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[The songs playing above were recorded live at the Sound Lounge in the Seymour Centre on 18 Aug 2007 by Carlos Naranjo.
[Hey Bulldog (Lennon/McCartney); Frankly (P. Johnston); Ghosts (A. Ayler); The Revenant (M. Hurley)]
The Coolerators is a Sydney-based quartet, led by New York expatriate Phillip Johnston, combining the organ-based “groove jazz” style identified with Jimmy Smith, Brother Jack Macduff & Dr. Lonnie Smith with more contemporary and idiosyncratic influences.
The repertoire features originals and reinvented cover tunes (hear above). It features some of Sydney’s best-loved jazz musicians: Alister Spence, organ, Steve Arie, bass, and Toby Hall, drums; their credits include Ten Part Invention, Clarion Fracture Zone, the Australian Art Orchestra, Mike Nock, the catholics, the Alister Spence Trio, Paul Capsis and many others.
John Shand has written in the Sydney Morning Herald, “Johnston is a composer of considerable wit and seemingly boundless imagination. The wit… permeates the music like the smell of good coffee does a café….”
Phillip Johnston, a saxophonist, composer and arranger of both jazz and new music, has been a significant figure in the underground music scene of New York’s downtown since the beginning of the 1980’s. During the 1980’s he led the Microscopic Septet, and in the 1990’s he led Big Trouble and The Transparent Quartet. In addition to his own groups, he has performed with John Zorn, Wayne Horvitz, Elliott Sharp, Joel Forrester, Lenny Pickett, Mikel Rouse, Earl King, Gary Lucas, and Guy Klucevsek.
His recent film scores include Stolen Life, which premiered at the 2007 Sydney Film Festival, and Noise, starring Tim Robbins and William Hurt, to open in the US later this year. His recent theatre scores include Macbeth for The
Bell Shakespeare Company and Not Like Beckett for NORPA.
Join the Coolerators email mailing list.
Visit Phillip Johnston’s web site
Visit the Microscopic Septet web site.
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