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Baecastuff
“Take note, they cook” Sydney Morning Herald
"this Australian band gets a lot more out of jazz,
funk, rock and their various crossing-points than many a more renowned band." Penguin guide to Jazz on CD. (UK)
"Like no other" John Shand SMH
Baecastuff combines the creative energy of six of Australia's most creative and talented musicians.
Saxophonist Rick Robertson, well known for his work with multi award winning and internationally acclaimed band Directions in Groove (Mercury/Verve), leads the ensemble.
Phil Slater who recently won the 2002 Music Council of Australia Freedman Foundation Jazz Fellowship also works with Mike Nock and The Australian Art Orchestra plays trumpet and live sampler.
Pianist Matt McMahon, possibly the finest jazz pianist in Australia, won the Wangaratta National Jazz Piano Competition and is a regular with Vince Jones and Band of Five Names.
Alex Hewetson, bass, has a huge list of performance and recording credits to his name including d.i.g, Don Burrows, Vince Jones, Dale Barlow and Savage Garden.
Simon Barker's dynamic and melodic drumming currently drives the Vince Jones band, and he has recently returned from Korea and Vietnam where he studied traditional drumming with the local masters.
The percussion chair is filled by Aykho Akhriff who is of Spanish-Moroccan origin. An acknowledged master of his art, Aykho brings an exotic energy to the music.
Baecastuff was formed in 1996 by Robertson after he and Slater returned from a European Tour with d.i.g which included appearances at the Montreux and North Sea Jazz festivals. The concept was to create an ensemble to present original compositions with influences from 70’s Miles Davis, Dave Holland, Ornette Coleman and Jan Garbarek, and to combine that with modern rhythms such as Jungle and Drum’n’bass. The band has now developed a unique sound that one reviewer described as " jazz in spirit but open to developments in funk and electronic music such as drum'n'bass." The band calls it Jungle Jazz.
Live credits include Jazz Festivals around Australia including Darling Harbour, Sydney Opera House, Brisbane Heat, St Kilda Festival and the New Caledonia Jazz Fest. Numerous appearances in local Sydney venues such as the Basement, Side On Café and Venue 505 have strengthened the ensemble.
Baecastuff have released three CDs, Big Swell, ‘97 and One Hand Clapping, ’99, both on the Rufus Record label distributed by Universal Out Of This World, on the NAXOS label, was released internationally in January 2001.
The debut CD Big Swell received excellent reviews and was nominated for an Aria Award. The second CD, One Hand Clapping has also received great reviews. The new album Out Of This World shows the maturity and unique ensemble this band has developed over the six years it has been together.
The music - although jazz based - is uniquely Australian.
The opening track, Nabadayal, is based on an aboriginal melody and endeavours to portray the openess and mystique of the Australian landscape.
Dolphins Swim Through Bushfire Skies, the second track, was written during the ’95 bushfires in the late afternoon when the sky was blood red and dolphins came swimming up the McClean river in northern NSW.
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