Mark Isaacs: piano James Muller: electric guitar Matt Keegan: soprano & tenor saxophones Brett Hirst: bass Tim Firth: drums
Influences
I don't know about "influences", but the following have knocked my socks off at one time or another (in no particular order):
Vaughan Williams, Jean Sibelius, Edvard Grieg, Igor Stravinsky, Aram Khachaturian, John Coltrane, Cesar Franck, Miles Davis, Olivier Messiaen, Frederick Chopin, Sergei Rachmaninov, Peter Sculthorpe, Don Banks, Modeste Mussorgsky, Maurice Ravel, Erik Satie, Kenny Wheeler, John Taylor, Ralph Towner, Azimuth, Jan Garbarek, Benjamin Britten, Eberhard Weber, Keith Jarrett, Chick Corea, Ludwig van Beethoven, Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, Johann Sebastian Bach, George Frederick Handel, Barbara Streisand, Leonard Bernstein, Andre Previn, John Williams (film composer), Steely Dan, Earth, Wind & Fire, Stevie Wonder, The Beatles, Elton John, Joni Mitchell, Pat Metheny, Billy Joel, Luigi Dallapiccola, Toru Takemitsu, John Adams, William Walton, Vladimir Horowitz, Glenn Gould, Abbey Simon, Walter Gieseking, Andrei Gavrilov, Jascha Heifetz, Michel Legrand, Fritz Kreisler, Duke Ellington, Samuel Barber, Alan Pasqua, Charlie Parker, Claude Debussy, Alban Berg, Arnold Schoenberg, Anton Webern, James Muller, Sergei Prokoviev, Paul Grabowsky, Kate Bush, McCoy Tyner, Art Tatum, Alexander Scriabin, Charles Ives, Patti Austin, Cecil Taylor, Aretha Franklin, Dudley Moore, Oscar Peterson, Phil Woods, Lennie Tristano, Joe Sample, The Crusaders, John McLaughlin, Whitney Houston, Peter Gabriel, Weather Report, Jaco Pastorius, Robert Schumann, Johannes Brahms, Francis Poulenc, Franz Liszt, Bela Bartok, Gabriel Faure, Roy Haynes, William Lovelock, George Gershwin, Richard Meale, Mike Nock, Hoagy Carmichael, Dmitri Shostakovich, Richard Strauss, Bela Bartok, Gustav Mahler, Sting, Herbie Hancock, Dave Holland, Michael Franks, Gino Vanneli, Wayne Shorter, Bob Sedergreen, Tim Stevens, Eddie Gomez, Sonny Rollins, Thelonius Monk, Andrew Lloyd Webber, Russell Ferrante, Lionel Bart, Indian music, Arabic music, Bulgarian music, flamenco music, George Winston, George Benson, James Morrison, Burton Lane, Frederick Delius, Edward Elgar, Peter Ilyich Tchaikowsky, Igor Hmelnitsky, Richard Wagner, Georges Bizet, Ernest Bloch, Alexandre Glazunov, Gustav Holst, Carole King, Jules Massenet, Frank Bridge, Henry Purcell, Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov, Jimmy Webb, Burt Bacharach, Billy Holiday, Gary Novak, Ike Isaacs, Carmen McRae, Ella Fitzgerald, Ellis Larkins, Glenn Miller, Gil Evans, Ray Charles, Bill Evans, Bill Holman, Steve Swallow, John Abercrombie, Peter Erskine, Martin Taylor, Michael Brecker, Allan Holdsworth, Spyro Gyra, Wynton Marsalis, Raymond Hanson, Roger Frampton, Don Burrows, Vinnie Colaiuta, Steve Gadd and others I've forgotten for the moment.....
In 2007 Mark Isaacs released Resurgence, an Australian/American collaboration recorded in Los Angeles featuring Mark's compositions and musicians such as guitarist James Muller, drummer Vinnie Colaiuta and saxophonist Bob Sheppard. It was nominated for an ARIA Award (Australian "Grammy") for Best Jazz Album and the opening track "Walk a Golden Mile" was awarded "Instrumental Work of the Year" at the 2008 Australia Classical Music Awards. The all-Australian Mark Isaacs Resurgence Band was formed in the wake of the release. With a brand new repertoire it has toured extensively in Japan, Korea, Thailand and Australia, including major festivals. The band recorded a live CD entitled Tell It Like It Is which was released on ABC/Universal in May 2009 followed by an extensive Australian tour. In Mark's second ARIA nomination in 3 years, the CD was nominated for an ARIA Award for Best Jazz Album. The band appeared at the 2009 Tokyo Jazz Festival in September as well as taping a 50-minute TV special in front of a live studio audience in Seoul for South Korean national television EBS.
The musicians are:
Mark Isaacs: piano
James Muller: electric guitar
Matt Keegan: soprano, alto & tenor saxophones
Brett Hirst: bass
Tim Firth: drums.
Review of CD by John Kelman at All About Jazz (USA) here
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RESURGENCE
REVIEWS
"Monstrously brilliant....a prodigious group driven by a charismatic genius.... put [Isaacs] in a pair of iridescent orange Converse basketball boots and he becomes a stage demon.... a composer and musician utterly unencumbered by boundaries who has a breathtaking aptitude for making feeling and experience audible" AUSTRALIAN STAGE ONLINE
"There are many reasons why Tell It Like It Is is Isaacs' best and hottest jazz album to date, but the Resurgence Band's energy and acute interplay, mixed with some of the pianist's best charts ever, make it an album that deserves attention far beyond Australia's shores" John Kelman ALL ABOUT JAZZ (USA)
“Isaacs felt every nuance and played it...this powerhouse band does not pussyfoot around” SUNDAY HERALD SUN
"The finest band Mark Isaacs has had....every composition is utterly distinctive" SYDNEY MORNING HERALD
“Isaacs, with every release, has refined his systematic approach to post-modernity jazz to the point that his sound defines what jazz should sound like at the advent of the 21st Century in the same way Joe King Oliver, Satch, and Bix defined New Orleans/Chicago, Basie and Ellington defined the swing era, Charlie Parker and Dizzy Gillespie defined be bop and Miles Davis defined everything else”
C. Michael Bailey ALL ABOUT JAZZ (USA)
“James Muller’s lack of visibility isn’t just curious, it’s downright criminal. As is also true for Isaacs. With Resurgence the pianist makes it clear that he’s a writer who understands balance and a player who knows the meaning of context and development. There’s no posturing or meaningless displays on Resurgence—just fine writing, compelling playing and a group sound that’s all the more remarkable for it being a one-time event”
John Kelman ALL ABOUT JAZZ (USA)
“The success of Isaacs’ venture lies in, not only the unique accessibility of his compositions, but even more so in unspoken communication that allows for such immersion in, and expression of, music”
Don Williamson JAZZ REVIEW (USA)
“The original program is full of brightness and energy, harmonised by thoughtful composition…most impressive”
Takafumi Mimori SWING JOURNAL (JAPAN)
“An excellent CD of quality and substance” Brent Keefe DRUMMER MAGAZINE (UK)
“Some of the finest solos come from Isaacs himself, chiselled from the bones of the songs”
John Shand SYDNEY MORNING HERALD
“The album is an absolute gem…. this is one of the best jazz recordings to have been made by an Australian jazz artist in the last few years. It is essential listening”
Peter Kenyon JAZZREVIEW (PERTH JAZZ SOCIETY)
“Everything that is good about music is present; careful consideration of dynamics and texture with strong composition, improvisation and group interaction”
Aaron Searle MUSIC FORUM MAGAZINE (AUSTRALIA)
“Isaacs’ compositions are reminiscent of Chick Corea’s tunefulness, but with a more laid back groove….recognisable for [his] trademark lyricism and craftsmanship”
Rosalind Appleby THE WEST AUSTRALIAN
“Bigger than any big band on the night was the emotion pianist Mark Isaacs brought to the Wangaratta Town Hall at 11pm…..Isaacs felt every nuance and played it”
Roger Mitchell HERALD SUN (MELBOURNE)
“The intensity of the collective belief in the project was evident immediately, the leader's first solo having an almost frightening intensity to it, while still exuding a tangible and effecting beauty….This band must be heard”
“Mark Isaacs's Resurgence Band framed not only the leader's tender piano stories but also Matt Keegan's big scrawling tenor and James Muller's guitar playing, so gritty as to threaten gravel rash”
John Shand SYDNEY MORNING HERALD
“Mark Isaacs led his Resurgence band through an all-new original repertoire that coaxed some superb playing from all five musicians” Jessica Nicholas THE AGE (MELBOURNE)
“Magnificent originals penned by Isaacs…each one was a pearl”
JAZZ ACTION SOCIETY MAGAZINE (AUSTRALIA)
Biography
Mark Isaacs has given concerts in Russia, Finland, Estonia, Latvia, Romania, Israel, Turkey, USA, Australia, New Zealand, Vanuatu, mainland China, Hong Kong, Taiwan, Thailand, Japan, Phillipines, Burma, Korea, Vietnam, Malaysia, Singapore and Indonesia. He has performed and/or recorded with leading international jazz artists Dave Holland, Roy Haynes, Kenny Wheeler, Vinnie Colaiuta, Adam Nussbaum, Bob Sheppard, Steve Tavaglione and Jay Anderson and released several CDs to international acclaim. As a classical concert hall composer he has composed around 80 major works ranging across orchestral, chamber, choral and solo pieces. He is a recipient of an Australia Council Fellowship, a prize-winner in the Tokyo International Competition for Chamber Music Composition, the winner of the inaugural Miriam Hyde Composer-Pianist Award and the 2007 Albert H. Maggs Composition Award from the University of Melbourne and his most recent CD “Resurgence” was nominated for an ARIA award for Best Jazz Album and the opening track Walk a Golden Mile was declared “Instrumental Work of the Year” at the 2008 Australian Classical Music Awards. He is the Curator of the Brisbane Jazz Festival, has performed as a classical pianist and conducted his compositions.
I was at the launch of the Valley Jazz Festival in Brisbane earlier today, and it is great to hear that the Resurgence Band will be playing in Brisbane in May. I look forward to catching-up if you have any spare time.
Hi Mark, thanks for the add. I really like that recording of Minsk you've got from the sound lounge gig, I was there that night and the whole gig blew me away, but that tune especially. Looking forward to the release in May!
Hi Mark, we're in Sydney this weekend. Why don't you come along and see us on Sat 17 Jan at Bar Me in Kings Cross at 2.30pm, or at the AB Hotel in Glebe on Sun 18 Jan at 4.30pm. We'd love to see you there! Vincent's Chair Trio
Cheers for the add! You are a very talented pianist, I saw you live at the Powerhouse last month with Rai and honestly that was probably the best thing I have ever experienced! It was truely amazing! You and Rai were brilliant on stage together and it was truely a night to remember!
Keep up the lovely music! Chloe =]
ps Merry Christmas and all the best for the new year!
Thanks Mark, you're so kind. I was going to take that down, but you know what? I think now I won't. Hope your Aurora composition is progressing satisfactorily.. Tim
Hello just thought i'd say hello. Its been a little while since you've been here. How was the tour? The musicians you were with seemed like they would be good to spend time with. Any highlights? I've graduated now, which is a relief...and happier than ever. Any plans to return to lil ole Adelaide? Take care. Speak soon. xx
Many thanks for your kind words about me to my Aunt Judy who recently caught the performance of your band in Tamworth. Wishing you all the best for a great & most successful Australian Tour.
Regards from Rodric ... (Back in Oz in late Feb '08)
