Listen & tracks

3 of 15 tracks have a preview · 11 works · 96:00

1 My Funny Valentine Richard Rodgers 16:15
2 Schindler's List John Williams 8:19
3 The Second Time Around Jimmy Van Heusen 5:13
4 First Day of Spring Tony Gould 7:02
5 Lover Man Jimmy Davis 12:46
6 Kashmir Remembered Tony Gould 12:27
7 Shenandoah Traditional 6:53
8 Waiting For Jojo Sam Evans 8:48
9 Generous Spirits Tony Gould 4:24
10 It Could Happen to You Jimmy Van Heusen 13:53
501 Documentary

The documentary sets out Gould’s approach to collaboration with musicians of his own generation and with the younger players he has taught across a long career, with a focus on improvisation and Melbourne’s jazz culture.

The CD gathers full performances of much of the music heard in the film, recorded live at Bennetts Lane Jazz Club and the Melbourne Recital Centre Salon.

Tony Gould is joined by Ben Robertson (bass), Graeme Lyall (alto-sax), Dave Beck (drums), Imogen Manins (cello), Michelle Nicolle (vocal), Robert Burke (tenor-sax), Sam Evans (tabla), Aaron McCullough (drums), Hiroki Hoshino (bass) and Ted Vining (drums).

Here is a preview of the documentary:

The DVD documentary can also be viewed in full here: https://youtu.be/bMmO8PwGMPo

In the artist’s words

It’s the adventure and spontaneity of it that doesn’t rely on a fully printed score, that’s the excitement of improvisation… you just never know.

When you make improvised music you must get into it in a very deep way and you can’t afford to worry about being too precious about anything except the music.

When you play with Australian musicians there is this wonderful camaraderie and there is rarely a case where you’re told what to do. It’s based more on I trust you to do what you have to and see how it goes.

The bottom line for me is by all means learn in any way you can, but remember music is first of all about sound, it’s about listening to yourself and to your fellow musicians, and what others are doing and pick up – for me – on what Bill Evans said: “truth and beauty”.

There’s a wonderful mystery about music and music making and I hope no one will ever find the answer completely to it.

— Tony Gould

Reviews

It’s a well crafted and thought out musical documentary split into chapters interspersing Gould’s live performance footage from 2015 with various interview topics. It’s refreshing to see jazz on DVD performed by some of Melbourne’s best jazz artists and educators, and presented to motivate and inspire music fans and students to get off the couch and explore their own city, the sounds they hear and the jazz of their surrounds. The music also enchants with its varying styles and pace and is a great listen.

One track Gould performs is the van Heusen / Cahn duet The Second Time Around featuring the captivating vocals of Melbourne jazz singer, Michelle Nicole. Nicole re-imagines this song interpretation in her own sensitive way. Gould says: 'All music making is all creative … they (the musicians) are bringing new life to the music on the page'.

Various topics are explored including creativity, improvisation, music making, attitude and intergenerational experience. The latter is something that Gould relishes, saying many of the musicians he works with 'keep me young', while other students inspire keep him to playing and composing. Imogen Manins is one such featured talented cellist Gould admires. She plays with him on the Schindler’s List track.

Gould feels that jazz musicians are starting to spread their own wings, and move into improvisation via exploring films scores such as Schindlers’ List, and he advises future music students about composition and improvisation. 'Forget about genres and idioms, choose the music you love as much as you think other people will. It (Schindler’s List) suits the cello and is a lovely cross over between jazz, and classical.' Van Leeuwen also explores jazz further with Gould as a 'minority art form' and craft, to which he has some wonderful insights. Can jazz musicians can be very self absorbed when they play – do they play for themselves or their audience?

'The jazz players play for themselves, which sounds terribly selfish … Selfishness it’s not...I think that’s the embracing of the people you listen to (if you’re sitting in audience listening to the musician) … come on the journey, it’s the journey, we don’t know what’s going to happen.'

'There’s a wonderful camaraderie, Australian musicians base their playings on “I trust you” we’ll see how it goes … you don’t get told what to do.' Gould also says for many jazz artists who improvise, becoming absorbed 'in the moment' varies greatly from that of the familiar classical music world.

Promotion of improvisational jazz can be tricky. 'It’s a hard music to grasp if you don’t saturate yourself in it,' he says. 'It’s incredibly exciting, but also can be disconcerting for people to come and listen to and they haven’t got anything really to hang onto unless they know the language.'

He speaks highly of those dedicated to their craft and music. Another featured artist on the DVD and CD is 'master' classical Indian tabla musician Sam Evans. Gould says he spent 10 years over in Calcutta, playing Indian music and exploring the genre and sound. He’s one to watch in the future. 'Sam brings something special to improvised music … he’s creating and composing music where the Tabla can be integrated into various music compositions.'

As for Gould’s next jazz music / improvisational project, he gives very little away. One of the pieces on the release is called The First Day of Spring draws on a classical music line with a European melody. 'The beat is obscured, which I love, that’s the essence to my current playing at the moment,' he says.

Thanks to this great DVD release, you can enjoy the featured tracks in full on the accompanying CD. This is definitely one you’ll want to listen to repeatedly.

— Alison Lee-Tet, 3MBS

Artists

Tony Gould

piano

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.

Johnny Burke

composer

Johnny Burke wrote the words to some of the most durable standards in the Great American Songbook, including Like Someone in Love, It Could Happen to You and Misty, songs that still sit at the heart of jazz and popular singing.

Sammy Cahn

composer

Sammy Cahn wrote the romantic film and Broadway lyrics that became jazz standards, from Let It Snow to Come Fly with Me and I Fall in Love Too Easily. His words still give singers and pianists room to swing and linger.

Lorenz Hart

composer

Lorenz Hart's lyrics for Rodgers and Hart still sit at the heart of the jazz and cabaret songbook: witty, conversational, and edged with a rueful tenderness that singers and players keep returning to.

Jimmy Van Heusen

composer

Jimmy Van Heusen wrote the melodies that still sit at the centre of the jazz and popular songbook: film and stage standards built for crooners, bands and late-night rooms, from Darn That Dream to Come Fly with Me.

Richard Rodgers

composer

Richard Rodgers (1902–1979) was an American composer of musical theatre whose songs became standards of the twentieth-century stage and screen. Over five decades he wrote more than nine hundred songs and dozens of Broadway musicals.

Jimmy Davis

composer

Sam Evans

composer

Sam Evans is a classical Indian tabla player and composer who brings the instrument into improvised music, writing so that tabla can sit inside wider ensemble textures.

James Sherman

composer

John Williams

composer

John Williams's theme from Schindler's List carries a long, aching melody that sits as naturally with cello and piano as it does on the original soundtrack. In these recordings it becomes a quiet hinge between film music, Jewish song and reflective chamber jazz.

Digital booklet

Digital booklet Notes, texts and credits — read online or download the PDF Download the PDF

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$25.00 AUD

Compact disc

Buywell Music Australian Music Centre

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Apple Music Spotify

Also available to download from the iTunes Store.

Performers

Tony Gould · piano · all except tracks 6 and 8
Imogen Manins · cello · tracks 1, 2 and 9
Ben Robertson · double bass · tracks 1, 2, 5, 7 and 9
Dave Beck · drums · tracks 1, 2, 5 and 9
Graeme Lyall · alto saxophone · tracks 1, 2 and 5
Michelle Nicolle · vocals · track 3
Robert Burke · tenor saxophone · tracks 4 and 6
Sam Evans · tabla · tracks 6 and 8
Aaron McCullough · drums · tracks 6 and 10
Ted Vining · drums · track 7
Tim Willis · guitar · track 6
Hiroki Hoshino · double bass · tracks 6 and 10

Technical credits

Producer Martin Wright
Recording Engineer Pete Camillleri
Mastering Engineer Martin Wright
Venue Bennetts Lane Jazz Club (all except tracks 3 and 7)
Melbourne Recital Centre (tracks 3 and 7)
Credit Henk van Leeuwen