Martin Benge
Martin Benge is a recording engineer, producer and bass clarinettist whose credits run through a major cycle of Australian jazz sessions later restored for CD.
He produced and engineered a lively run of 1980 sessions at EMI Studios in Sydney, later remastered across the five-volume Jazz Music Series and the quieter companion albums Peaceful and Meditation.
The same hand underpins the restored Tolkien cycle—The Lord of the Rings, Vol. 3 and Landscapes of Middle Earth—and the score album Fluteman. On Uttered Nonsense (The Owl and the Pussycat) he also plays bass clarinet.
Martin Benge appears on
Uttered Nonsense (The Owl and the Pussycat)
Uttered Nonsense (The Owl and the Pussycat) sets eight Edward Lear poems, spoken with grave poise by Ivan Smith, among fourteen instrumental jazz pieces drawn from the Nonsense Books. Sangster’s large Australian ensemble answers the verse with playful colour.
Other credits
Jazz Music Series, Vol. 5: Ripper
The fifth and final volume in John Sangster’s jazz series of suites, written for a lively little orchestra that gathers some of Australia’s finest jazz musicians around his vibraphone writing.
Recording Engineer
Jazz Music Series, Vol. 4: Take That
Volume four of John Sangster’s Jazz Music Series finds his “lively little orchestra” of leading Australian jazz players in a ten-movement suite of wit, swing and colour.
Recording Engineer
Jazz Music Series, Vol. 3: Steady Lads
Third in John Sangster’s series of suites for a lively little orchestra of some of Australia’s finest jazz musicians: ten pieces of small big-band writing with Sangster on vibraphone.
Recording Engineer
Jazz Music Series, Vol. 2: Requiem (for a loved one)
Volume 2 of five suites by John Sangster, played by his fine small orchestra of leading Australian jazz musicians. A 1980 requiem for Janice Patricia Byrnes, nicknamed Bo Diddley.
Recording Engineer
Jazz Music Series, Vol. 1: Don't Mean a Thing if It Ain't Got That Doo-wup
As John Sangster put it, "Here is the first in a series of Suites written for this lively little orchestra, a gathering that includes some of Australia's finest jazz musicians."
Recording Engineer
Meditation
John Sangster’s Meditation, first issued on vinyl around 1980, is an ethereal set of flute, wind-chime and marimba textures. Over three long pieces the music builds a serene, otherworldly atmosphere meant for quiet listening.
Recording Engineer
Peaceful
John Sangster's Peaceful gathers nine quiet jazz pieces for tenor saxophone, flutes, acoustic guitar, electric piano, vibraphone, marimba and percussion. The mood is contemplative, with room for gentle improvisation.
Fluteman
John Sangster wrote the score for the little-known 1982 Australian film Fluteman. Led by Don Burrows on flute, with eight other jazz players, the music makes wonderful listening quite apart from the picture.
Landscapes of Middle Earth
The fourth and final volume in Move’s restored reissue of John Sangster’s jazz-inspired Tolkien cycle. First a late-1970s double LP, Landscapes of Middle Earth reached CD in 2006.
Mixing Engineer
The Lord of the Rings, Vol. 3
The third volume of John Sangster's classic jazz epic after J.R.R. Tolkien's The Lord of the Rings. First issued by EMI as a double LP more than twenty-five years earlier, this ambitious Australian trilogy reaches CD for the first time here.
Recording Engineer
The Lord of the Rings, Vol. 2
The second volume of John Sangster's classic jazz epic on The Lord of the Rings. First issued by EMI as a double LP more than twenty-five years earlier, this music reaches CD for the first time in this Move reissue.