John Shand | Music & Other Spheres Posts

July 3, 2016 / Album Reviews - Archive

LIVE AT FOUNDRY 616 (www.stevefitzmaurice.com.au) 7/10 Tribute bands usually cause me adverse health reactions, like running screaming from the room or sitting endlessly asking “Why?” Somehow Mingus Amongst Us leaves me hale and hearty. Perhaps it is that baritone saxophonist Steve Fitzmaurice’s primary concern with the project seems to be…

June 30, 2016 / Concert Reviews - Archive

Concert Hall, June 13 9.5/10 This was exhilarating and tinged with greatness. The Wayne Shorter Quartet has been together 16 years, and its unique approach to jazz has developed further since its 2010 visit; grown farther from its antecedents, whether they be Shorter’s own projects (including Weather Report), his association…

June 29, 2016 / Album Reviews - Archive

THE GLOAMING 2 (Real World/Planet) 10/10 No one damages a tradition more than a conservative, whose dry immutability makes it crack and ultimately crumble. Keeping a tradition alive actually requires the moisturizing effect of change. Not that the members of the Gloaming are realising their quiet revolution in Irish traditional…