Compass now a featured artist on Musica Viva’s Countrywide Roster

http://www.musicaviva.com.au/countrywide/mixedensembles/compassquartet

COMPASS LIVE @ QIRKZ FRIDAY DEC 11

SHHHH…. THIS ONE’S A SECRET

FRIENDS OF COMPASS AND QIRKZ ONLY!!

7:30 doors open, 8:30 start

COMPASS AND SPECIAL GUESTS

MARCELLO MAIO, JULIAN CURWIN, SANDY EVANS AND BOBBY SINGH

@ Qirkz, Marrickville NSW

Kids welcome. BYO drinks and snacks.

Entry by donation: $25 / $20 concession / $15 kids under 15.

Christina Leonard – soprano sax

Jeremy Rose – alto sax

Matt Ottignon – tenor sax

Luke Gilmour – baritone sax

+

New works featuring

Bobby Singh – tabla

Sandy Evans – sax

+

Music from CD ‘ABRAZO TANGO’

Marcello Maio – piano accordian

Julian Curwin – guitar

We will be playing material from our first and recent CD release – ‘ABRAZO TANGO’, released earlier this year on Tall Poppies, and also new pieces by Sandy Evans, Tony Gorman, Jeremy Rose and Ben Walsh.

ABOUT THE VENUE

“…Sydney’s most exclusive underground music venue….” that looks like a cross between Wonderland and Austen Powers’ dream dwelling. Cosy couch corners with plush velvet upholstery, eccentric decorations from Monsieur Camembert’s collection of designer and retro bric a brac, the most amazing objects d’art, bizarre kitsch and all sorts of, well, quirky stuff. Its also BYOG and you can bring your own snacks or picnic or enjoy the in-house Woodfire Pizza. Cool drinks and coffee/tea are also available.

I’s honestly not just a venue, it’s a fantasy! The sound and atmosphere reminds me of all the things we love and miss about Europe. It’s got loads of atmosphere, warmth, eccentricity, with touches of offbeat humour everywhere.

Being there gives you the feeling of being part of something truly special and rare.

Location : email to get on the mailing-list (which contains all details including the street address). This might sound strange, but it is SOOO worth it!!

Blue Mountains Gig!

6:30pm, $65 for dinner and show, Razz Restaurant, Macquarie Road, Springwood.

Phone 4751 7500 for reservations – reservations recommended. Have credit card ready.

Great concert today!

Thanks to all the folk from Newcastle who came out to support our ABC Sunday Live concert and for all those across Australia who tuned in. Hope you enjoyed it! We definitely had a blast playing!

ABC Classic FM Sunday Live Broadcast, September 6

We will be performing music from our album, Abrazo Tango, tomorrow (Sunday) at 3:00pm at Newcastle Conservatorium. The concert will be broadcast live nationally on ABC Classic FM, so tune in!!!

ABC Classic FM – DRIVE

This week, the debut album ‘Abrazo Tango’ is the featured CD on ABC Classic FM’s Drive program at 6:45pm.

Jeremy Rose – 2009 Young Jazz Artist of the Year

Congratulations to Compass member, Jeremy Rose, recently announced as the Young Australian Jazz Artist of the Year.  This prestigious award was presented to Jeremy at 2009 Bell Awards in Melbourne.

Australian Stage Online Review

Sunday, 22 March 2009

Written by lloyd bradford (brad) syke

The title of Compass‘ brand-new album, discreetly launched last Thursday night at Marrickville’s Factory Theatre under the auspices of Joanne Kee’s now well-established and respected Places & Spaces programme, refers to a particular move in the sultry dance meaning, literally, embrace. Certainly, much of the music contained onAbrazo Tango will caress and seduce you. A guilty pleasure, like Belgian chocolate, a mellow merlot or love in the afternoon. Sensual music, which contemplates, evokes and inspires movement, but it moves the mind, as well as body. In fact, it goes even deeper.  Saxy foursome Compass, augmented by the very considerable talents of Marcello Maio, on piano accordion, and Julian Curwin, on electric guitar, have succeeded in capturing the spirit and soul of tango, its unbridled passion, while corralling it, with great skill & nuance, into largely unexplored areas of jazz or, at least, areas that will benefit (us all) from further exploration. The obvious comparison is with Argentine master of nuevo tango, the revolutionary Astor Piazzolla, but that’s probably because, if any of us know one thing about tango, it’s Astor. I’d even go so far as to sayCompass is venturing into virgin territory, unfamiliar, even to the pre-eminent AP. Christina Leonard (soprano & alto) is a Coonamble girl who had her first lessons in Dubbo. She’s in faculty at the con and a remarkably fluid player, soaring over the top of the ensemble in romantic swirls; which just goes to show you can take the Coonamble outa the girl. (Coonamblers, please resist the urge to correspondence.) You’re just as likely to see her in the SSO throng, or in the pit, for the Australian Opera Ballet orchestra. She’s played overseas, philharmonically, is expert in baroque woodwinds, has recorded with the likes of Matt McMahon and lends this ensemble a mellifluous forward motion. Jeremy Rose, on alto, seems like a very serious, intense & somewhat pedantic young man (in a good way); certainly, noone could question his skill, as instrumentalist or composer. Like Leonard or, for that matter, say, Robert Fonseca, Rose took up music very early (piano & clarinet at six; sax at twelve). That depth tends to show through, in his many and various projects, like The Vampires, which might very well be the only band in the world top concertedly focus on jazz-reggae. He also has a list of awards, scholarships, honours and achievements as long as your arm (longer, if  you’re Danny de Vito).  Matthew Ottignon, tenor, is, of course, one of the fabulous Ottignon brothers, who are too, too talented for my liking! Well-known to me for his work with the late, lamented Jackie O, he’s also associated with Blue King Brown and songbird Katie Noonan, not to mention having played with weirdo-savants, Lou Reed and Brian Wilson. And, thanks to his versatility, he’s part of the furniture in the eccentric, fun, gypsy-folkdom that is Monsieur Camembert’s cheesy, but tasty world. Luke Gilmour, baritone, might look like a mild-mannered accountant, but he plays like a demon, supplanting bass with the rasp of the devil himself and sporting a rhythmic drive that underpins the whole shebang, with a rock-solid, pedal-to-the-metal momentum. Speaking of which, for his orchestral work, Momentum, a year or two back, he received the fellowship of Australian Composers award; pretty auspicious for such a young graduate. Perhaps it’s his naval (ships, not gazing) experience that has tailored his Kentish appearance, whereas he’s really a veritable caped crusader. Indeed, it’s his sound that lends much of the predatory sexual aggression so characteristic of tango.  Maio is a 22-year-old prodigy of piano-accordion, with a dauntingly polished technique; almost as daunting as his compositional expertise. it’s easy to see why this jazz-piano-trained muso is in such cross-genre demand. Curwin, of course, co-founded ARIA-winning Monsieur Camembert, but has more strings than a zany zither. Perhaps you know of his heavy metal lounge band, Darth Vegas; electro-acoustic experimental pop delicacy, Gauche; or quirky tango-punk chamber-jazz ensemble, The Fantastic Terrific Munkle. If he lacks anything, it’s not a sense of humour. His delicate touch, amused and amusing approach, as well as gentle experimentations with loops, kept things lively, particularly during the warm-up, heavily improvised set by he & Maio. All-in-all, Compass is a fascinating, exciting & inspiring project, especially in concert with Maio & Curwin. One gets the feeling they’ve only touched the tip of the iceberg (‘though an ironically cool analogy in the context of tango) in collectively exploring their mould-breaking hybridization of classical, jazz and tango. In practice and, especially, onstage, it’s a protein-packed fashioning of composition, arrangement and edgy, seat-of-the-pants impro. It’s dynamic, sometimes sublime and reaches the parts so much other music can’t, with an alchemical, near magical intimacy that is the very stuff of passionate desire. Coming to the pieces themselves, the opener (on the album too), Tango Deu, by Maio, tangles with the sway of the dance: even if you’d never witnessed entwined Latinos commanding a floor, you’d instinctively mimic and chime with the essential shape of the movements. Gilmour’s baritone lays down a rhythmic railway track, with altos and tenor tumbling over the top, intermingling in the same inseparable way dancers, or lovers, would. It’s a beautiful cacophony of melody, which sounds utterly paradoxical, but is about the only way I can think of describing it. It has jazz harmonies, an Orleans-like flavour, as well as a classical stateliness and sophistication. Sounds complex and contradictory, on paper, but is superb, in the musical telling. Also by Maio was an impressive Tango Three, which name Rose insisted he change to Tango One. Whatever! It’s listed as the latter, on the record. Curwin’s They Know Not What They Do is a very fine thing to boot. It’s all good, but of particular note and brilliance are the suites, such as Rose’s, boasting four movements: Passion; Elegance; Indulgence; Movement. The speak for themselves and, in total, are an eloquent summation of tango, but also of Compass‘ peculiar (in the distinctive sense) engagement with it Abrazo Tango is art music, but not at all in a pretentious or inaccessible way. Melding classical with jazz modes, let alone introducing an ethnic cultural influence rarely arrives at such an advance point of synergistic success.  I look forward to the next place or space Compass inhabits. I hope I can be there too. http://www.australianstage.com.au/reviews/sydney/compass-2354.html

SMH Review of New Album – John Shand

This music casts a double-strength spell. Not only does it have the irresistible appeal of tango but it contains some brilliantly imaginative writing and intriguing arranging for a saxophone quartet.

The intrigue is partly due to having two classical saxophonists in Christina Leonard (soprano, alto) and Luke Gilmour (baritone), joined by two jazz saxophonists in Jeremy Rose (alto) and Matthew Ottignon (tenor), with the consequent juxtapositions of tonal quality and approach. The upshot is a fattened collective sound, further expanded by accordionist Marcello Maio and guitarist Julian Curwin.

The superb pieces have been composed within the band and, in the tradition of Astor Piazzola’s “nuevo tango”, stretch the rhthms to (back-)breaking point. The horns, meanwhile, curl around one another in dramatic precision, or explode in joyous or sultry improvisation. the whole is cushioned – and made more accessible – by the svelte guitar and swelling opulence of the accordian.

NEWS FLASH!!!

ABC CLASSIC FM BROADCAST – DRIVE, 5:05pm TODAY, March 17