Roy Ainsworth
Roy Ainsworth's baritone saxophone and bass clarinet deepen John Sangster's nonsense jazz and film scores, from Edward Lear settings spoken with grave absurdity to the breezy, suite-length play of a lively little orchestra.
He is the low reed voice in Sangster's tight circle of players, the weight under vibes, flute, guitar and drums. On the Lear sessions the brief is clear: music that is provocative, silly, curious and jolly, full of quotes, puns and tight-ropes. Funky grooves and sitar colours sit beside New Orleans polyphony and sudden free squalls; Ainsworth's baritone and bass clarinet give the mischief its floor and its bite. The same dark woodwind returns on the Fluteman score and across Sangster's jazz suites, where the writing stays nimble and the band leaves room for swing, overdub and pure play.
Roy Ainsworth appears on
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.
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.
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.
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."
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.
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.