Listen & tracks

2 of 61 tracks have a preview · 6 works · 127:34

The McJad ChroniclesTony Gould 14 movements39:09
1. 1 Contrapuntal theme 1:04
2. 2 Variation 1 3:34
3. 3 Variation 2 3:17
4. 4 Variation 3 3:34
5. 5 Variation 4 3:06
6. 6 Variation 5 2:49
7. 7 Variation 6 1:56
8. 8 Variation 7 2:25
9. 9 Variation 8 2:29
10. 10 Variation 9 3:26
11. 11 Variation 10 2:29
12. 12 Variation 11 4:25
13. 13 Variation 12 3:32
14. 14 Theme reprise 1:03
15 Basin Street Blues Spencer Williams 5:02
16 Old Folks Dedette Lee Hill 5:54
17 In the Wee Small Hours of the Morning Bob Hilliard 5:16
Introducing McJadTony Gould 5 movements37:58
1. 201 Unanimity 7:23
2. 202 Duologue 5:46
3. 203 Ultimo revisited 5:57
4. 204 Zetetic truth 9:37
5. 205 Blues for Rex Mk II 9:15
McJad MiniaturesTony Gould 9 movements34:15
1. 206 Miniature Suite No. 1 4:13
2. 207 Infinminum 3:25
3. 208 Microspain 2:56
4. 209 Toot modicum 2:38
5. 210 Wee ballade 3:32
6. 211 Miniature Suite No. 2 6:47
7. 212 Mote ze Harbinger 2:41
8. 213 Tittle for tattle 4:34
9. 214 Minutiae olé 3:29

Although they have performed only occasionally since, they never lost the urge to make music together. The turn of the millennium spurred Keith to propose a new "organic" sound: Tony Gould would leave the piano for the pipe organ, an instrument he respected but barely knew.

The pipe organ in the chapel of the University of Melbourne's Ormond College became the studio. The duo's singular rapport is plain throughout, nowhere more so than in the McJad Chronicles, Keith's title for the assembled and edited improvisations that form one continuous compositional span.

Collectors will especially value the bonus disc: remastered reissues of the two original McJad LPs, unavailable since the early 1980s — Introducing McJad and McJad Miniatures — with their original liner notes. On iTunes those two LPs also appear as a separate item under the title McJad.

A substantial historical booklet, with photographs from both the 1970s and the new sessions, completes the set. McJad Goes Organic is a true collector's piece.

Reviews

This form of music making, actually creating your own music each time you perform, calls for great empathy between the players.

— Australian Jewish News

Keith Hounslow and Tony Gould have been an inspiration to Australian jazz for generations already. I value releases like this in the same way as I would a Fred Williams or Brett Whiteley painting in terms of their cultural significance to Australia.

— Dale Barlow, Music Forum

Gould harnesses with sublime touch the textures and tones available to him on the chapel organ, providing a perfect foil for Hounslow's horns... spontaneously improvised by master musicians blurring the line between hard-eared telepathy and composition. . . . Best of all, Hounslow's long jazz history is on full display. It is startling and joyful to hear such inspired spontaneous music. . . Keith Hounslow is one of the great stylists of jazz. . .

— Kenny Weir, Sunday Herald Sun

of interest to those who have not heard McJad and to collectors of historical value. Particularly poignant too because it marks the retirement from performance by Keith Hounslow, a trumpeter of rare talent.

— Ian Neil, former ABC Radio presenter

Artists

McJad

ensemble

McJad was formed in the 1970s and comprised the duo of trumpeter Keith Hounslow and pianist Tony Gould. The idea was that the duo extemporise not only on an original theme, but a freely improvised theme!

Keith Hounslow

cornet, flugelhorn, pocket trumpet

Keith Hounslow is an Australian jazz trumpeter, cornettist and flugelhorn player whose melodic, lyrical style has ranged from traditional jazz to free improvisation over more than fifty years.

Tony Gould

piano, organ

Pianist and composer Tony Gould is one of Australia’s most respected musicians. His career has spanned jazz and other improvisatory forms as well as traditional and contemporary classical, and for decades he has stood at the forefront of music education in Australia.

Bob Hilliard

composer

Bob Hilliard's lyrics gave popular song some of its most intimate night-time confessions and dreamiest storybook turns, from the hushed longing of In the Wee Small Hours of the Morning to the wonder of Alice in Wonderland.

Dedette Lee Hill

composer

David Mann

composer

David Mann wrote American popular songs that singers and jazz players have kept in circulation for decades, above all In the Wee Small Hours of the Morning, with There! I've Said It Again, No Moon at All and Don't Go to Strangers among his other lasting titles.