#aussie friday

Fire – Mark Simmonds and The Freeboppers

Australian tenor saxophonist and composer Mark Simmonds passed away this year in September, aged 65. His obituary in the Sydney Morning Herald begins by capturing what it was like to hear him live:

You'd look around the room and the see the other faces, blanched and wide-eyed, as though subjected to extreme G-forces. The sound of the saxophone, so overwhelming it seemed to hit you with the force of a shockwave, combined with the torrential emotions being conveyed to make a perfect musical storm.

This was a typical concert by Mark Simmonds, perhaps the most potent musician Australia has produced on any instrument in any idiom or era, and one of the world's key tenor saxophonists of the past 45 years.

Simmonds played many main stream soul-funk, pop and rock bands, including  Dynamic Hepnotics, Jump Back Jack, Ol' 55, Bentley's Boogie Band, and Renee Geyer Band (and at least half a dozen more).

More importantly for us though, he was prominent in the Sydney jazz scene in the 70s, 80s and 90s, leading his own groups, mostly under the name of The Freeboppers. Unfortunately The Freeboppers one and only published album Fire which won the 1995 ARIA award for Best Jazz Album, isn’t on Spotify. 

Thank God for the ABC, who recorded this live session as part of the Jazztrack programme. Strangely enough, while this track Fire shares the same name as the ARIA winning album, the song is not present on that album. 

I’ve been unable to discover when this track was recorded or who was in the lineup at the time, as over the years, many of Australia's finest players passed through the band.

I think this recording of Fire captures exactly what one reviewer wrote of a 1987 Freeboppers concert

Mark Simmond's Freeboppers devastated the Basement with an unbroken hour-and-a-half orgy of rhythm and fire.

Sandy Evans – Indigo Hues

Well known Sydney based jazz Saxophonist, composer, and educator, Sandy Evans came in at number 51 on the ABC Jazz 100. Sandy was awarded a PhD from Macquarie University for practice-based research in Carnatic Jazz Intercultural music. In 2010 she was awarded the Order of Australia for services to music.

Sandy’s album When the Sky Cries Rainbows which won the 2011 Aria for Best Independent Jazz Album, and which Indigo Hues debuted on, is not available on Spotify. Fortunately however, Sandy performed this beautiful composition with Melbourne avant-garde jazz pianist Andrea Keller at the Wangaratta Jazz Festival in 2018, and ABC Jazz were there to record it.

Sandy Evans is presently a Lecturer in Music at the University of New South Wales.

Julien Wilson – Beautiful Accident

Melbourne born saxophonist Julien Wilson has released close to twenty albums as leader or co-leader and plays regularly with a wide range of groups. He has received several awards including the 2015 APRA Art Music Award for Excellence in Jazz, and a number of Bell awards, including Australian Jazz Artist of the Year in 2008, and in 2014, Best Australian Jazz Song of the Year, Best Australian Jazz Work of the Year, and Best Australian Traditional Jazz Album.

Beautiful Accident is the first track from the album While You Were Sleeping, which was a finalist in the 2007 Bell awards for Best Contemporary Jazz Album. 

The album adds Philip Rex (bass), Jordan Murray (trombone) and Simon Barker (drums) to Julien’s long-standing trio with Steve Grant (accordion) and Stephen Magnusson (guitar) who have been praised as one of the most original groups in Australian Jazz.

Julien was voted in at number 75 in ABC radio’s Jazz 100.

Archie Roach – Little by Little

In two weeks time, indigenous musician Archie Roach will be inducted into the ARIA Hall of Fame as part of this year’s ARIA awards. When Archie’s induction was announced, he reflected on changes for local First Nations people during his career.

People have grown, they understand a bit more about things, about First Peoples in particular. I feel more Australian now, I feel more part of the broader community rather than a sub-group or a subculture.

His album Tell Me Why, from which today’s Aussie Friday track is taken, is nominated for the three ARIA awards; Best Male Artist, Best Adult Contemporary Album, and Best Independent Release. The album also won Album of the Year in the 2020 National Indigenous Music Awards.

Tell Me Why is a companion album to Archie's memoir of the same name. It re-imagines 11 songs that have defined Roach's career, together with two songs that were written and never recorded, two songs of early influence, and three brand new recordings.

The house Archie is building in his song Little by Little is his life. It’s a proud and positive reflection on adversity, perseverance, resilience and love. A child of the stolen generation, Archie was taken from his family at the age of three, along with two sisters, and sent to a Salvation Army orphanage. At eleven he asked the couple he believed to be his parents why he was black and they were white; they told him his parents had died. At the age of fifteen, he was contacted by his natural sister, who told him their mother had just died. He spent the next fourteen years on the streets, battling alcoholism. He met his lifelong partner, the late Ruby Hunter, who became a great singer / songwriter in her own right, when she was sixteen.

While Roach is known for folk, blues, and alternative rock, this album is full of jazz cred. It is produced by Australian jazz icon Paul Grabowsky, who also takes his place at the piano, and is joined by Stephen Magnusson on guitar,  Sam Anning on bass, and Dave Beck on drums.

The whole album is worth a listen. I particularly liked the duet with Emma Donovan, Just a Closer Walk with Thee, which was Roach's favourite childhood hymn. The performance is a tribute to the magic of Louis Armstrong and Mahalia Jackson's version.

Happy First Aussie’s Friday

– Bozzie 🎷 🇦🇺 

Paper Moon – Monica Trapaga

For Aussies of a certain age group, Monica Trapaga is more well known for Say Hello,  Three Little Fishies, and There’s a Bear in There, than for her work as a jazz vocalist. While she has worked in a number of jazz combos and ensembles, including Pardon Me Boys, Monica and the Moochers, Monica Trapaga and the Bachelor Pad, and currently Monica Trapaga + The Pocket Trio; “Play School” still makes the first page of search results.

Monica was born in Sydney. Her mother was Catalan-American, and her father a Basque-Chinese. She has described her "fairly crazy Latin family” as instrumental in developing her musical tastes and influencing her exploration of a range of contemporary styles, performing with jazz, pop and big bands. (For those of you who remember the 70s shock rock group Jimmy and The Boys, Ignatius Jones is Monica’s older brother).

I grew up surrounded by music – everything from jazz and Latin to opera and classical. My father had an interest in jazz, particularly Afro-Cuban jazz.

The only album I could find on Spotify other than her work on Play School, is Sugar, which is under her own name rather than any of the above mentioned groups. So continuing the thread of the last few days, I have chosen a track from the album often associated with Nat King Cole, (It’s Only a) Paper Moon.

The song was written in 1932, and was originally given the title "If You Believed in Me”. It has become a jazz standard, far more successful than the broadway musical it was written for, “The Great Magoo”. More than two dozen jazz artists and old time crooners have recorded versions of it.

On this recording, along with Monica, you can hear Peter Locke on piano, David Blenkhorn on guitar, Bob Barnard on Trumpet, Paul Furniss on Clarinet, David Seidel on bass, and Andrew Dickeson on drums.

I Touch Myself – Kate Ceberano

Melbourne born Kate Ceberano is an Aussie singer who has been called one of the greatest voices our music industry has ever produced. She is most well known for her substantial success in mainstream pop, however her versatility and breadth are undeniable, gaining notoriety in soul music and jazz.

The album today’s Aussie Friday track is taken from, Tryst, is a collaboration with Paul Grabowsky. It won ARIA awards in both 2019 (Best Jazz Album) and 2020 (Best Independent Jazz Album or EP). The album is a collection of love song and reinterpretations from the past 50 years.

And yes, today’s song is a reinterpretation of the Divinyls I Touch Myself. Trust me, it’s a long way from Chrissy Amphlett thrashing it out. Given the subject matter, and Kate’s amazing treatment of it, I am going to avoid making any comment, and just leave you to enjoy.

Kate Ceberano was voted in at number 42 in the ABC’s Jazz 100, and Paul Grabowsky at number 34.

Freak of the Week – Barney McAll

Australian pianist Barney McAll was voted in at number 83 in ABC Jazz’s Jazz 100. McAll was born in Melbourne in 1966, and received his Bachelor of Music from the Victorian College of the Arts in Melbourne. In 1997 he moved to New York to join saxophonist Gary Bartz’s band. As well as remaining to be a member of the Gary Bartz Quartet, he also plays with the Josh Roseman Unit, Fred Wesley & The JB's, Groove Collective, and Kurt Rosenwinkel's "Heartcore".

His 1996 debut album, Exit, was recorded in three cities on two continents with 19 musicians, with crews from Melbourne, Sydney and New York. McAll wrote or co-wrote nine of the twelve tracks on Exit, and today I have chosen his Freak of the Week. It was recorded with Americans Vincent Herring (alto sax) and legendary drummer Jimmy Cobb here in Australia.

The session with Vincent and Jimmy – recorded while they were here with Nat Adderley in ’94 – was very special. It seemed surreal cramming them into my small St Kilda flat to rehearse.