate to form unified phrases before dispersing once more into the churning invention.

"A beautifully weighted trio, full of delicacy, mesmerizing accumulations of details and engulfing power" John Clare

'Meaning' will be launched at The Sound Lounge, Seymour Centre 8.30pm August 1.

The Keijzer McGuiness Quintet 'The Seed Habit' RF079

Audio samples:   Pigis    Apple S   Ballade de Conservatoir

Dutchman Remco Keijzer and Australian Lucian McGuiness normally reside hemispheres apart, but they brave long haul flights and carry-on restrictions to join musical forces whenever possible. In 2009 they launch the album The Seed Habit on Rufus Records (thru Universal). The disc is the product of three years collaboration in Australia and The Netherlands, and was recorded in Sydney in 2008.

Jazz is transitory. It twists, turns, strikes and moves on – just like the Keijzer McGuiness Quintet, and the music on their infectiously toe-tapping début release. A tenor and trombone combination like Keijzer & McGuiness is hard to beat - a sleek, humanistic sound curls up inside your ear and expands your mind.

Among the best young players in their hometowns, Keijzer-McGuiness gigs soar melodically, with gutsy engagement between personnel; a spectrum of youthful energy, soul, breadth and vigour.

This album delivers the key contribution of the jazz tradition: great playing to make your toe tap and your head bounce. Better still, it doesn't fall into the trap of over-seriousness. Sounds like fun.

Remco Keijzer (tenor saxophone)
Remco studied jazz and improvisation at The Hilversums Conservatory, The Conservatory of Amsterdam and The Manhattan School of Music. He’s played with luminaries Dick Oatts, Dave Binney and the Jazz Orchestra of the Concertgebouw, inspired a contemporary big band for emerging composers and added soulful sax to a popular live hip hop act sans samples.

Lucian McGuiness (trombone)
Lucian studied in Canberra, Amsterdam and Sydney. He plays with the Jazzgroove Mothership Orchestra and Ben Walsh’s Crusty Suitcase Band, and has performed or recorded with a wide variety of artists including Jim McNeely, Shasha Marley, The Herd, The Holland Big Band and Steve Hunter.

Matt McMahon (rhodes/piano)
Matt leads his own groups and co-leads Band of Five Names with Phil Slater and Simon Barker. He won the National Jazz Award, and the Freedman Jazz Fellowship, and has played and recorded with Dale Barlow, Greg Osby, Katie Noonan, Vince Jones, Bobby Previte, Dave Panichi and Steve Hunter.

Mike Majkowski (double bass)
Mike is one of the new breed of creative musicians emerging on Australia's music scene. A gifted jazz bassist committed to a wide spectrum of contemporary music: he’s a founding member of the large-scale Sydney-based electro-acoustic group The Splinter Orchestra; a member of The Now Now collective, and works closely with some of Australia's most highly regarded improvisers - Jon Rose, Chris Abrahams and Jim Denley.

James Hauptmann (drums)
James grew up in Canberra and studied at the Canberra School of Music. Living in Sydney, he records and tours nationally and internationally in bands including Mark Isaacs, Steve Hunter, Exposed Bone, Blue Juice and Elana Stone.

‘This quintet comprises four high-standard Sydney musicians and talented Amsterdam-based tenor saxophonist Remco Keijzer. The group completed a national tour promoting the CD in March, funded by the Sound Travellers project. The tracks are all original by front-line members Keijzer and trombonist Lucian McGuiness, who collaborated over three years to write the songs. The compositions are varied, accessibly contemporary rather than avant-garde, and are driven by a great rhythm section of pianist Matt McMahon, drummer James Hauptmann and bassist Mike Majkowski. The tenor and trombone work very well together, and Keijzer blows some fine solos, especially on Small Pictures, where he accelerates into the high register to build climactic excitement nearly to breaking point. Pigis has trombone and tenor moving slowly in unison against a driving solid four, almost -- but not quite – a marching beat. Impressive counterpoint develops between the two horns, while at times the trombone also holds pedal notes behind the tenor’s fast phrasing as the beat strides on. McGuiness’s trombone speaks up in a storming solo on Get Out and McMahon’s Fender Rhodes is supportive throughout, demonstrating his finely developed solo abilities on GC for CP.’ 
John McBeath Weekend Australian 3.5 stars