SMH review....

of the Resurgence Band's recent Sound Lounge performance here

Extempore with James Morrison

Exhilarating doing duo free improvisations with James Morrison on Sunday night at Brisbane Powerhouse; it felt crystal clear, selfless and pure. What a musician James is - and what a communicator! I'm so glad to have had the opportunity to experience this music and a hearty slice of life itself while sharing the vantage point of a master like James. And! - a standing ovation for wholly extemporised material from an audience largely believed to be his normal Brisbane crowd who might be expected to expect something they know. A lot of theories are just that, theories.....

ARIA nomination

My latest CD with the Resurgence Band Tell It Like It Is has been nominated for an ARIA Award for Best Jazz Album. Winner announced in November.

Video shoot of Sydney launch of new CD

Opening song here

Watch the whole gig here

First North American review of new CD

The first North American review of Tell It Like It Is, by respected critic and All About Jazz Managing Editor John Kelman is here.

Japan

The Resurgence Band will performs two concerts in this year's Tokyo Jazz Festival in early September. Other Asian dates are in play.

Multicam video of Sydney CD launch

A multicam shoot of the recent Sydney CD launch concert by the Resurgence Band at the Factory Theatre can be seen here.

You can watch the whole thing or navigate between songs and announcements.

In some exciting recent news the band has been invited to do two concerts at the Tokyo Jazz Festival in September with further Asian dates in play.

SSSO

On Sunday June 21 I will be performing The Last Signal by Stuart Greenbaum at the Sutherland Entertainment Centre, Sydney with the Sutherland Shire Symphony Orchestra conducted by Sven Libaek. I'm honoured firstly to be playing with my local community orchestra (I live in the Shire) which I performed with when I was in my teens and also to be working again with Sven, a consummate musician with whom I recorded many studio projects. Last but not least it is terrific to be playing The Last Signal again which I premiered in the Aurora Festival in 2006 and which was written especially for me by Stuart. The concert begins at 2:30pm.

Promo video

Short promotional video from the ABC on YouTube re the new CD Tell It Like It Is.

Just back from the Australian tour, 'twas a blast...

Review...

of the Resurgence Band CD launch in Sydney here.

Touring

Having a great time touring with the Resurgence Band for the new CD Tell It Like It Is.

Here are the tour dates:

Sat May 16 Brisbane Valley Jazz Festival (CD launch)
Sun May 17 Melbourne Bennetts Lane Jazz Lab (CD launch)
Wed May 20 Sydney Factory Theatre (CD launch)
Fri May 22 Adelaide The Promethean
Sat May 23 Perth The Ellington Jazz Club
Tues May 26 Albany WA Albany Town Hall
Wed May 27 Mandurah WA Mandurah Performing Arts Centre
Fri May 29 Darwin Darwin Entertainment Centre
Mon June 1 505

Online interview...

..about the new CD and tour here.

Ordering new CD

The new CD is being released May 1 but can be ordered online already here.

YOU NEED A VERY SPECIAL DRUMMER FOR IT TO SOUND BETTER THAN NO DRUMS

Western non-classical music has evolved to the point where a composite instrument called a drum kit (or set) consisting of several drums and several cymbals of varying sizes is played continuously with four limbs throughout the entire rendition of any given piece (with occasional brief exceptions).

This is quite unusual in the history of music across all cultures. The density of a multi-drum/cymbal set-up and the unique application of four limbs using pedal mechanisms for the feet is equivalent to at least two instrumentalists playing drums with hands. The cymbals would be another player. Leaving aside the special case of actual music for drums alone this use of a drumset in a wider instrumental ensemble is an unusual instrumental balance. Continuous percussion in folkloric musics might come from a single tambourine or hand drum playing with several melodic instruments rather than what amounts to maybe the density of three traditional percussionists pitted against an equivalent amount of melodic instruments. Moreover there is the singularity of the very assumption of the drumset's necessary constancy in the foreground of the music. Traditional folk musics and non-Western classical traditions like Indian and Arabic musics feature long passages without drums or if the drumming is continuous it doesn’t necessarily have the same degree of constant primacy that it so often does in jazz, rock and related forms. And of course in Western classical music drumming and cymbals are used only very occasionally for punctuation.

Now, the situation with drums as we now know them is all very well and I in no way intend to make a case that it should be any other way in non-classical Western music. But what is the musical purpose of this unusual case of the multiple drums + cymbals playing such a big role all the time?

Drummers need to justify their existence far more. It's not at all the case that "swingin’ or groovin’" music needs drums inherently. A master folkloric player will groove like crazy without drums. Same for the unstoppable swing of a sublime jazz musician playing alone or indeed the rhythmic propulsion of a great country guitar picker. A certain kind of classical player - I'm thinking of someone like Glenn Gould - can also groove palpably without drums. Orchestras (really good ones) might get you on your feet dancing in certain passages with no more than an odd timpani bump, or not even that.

Clearly an accomplished musician doesn't (or shouldn't) need a drummer to keep time for them or to create a groove that they themselves are apparently incapable of generating. Why would it be that way other than lack of skill? All instruments are percussion instruments. Chick Corea once remarked that he liked to approach the piano as if he were a drummer with 88 drums and 10 drumsticks at his disposal. Even a voice can be percussive. So really – as is the case with every other instrument – the drums should bring something truly special of its own beyond the rhythmic dimension that all instruments contribute to anyway.

What distinguishes the master drummers that I know of is that they make sure they are really adding to the music something that it would lack without them. And so mere timekeeping is no more important to them than it is to any player. They play in time and share in the groove along with everyone else, no more, no less. But when music without a drummer is capable of grooving of its own accord if we're going to have drums all the time it behoves the drummer not to forget that along with everyone else they must make very sure they are at all times adding something of unique value to the timbre, orchestration, counterpoint, dynamics and all the other spectrums of the music. And since their instrument can so easily dominate adversely, they of all people need to pay extra special attention to balance.

Let's strive to be sure the music really is better by virtue of what the drums are playing as it clearly is when Tony Williams - or any other master - plays. Too often the reverse holds, with a bombastic, gormless drummer wringing all the dynamics out of the music, puncturing a carefully spun fabric with boorish ejaculations and drowning out or indeed completely destroying the subtleties, careful pacing and shadings of other players to whom they just can’t be bothered to pay deep attention since the art of accompanying largely evades them. When this lamentable situation is in play the drumming is so far from being special that the music really would sound better without it.

Mark Isaacs, Good Friday, 2009

CD liner notes - Tell It Like It Is

In 2006 I recorded my previous CD Resurgence – also released on ABC Jazz – in Los Angeles. That album was in every way a studio project. Not only was it made in a recording studio, the band itself had never – nor has it ever since – played live. It’s a unique way of working, and when one engages musicians who are not only formidable jazz players but also consummate studio musicians – as I had done with Vinnie Colaiuta, Bob Sheppard and the rest of the American team – it is quite possible to work very successfully despite the band meeting each other and the music the day before the sessions. I think of the results as being as crafted, polished and succinct as I could ever want them to be.

On New Year’s Day 2007, feeling in the doldrums with the LA recording yet to find a label, I sat down at the piano and came up with the melody of You Never Forget Love surprisingly quickly. It instantly became a song in search of a band and I realised how much I wanted to continue with the particular instrumentation and subgenre of jazz I had explored on Resurgence.

Integral to the sound was the sheer genius of Australian guitarist James Muller who had joined me in Los Angeles. The ‘subgenre’ I’ll call my take on jazz fusion, melding the rhythmic feels and sound worlds of gospel, blues, soul, Latin and classical into a largely acoustic jazz framework while approaching the composing in a way that contrasts highly arranged – even through-composed – sections with the ‘blowing’ (or improvised) soloistic passages.

An email chat with James helped me find the ideal players for the Australian edition of the band. Bassist Brett Hirst had played superbly in some previous music of mine in a similar format on a tour in 2000 and had played hard to get with a busy schedule ever since. I knew the warm and friendly grittiness of his sound would suit the new project perfectly. Matt Keegan’s loving approach to melody and beautiful sax sound had already knocked me out at a concert I had curated in Brisbane. Drummer Tim Firth was the wild card, a young player whom I had in fact never heard play, but he was James Muller’s drummer, which was recommendation enough. Tim grew into being the perfect drummer for the band, sensitive and strong, creative yet accurate, virtuosic and subtle. Since so many seminal ideas pertinent to the band had emerged from the Resurgence CD and we would be touring on the back of its release, it seemed natural to call it the ‘Resurgence Band’.

At the soundcheck for the first gig in March 2007 I felt the balance of personalities was perfect with all opposites neatly in place, as I hoped they were in the music – in turn serious and fun, edgy and pensive, the list goes on. With a brand new repertoire written since LA we became a touring – rather than a studio – band, and we certainly got around. An Asian tour in 2007 took us to Japan, Korea and Thailand followed by an extensive Australian tour later that year and concerts through 2008.

Unlike the studio project, with a working band like this the music can develop organically on the road. As well as bringing in new tunes, I’d endlessly refine the arrangements, bailing up band members with yet another idea (or scribbling) whether in a motel room in Mackay, as our seatbelts clicked in on an international flight takeoff, or at soundcheck and backstage. Eyes would sometimes roll in response to my ‘Guys, I’ve just thought of one more thing’, not least because it was never the last tweak. Of course, much changed of its own accord without direction from me or anyone else. I became delighted with the dynamics and pacing the band achieved, and felt we were reaching for a larger-scale narrative beyond merely presenting tunes and solos.

When the opportunity to record arose in the second half of 2008 it was pragmatic factors that led me to a live rather than a studio recording, but as so often is the case, what was practical was also the perfect aesthetic. The band was distinguished from the previous project by being a working band, so how better than to capture it than in performance? And without losing any of the polish of a studio project, I knew that playing live we could also stretch out and really go for it. We recorded two nights for safety but everything here came from the second night, which had that required magic. At the end of the first night filmmaker Roen Davis offered to document the second night with a five-camera video shoot and subsequently edited it painstakingly to the CD mixes. I don’t think I’ve yet had a better offer at the end of a gig and I hope that the pictures along with the sound of Tell It Like It Is will soon be coming to a screen near you.

To tell it like it is simply denotes honesty and I hope you’ll feel the music coming from just
this place.

Mark Isaacs

Tour poster - Australian Tour May 16-29

CD cover - release May 1 on ABC/Universal

Nice, huh? Thanks ABC designers!

Facebook Page

Find the Mark Isaacs Resurgence Band's Facebook page here.

Between the Shores video

Between the Shores live at the Sound Lounge, Seymour Centre, Sydney, August 29, 2008. Composed by Mark Isaacs.

Mark Isaacs - piano, James Muller - guitar, Matt Keegan - soprano sax, Brett Hirst - bass, Tim Firth - drums.

From the CD Tell It Is (ABC/Universal - release date May 2, 2009).

Video produced by CBD Central Business Digital and includes all other material from the CD.

Here between the hither and the farther shore
While time is withdrawn, consider the future
And the past with an equal mind.

T.S. Eliot
THE DRY SALVAGES (No. 3 of 'Four Quartets')

New Year

The flute piece is finished, it's a Sonatine.

I'm currently writing for a brilliant Australian classical trumpet player based in New York for his Masters recital at Julliard in May. His name is Brent Grapes and I plan to be there for the rehearsals and premiere. It's a piece for trumpet and chamber ensemble.

Meantime I'm getting ready for the release of the Resurgence Band CD Tell It Like It Is on ABC Jazz May 2 followed by a national tour.

Dates for the tour are:

Sat May 16 Brisbane Valley Jazz Festival (CD launch)
Sun May 17 Melbourne Bennetts Lane Jazz Lab (CD launch)
Wed May 20 Sydney Factory Theatre (CD launch)
Fri May 22 Adelaide The Promethean
Sat May 23 Perth The Ellington Jazz Club
Tues May 26 Albany WA Albany Town Hall
Wed May 27 Mandurah WA Mandurah Performing Arts Centre
Fri May 29 Darwin Darwin Entertainment Centre

Interview with Chick Corea

I recently had the exciting opportunity to interview Chick Corea, who has been an inspiration to me since I was a teenager. You can read what resulted here.

Composing

Since the beginning of November I have been a hermit. Composing a piece for flute and piano commissioned by the Doecke-Callanan duo. Melissa Doecke (flute) and Mary Callanan (piano) are based in London, though Australian expatriates. They've been making good headway and doing high profile concerts. The piece should be finished early in January. The last time I wrote for flute and piano I was sixteen!

Video production

I'm thrilled that a multi-camera video of the recent concert by the Resurgence band that generated the new CD is currently being edited. It's all thanks to Roen Davis of Central Business Digital who initiated the project with great enthusiasm. The CD will be released on ABC early in May followed by an Australian tour.

New CD recording

The recording of the Resurgence band went really so well! Fantastic to record live. The mix was a blast. I lived at the wonderful Studios 301 for several days in the apartment they have for clients and worked with star engineer Richard Lush. The CD - called Tell It Like It Is - will be out in due course. There are six tracks online as a preview here.

CD recording with Resurgence band

I will be recording a new CD live at the Sound Lounge in Sydney on Thursday August 28 & Friday August 29 with the Resurgence band. This is a favourite venue and now has a brand new Yamaha piano (I and several Sydney pianists performed in a fundraiser concert to assist the purchase on July 30). The material for the band has been developed over the last 18 months since the release of the Resurgence CD and has been honed during an Asian and Australian tour last year. More info here

Two piano project

Rai Thistlethwayte and I are developing a jazz two-piano project. It's been great fun putting it together - I love Rai's playing. We'll be performing it at the Brisbane Jazz Festival on Saturday November 1.

Instrumental Work of the Year

At the Classical Music Awards at the Sydney Opera House last night I was honoured to have been presented with the award for "Instrumental Work of the Year" for my piece Walk a Golden Mile from the CD Resurgence.

Classical Music Awards

There are three works on the finalist short list for "Instrumental Work of the Year" at the Classical Music Awards. Two of the three are mine, Walk a Golden Mile and Waltz for Melanie both from my CD Resurgence.

The winner will be announced at the awards night to take place at the Sydney Opera House on Monday July 21. I have also been asked to perform at the Awards. The Classical Music Awards are sponsored by APRA and the Australian Music Centre. Full list of finalists here.

Book review

My review of The Permanent Underground: Australian Contemporary Jazz in the New Millenium by Peter Rechniewski (Currency House) can be read here.

Melbourne performance Sunday July 6

A quick visit to Melbourne and a performance with David Jones (drums & percussion) and Evripides Evripidou (electric bass) at Bennetts Lane was a most memorable evening of spontaneous music making.

Recently

Having worked on composing the score of Songs at First Light for several months it was exciting to put it into rehearsal and make music with a 9-piece band consisting of jazz piano trio, a string quartet and two classical wind players and premiere it at the Aurora Festival. For the moment you can still hear audio-on-demand of the concert here (under "Listen to the latest programs" scroll down to Saturday April 19).

Following that the Resurgence Band gave two performances in Sydney at the Sound Lounge, Seymour Centre and will perform in Sydney and Newcastle in July. The band has evolved to a new level after extensive touring last year and I hope to record it very soon for CD.

New composition, new performances

I have just completed a major composition entitled Songs at First Light for jazz piano trio and chamber sextet, a 40-minute piece that I have been working on full-time for several months. It will be premiered in the Aurora Festival on Saturday April 19 along with the premiere of my String Quartet No. 3. More information here. The concert will be broadcast direct to air nationally on ABC Classic FM and streamed live on the Web.

In May I will be performing again with the Resurgence band, including some new material. We'll play in Sydney at the Sound Lounge, Seymour Theatre Centre on Saturdays May 3 & 10 and again on May 21 at the Stonnington Jazz Festival in Melbourne.

Aurora Festival

I'm immersed in composing a new work for the Aurora Festival in Sydney. More info here.

Resurgence reviews

Mark Isaacs Resurgence CD (ABC Jazz/Universal) with James Muller, Bob Sheppard, Steve Tavaglione, Jay Anderson and Vinnie Colaiuta

“Isaacs, with every release, has refined his systematic approach to post-modernity jazz to the point that his sound defines what jazz should sound like at the advent of the 21st Century in the same way Joe King Oliver, Satch, and Bix defined New Orleans/Chicago, Basie and Ellington defined the swing era, Charlie Parker and Dizzy Gillespie defined be bop and Miles Davis defined everything else”
C. Michael Bailey ALL ABOUT JAZZ (USA)

“James Muller’s lack of visibility isn’t just curious, it’s downright criminal. As is also true for Isaacs. With Resurgence the pianist makes it clear that he’s a writer who understands balance and a player who knows the meaning of context and development. There’s no posturing or meaningless displays on Resurgence—just fine writing, compelling playing and a group sound that’s all the more remarkable for it being a one-time event”
John Kelman ALL ABOUT JAZZ (USA)

“The success of Isaacs’ venture lies in, not only the unique accessibility of his compositions, but even more so in unspoken communication that allows for such immersion in, and expression of, music”
Don Williamson JAZZ REVIEW (USA)

“The original program is full of brightness and energy, harmonised by thoughtful composition…most impressive”
Takafumi Mimori SWING JOURNAL (JAPAN)

“An excellent CD of quality and substance” Brent Keefe DRUMMER MAGAZINE (UK)

“Some of the finest solos come from Isaacs himself, chiselled from the bones of the songs”
John Shand SYDNEY MORNING HERALD

“The album is an absolute gem…. this is one of the best jazz recordings to have been made by an Australian jazz artist in the last few years. It is essential listening”
Peter Kenyon JAZZREVIEW (PERTH JAZZ SOCIETY)

“Everything that is good about music is present; careful consideration of dynamics and texture with strong composition, improvisation and group interaction”
Aaron Searle MUSIC FORUM MAGAZINE (AUSTRALIA)

MARK ISAACS RESURGENCE BAND (touring band) with James Muller, Matt Keegan, Brett Hirst and Tim Firth

“Bigger than any big band on the night was the emotion pianist Mark Isaacs brought to the Wangaratta Town Hall at 11pm…..Isaacs felt every nuance and played it”
Roger Mitchell HERALD SUN (MELBOURNE)

“Isaacs’ compositions are reminiscent of Chick Corea’s tunefulness, but with a more laid back groove….recognisable for [his] trademark lyricism and craftsmanship”
Rosalind Appleby THE WEST AUSTRALIAN

“The intensity of the collective belief in the project was evident immediately, the leader's first solo having an almost frightening intensity to it, while still exuding a tangible and effecting beauty….This band must be heard”
“Mark Isaacs's Resurgence Band framed not only the leader's tender piano stories but also Matt Keegan's big scrawling tenor and James Muller's guitar playing, so gritty as to threaten gravel rash”
John Shand SYDNEY MORNING HERALD

“Mark Isaacs led his Resurgence band through an all-new original repertoire that coaxed some superb playing from all five musicians” Jessica Nicholas THE AGE (MELBOURNE)

“Magnificent originals penned by Isaacs…each one was a pearl”
JAZZ ACTION SOCIETY MAGAZINE (AUSTRALIA)

Recent and upcoming

Goodness, more than 2 months since I posted any news here.

The Australian tour by the Resurgence band was very succesful as was the 2007 Brisbane Jazz Festival which I curated. I hope to record the Resurgence band's repertoire in 2008 and give some more performances with this great bunch of musicians. The last concert on the tour was at Arthur Boyd's property Bundanon and I managed a 3-day break staying there with Jewel in the Writers' Cottage. After that I gave a concert at Temple Emanuel in Sydney with trio and singer Elana Stone. It was dedicated to my grandfather as it was the first anniversary of his passing. It was great to play with Elana again and Jono Brown and James Hauptmann made the trio warm and clean like crystal.

Right now I am focussed on composing a major piece for the 2008 Aurora Festival in Sydney. It will be for jazz piano trio (I'll play with Jono and James) with classical chamber ensemble (flute, clarinet and the Greenway string quartet). It will be a long work of about 40 minutes and a challenge to integrate the classical and jazz configurations into a coherent whole. It is also planned that the concert will feature the premiere of my Third String Quartet originally commissioned by Tankstream Quartet.

Other compositions on the agenda to be written during 2008 are a flute and piano piece for the UK-based Australian-expatriate Doecke Callanan Duo and a piece for recordist Genevieve Lacey, strings and myself on improvising piano which I will write as a result of my being awarded the 2007 Albert H. Maggs Composition Award by the University of Melbourne.

New composition

I've recently completed a new composition for the wonderful MLC School. It's called Between the Shores and is written for 7 flutes (one of which is an alto flute), vibraphone and bongos.

Review

New review of Resurgence at All About Jazz.

Resurgence Band Australian Tour Oct 25-Nov 25 2007

This band must be heard – SYDNEY MORNING HERALD

Mark Isaacs - piano James Muller - guitar Matt Keegan - saxophones
Brett Hirst - bass Tim Firth - drums

TOUR DATES

Canberra Thurs October 25 8:30pm Canberra Southern Cross Club Woden
Wollongong Fri October 26 7pm Wollongong Conservatorium of Music
Sydney Sat October 27 8:30pm The Sound Lounge
Adelaide Sun October 28 8:30pm The Promethean
Perth Mon October 29 8pm Charles Hotel
Burnie Tues October 30 8:30pm Stage Door the Café
Hobart Wed October 31 8:30pm Queen’s Head Café & Wine Bar
Wangaratta Festival of Jazz Sat November 3 9pm Wangaratta Town Hall
Armidale NSW Mon November 5 8pm The Cattleman's Motor Inn
Glenn Innes NSW Tues November 6 8pm Glenn Innes Service Club
Byron Bay NSW Wed November 7 8:30pm The Blue Birdy
Darwin Fri November 9 8pm Darwin Entertainment Centre
Gold Coast Sun November 11 2pm Gold Coast Arts Centre
Nowra NSW Sun November 25 1:30pm Boyd Education Centre, Riversdale

An article...

.... I wrote answering a question about perfect pitch here

ARIA Award nomination for Resurgence

I have just returned from the ARIA Awards Nomination Event in Sydney, where my new jazz CD on ABC Resurgence was nominated for Best Jazz Album. The winner will be announced at the Awards ceremony on October 15, but of course a nomination is always very nice acknowledgement in itself. I will be touring Australia with the Australian Resurgence Band Oct 25-Nov 25. Tour dates at my MySpace

(For overseas friends, the ARIA Awards are the Australian equivalent of the Grammy Awards).