Jeremy Rose's High 5

Historical article recovered from a Wayback capture dated 2018-02-24.

Sydney saxophonist and composer Jeremy Rose is one of Australia’s leading next generation jazz artists. He completed a Bachelor of Music (First Class Honours) at the Sydney Conservatorium in 2007 and has since studied saxophone and composition in London, Oslo, and New York with George Garzone, Tim Garland, Geir Lysne and Dave Douglas.

Rose’s music attempts to reconcile two very different art forms – composed and improvised music – he challenges himself to seek out different influences to forge with his deep respect for the jazz tradition. He has released six albums as both leader and co-leader and each have spanned genres as wide as reggae, afrobeat and hiphop, to Indian Classical and Tango music.

He has toured and performed at major festivals around the country with his various projects including The Vampires, The Strides, Jeremy Rose Quartet, Compass Saxophone Quartet and Chiba Quartet, as well as appearing as a solo artist in Japan and Norway.

The media has reported that “his compositions stand out from the pack” (SMH) and that “his playing shows subtle glimpses of a mature master” (Peter Wockner -Limelight Magazine). Rose has also received numerous awards, and in 2009 he received the Bell Award for Young Australian Jazz Artist. In 2011 Jeremy was selected for the SIMA ‘Artists in Transition’ program, and was awarded an Australian Post-Graduate Award to undertake a Masters in Music (composition) supervised by Matthew Hindson at the Sydney Conservatorium.

1. ATOMIC - Blå (pronounced like ‘blue’),Oslo Norway, August 2006

This was one of the first gigs I went to see when I arrived in Norway as an exchange student in 2006. The band featured both Norwegian and Swedish musicians; Magnus Broo trumpet, Fredrik Ljungkvist saxophone/clarinet, Håvard Wiik piano, Ingebrigt Håker Flaten, Double bass and Paal Nilssen-Love drums. Their compositions were sophisticated and intriguing to me at the time, with some twentieth century classical influences, and a high level of improvised interaction between the players. The drummer in particular was virtuosic and his dialogue with the pianist was incredible.

2. DAVE LIEBMAN TRIO - Pizza Express, London 2000

I saw this gig when I was still in high school on a tour to UK and Finland. I was exhausted during the show (jet lag), but Liebman’s unceasing energy inspired me to continue playing the saxophone for many years to come.

3. HONEST JOHN’S BIG CHOP UP - The Barbican, London July 2008

This gig was a collection of world musicians, including the Afrobeat legend and drummer Tony Allen, the master Malian kora player Toumani Diabati, the Hypnotic Brass Ensemble from Chicago, and Malian music maker Lobi Traore. All musicians had recorded for the record label Honest Jon’s which has a celebrated shop of the same name in London’s Portobello Rd. The name comes from Lagos, Nigeria, where a chop up is a lavish feast, in dance music culture at large. This gig was like a dose of medicine for me, since I had been living in London for a few weeks studying, composing and practicing. The spirit of the music was incredible and at one point, the whole Barbican audience stood up at once and started dancing (myself included).

4. KNEEBODY - Banff Centre, Canada June 2011

I was lucky enough to attend the Banff International Jazz and Creative Music Workshop led by trumpeter Dave Douglas in 2009 and again with my band The Vampires in 2011. Kneebody were resident artists for the final week of the workshop’s three weeks, and the workshop particpants got to attend daily workshops, masterclasses and individual lessons with all of the band members – Ben Wendell saxophone, Shane Endsley trumpet, Kaveh Rastagar bass, Nate Wood drums, Adam Benjamin keyboard. The music could be described as grunge-jazz (the music actually avoids most stereotypes but just to give you an idea). The most interesting element in the group is their unique cueing system - they can signal changes in orchestrations, dynamics, time signatures, tempos and metric modulations (and many more) by just playing a short melody that everyone immediately hears and responds to. The music was fluid and took several dramatic shifts throughout the concert.

5. HERBIE HANCOCK & WAYNE SHORTER 1+1 Sydney State Theatre, 1998

I was very young at the time of this concert and I remember the music being quite challenging to listen to. However it was this curiosity that made me go and listen to the music over and over again over the following months. Stripped back to the purist of voices, the duo format allowed these two master musicians to fully explore their compositions and depart on intriguing improvised explorations.