Our Man In Memphis

Sydney Morning Herald

Thursday September 6, 2007

John Shand

John Shand gives the lowdown on this year's Jazz: Now festival.

Musicians certainly get around. When I dial Tom O'Halloran's mobile number, I expect to be speaking to him in his Marrickville home but the reception sounds too dodgy. "Where are you, Tom?" I ask. The telephone mumbles at me and I take a stab at what I think I've heard. "You're in Noosa?" I ask. "No, but I'll be there shortly, too," he says. "I'm in Memphis."

That's Memphis, Tennessee. O'Halloran is on tour with Void, one of the Perth bands of which he remains a member despite having moved to Sydney.

This is the second time the jazz pianist has been to the US this year and the trips back to Western Australia are constant, with demand for O'Halloran in his home town surging since he studied composition at the Sydney Conservatorium of Music.

Sydney has a reputation as a city where there is no work for musicians but O'Halloran gets by, and not just from gallivanting around the planet. Breaking into the local jazz scene, however, was not easy.

"I didn't know a hell of a lot of people because most people who move from Perth tend to go to Melbourne," he says.

Nonetheless, word of his phenomenal skills soon spread. O'Halloran believes Sydney is the hotbed of creative music in Australia.

"If there's an Australian voice that's coming out of jazz, I reckon it's through Sydney," he says.

It's a theory that can be tested at the fourth Jazz: Now festival at the Opera House, which includes the debut of the new Sydney version of the Tom O'Halloran Trio (with bassist Cameron Undy and drummer Evan Mannell) on the final night.

The first night, Wednesday, September 19, features the intergalactic energy of the 17-piece Jazzgroove Mothership Orchestra, sharing the bill with Divine Dialects, a sextet of fine young players. The next night has a quartet of our leading double bassists going under the name of Low Fidelity, plus the no-holds-barred Showa 44 and the Kristin Berardi Band.

The Friday has Snap, a quartet of saxophonists led by Phillip Johnston, plus Trio Apoplectic and trumpeter Phil Slater's brilliant band. Then comes O'Halloran's night, shared with phantasmagoric German outfit Matthias Schriefl & Shreefpunk.

For O'Halloran it will be a welcome return to the Opera House Studio, where he has been a finalist and an accompanist in the Freedman Jazz competition. It will also be a chance to play at home. But catch him while you can. It's probably only a fleeting visit.

JAZZ: NOW

September 19-22, 8.15pm,

Opera House, 9250 7777, $35/$25 (season pass $120/$80).

© 2007 Sydney Morning Herald

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