Eric Myers was jazz critic for the Sydney Morning Herald 1980-1982, and for The Australian 1983-1987. He was publisher & editor of the Australian Jazz Magazine 1981-1986. After 20 years as a government-funded Jazz Co-ordinator 1983-2002, he returned to writing on jazz for The Australian in 2015, where he is now the jazz albums reviewer. He has a website dedicated to documenting Australian jazz history at www.ericmyersjazz.com
Featured image: Aaron Blakey
This interview is the twenty-fifth in a series of interviews with a number of Australia’s most distinguished jazz artists, which originally were published monthly in Loudmouth, the e-zine edited by Dr Richard Letts. Loudmouth …
Above: Multi-instrumentalist James Morrison
This might be an odd thing to say, but I feel that James Morrison is going from strength to strength. I say odd, because Morrison’s performances for a long time have invariably been sold out and, …
Above – Donald Runnicles. Photo credit Sydney Symphony Orchestra
My fascination with Shostakovich goes back long ago to studying Russian history at university, when I discovered that during the Stalin era in the USSR, Shostakovich slept with a packed suitcase …
Above – Donald Runnicles… Photo credit Jay Patel
The gestation of my fascination with Mahler is twofold. Firstly, it goes back to Paul Keating, whose achievements as Treasurer (1983-1991) and Prime Minister (1991-1996) have, in my view, never been as …
This was only the second time I’ve been present at a jazz concert at Avalon Bowlo, following the Joy Yates/Dave MacRae gig on Wed Jan 7, and it confirmed in spades what I’d discovered on that memorable night – that …
Above pic – Zela Margossian… Photo credit Aren Gaspar
Looking back at the various concerts presented at The Lounge in Chatswood, which I’ve reviewed, it’s noteworthy that the music presented has generally been what one might call mainstream jazz. That …
This concert on March 10, 2026, featuring Tchaikovsky’s Symphony No 5, was part of a new concept, utilising a different format to the SSO’s usual concerts. This was the “Listen To This” series which, I understood, would be “part-performance, part-guided …
Above photo : Tony Buck, Lloyd Swanton & Chris Abrahams.. Photo courtesy Beat magazine
In August 2018, shortly after succeeding the late John McBeath as The Australian’s jazz reviewer, I reviewed The Necks’ album Body, the group’s 20…
Above pic : Peter Locke. Photo credit Sally Glass
This interview is the twenty-fourth in a series of interviews with a number of Australia’s most distinguished jazz artists, which were published monthly in Loudmouth, the e-zine edited by Dr Richard …
Above – James Morrison… Photo credit Clear Image Photography
A sold-out concert on February 21, 2026, attended by an audience of over 700 people, at the lovely art-deco theatre Hayden Orpheum in Cremorne, confirmed once again James Morrison’s unparalleled standing …