"At the end of 1996 I was 27 yrs old. I recorded my first album while studying jazz at the Sydney Conservatorium of Music.
I improvised a series of contrafacts - which are original melodies played on the chord changes of standard jazz tunes. I chose these particular tunes from a long list of standard jazz tunes that I was studying at the time.
27 years later in 2023 I recorded the same tunes with the same bass player - my dear friend Mark Lau - and another dear friend on drums - Dave Goodman - to capture how my skills of melodic invention had developed.
Often the title of a contrafact will be a wordplay on the actual title of a standard jazz tune. So if you know the titles of jazz standards you can figure out what tunes we're playing over.
God willing I'll record and release vol3 in another 27 years..."
saxophone - spike mason
double bass - steve elphick
drums - dave goodman
you are these things
figure and spirit
both of us alone
oh where can you be
you know what it is
bella by barlight
triune
river jordan