Expressive identity in the voices of three Australian saxophonists
McGann, Sanders and Gorman
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.1558/jazz.v8i1-2.26757Keywords:
Saxophone, Identity, Australian JazzAbstract
Saxophonists Bernie McGann, Kim Sanders and Tony Gorman are instantly recognisable by their distinctive sounds. Their lives and music exemplify three different ways that individual identity shaped the structure and sound of jazz in an Australian context. What musical materials and processes do they use to express their identity? How does their music reflects their cultural, social, and personal histories, and aesthetic preferences? What insights does their creative work offer into understandings about musical thought and practice, and identity in Australian jazz culture? These questions are investigated through analysis and discussion of a composition and improvisation from a seminal recording by each saxophonist: McGann’s ‘Playground’, Sanders’ ‘Gnome Chomsky’s Deep Focus Boogie-Woogie’ and Gorman’s ‘Spice Island’. The differences between these three saxophonists, and the wide variety of global musical source cultures they draw from indicate the impossibility of representing a singular Australian jazz identity. I argue that it is imperative to consider Australian jazz identity as multiply-constituted, and to undertake critical enquiry to understand and document the musical practices of the individuals and groups who create and inhabit Australia’s richly nuanced musical spaces.
References
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——(1978) The Charlie Parker Omnibook. New York: Atlantic Music Corp.
Appudurai, Arjun (1996) Modernity at Large: Cultural Dimensions of Globalization. Minneapolis: University of Minnesota Press.
Berliner, Paul F. (1994) Thinking in Jazz: The Infinite Art of Improvisation. Chicago: University of Chicago Press. http://dx.doi.org/10.7208/chicago/9780226044521.001.0001
Clare, John (1995) Bodgie Dada and the Cult of Cool: Jazz in Australia since the 1940s. Sydney: University of New South Wales Press.
Cooper, John Burnie (1996) ‘An Aesthetic Inquiry into a Process of Composition for the Jazz Orchestra’. PhD thesis, New York University.
De Veaux, Scott, and Gary Giddins (2009) Jazz. New York: W. W. Norton.
El Shibli, Fatima (2007) ‘Islam and the Blues’. Souls: A Critical Journal of Black Politics, Culture, and Society 9/2: 162-70. http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/10999940701382615
Erm, Anne (1990) ‘A Band of Lovers’. Eesti Ekspress (Estonian Express), 27 July.
Feld, Steven (2005) ‘Communication, Music, and Speech about Music’. In Music Grooves by Charles Keil and Steven Feld, 77–95. Tuscon, AZ: Fenestra Books.
Ford, Andrew (2012) ‘Bernie McGann: Alto Saxophonist Turns 75’. ABC Radio National, http://www.abc.net.au/radionational/programs/musicshow/bernie-mcgann/4418266 (accessed 6 September 2014).
Friberg, A., and A. Sundström (1997) ‘Preferred Swing Ratio in Jazz as a Function of Tempo’. TMH-QPSR 38/4: 19–27.
Hall, Stuart (1989) ‘Cultural Identity and Diaspora’. Framework: The Journal of Cinema and Media 36: 222–37.
Heble, Ajay (2000) Landing on the Wrong Note: Jazz, Dissonance and Critical Practice. New York and London: Routledge.
Hicks, Tony (2011) ‘The Path to Abstraction: A Practice Led Investigation into the Emergence of An Abstract Improvisation Language’. MMus thesis, Victorian College of the Arts and Music, University of Melbourne.
Johnson, Bruce (1987) The Oxford Companion to Australian Jazz. Melbourne: Oxford University Press.
Jones, Anthony Linden. (2013) ‘Kim Sanders—a Casual Conversation with Anthony Linden Jones’. musicinaustralia.org.au, http://musicinaustralia.org.au/index.php? (accessed 22 August 2014).
Jordan, Seth (2013) ‘Kim Sanders: World Music Pioneer was Also a Top Jazz Performer’. Sydney Morning Herald, 21 December.
Keil, Charles (2005) ‘Motion and Feeling through Music’. In Music Grooves by Charles Keil and Steven Feld, 53–76. Tuscan, AZ: Fenestra Books.
Lawrence, Brian (2014) ‘Scotbands: Musicians G’. http://www.scotbands.moonfruit.com/musicians-g/4532511282 (accessed 6 October 2014).
Levine, Mark (1989) The Jazz Piano Book. Petaluma, CA: Sher Music Co.
Lewis, George (2002) ‘Improvised Music after 1950: Afrological and Eurological Perspectives’. Black Music Research Journal 22: 215–46. http://dx.doi.org/10.2307/1519950
Lucas, Kevin (1991) Beyond El Rocco. Lucas Produkzions and FFC. DVD.
Marcus, Scott (1993) ‘The Interface between Theory and Practice: Intonation in Arab Music’. Asian Music (University of Texas Press) 24/2: 39–58. http://dx.doi.org/10.2307/834466
Monson, Ingrid (1996) Saying Something: Jazz Improvisation and Interaction. Chicago: University of Chicago Press.
Nicholson, Stuart (2005) Is Jazz Dead? (Or has it Moved to a New Address). New York and London: Routledge.
Page, Geoff (1997) Bernie McGann: A Life in Jazz. Armidale, NSW: Kardoorair Press.
Perry, David (1998) Dr Jazz. Artfilms. DVD.
Potter, Gary (1990) ‘Analyzing Improvised Jazz’. College Music Symposium 30/1: 64–74.
Rascher, Sigurd M. (1983) Top-Tones for the Saxophone. New York: Carl Fischer.
Sanders, Kim (2014) ‘Kim Sanders World Music’. http://kimsandersworldmusic.com (accessed 22 August 2014).
Sarath, Edward W. (2013) Improvisation, Creativity and Consciousness: Jazz as Integral Template for Music, Education, and Society. Albany, NY: SUNY Press.
Shand, John (2002) ‘Cooking up Multicultural Treats in a Musical Fantasy Land’. Sydney Morning Herald, 14 November.
——(2009) Jazz: The Australian Accent. Sydney: University of New South Wales Press.
Touma, Habib Hassan (1971) ‘Tha Maqam Phenomenon: An Improvisation Technique in the Music of the Middle East’. Ethnomusicology 15/1: 38–48. http://dx.doi.org/10.2307/850386
Ulanov, Barry (1979) ‘Jazz: Issues of Identity’. Musical Quarterly 65/2 (April): 245–56. http://dx.doi.org/10.1093/mq/LXV.2.245
Virtue, Therese (2010) ‘The Compelling Tug of Asymmetric Rhythms: Balkan, Gypsy and Klezmer Sounds in Australia’. In World Music: Global Sounds in Australia, ed. Seth Jordan, 46–56. Sydney: University of New South Wales Press.
Welsman, Kate (2010) ‘The Global Drop: Cross-cultural Hybrids and World DJ Culture’. In World Music: Global Sounds in Australia, ed. Seth Jordan, 199–195–211. Sydney: University of New South Wales Press.
Wilson, Peter Niklas (2001) Sonny Rollins: The Definitive Musical Guide. Berkeley, CA: Berkley Hills Books.
Wockner, Peter (2008) ‘Interview with Kim Sanders’. Jazzandbeyond. http://www.jazzandbeyond.com.au/sound/KimSanders.mp3 (accessed 23 August 2014).
Zolin, Miriam, ed. (2008) Extempore. Kew, Victoria: Extempore Pty Ltd.
Published
2015-06-16
Issue
Section
Articles
How to Cite
Evans, S. (2015). Expressive identity in the voices of three Australian saxophonists: McGann, Sanders and Gorman. Jazz Research Journal, 8(1-2), 257-276. https://doi.org/10.1558/jazz.v8i1-2.26757
