JAMIE OEHLERS QUARTET AND TENOR SONIC

JAMIE OEHLERS

Jamie Oehlers is one of Australia’s leading jazz artists and saxophonists. In 2003 Jamie was the winner of the World Saxophone Competition at the Montreux Jazz Festival in Switzerland and has won numerous awards in Australia, including an Australian Jazz “Bell” Award for Best Australian Jazz Artist and three for Best Contemporary Jazz Album, an ABC Limelight Award for Best Jazz CD Release, an Australian Young Achiever of the Year Award, and has twice been a finalist in the ARIA awards for Best Jazz Album. He has performed throughout the world including major festivals like the JVC Jazz Festival in New York, BBC London Jazz Festival, Jazz Yatra in India, Montreux Jazz Festival in Switzerland, Edinburgh Jazz Festival, Villa Celimontana Jazz Festival in Rome, Galway Jazz festival, Brecon Jazz Festival, and comprehensively throughout Asia, Australia and New Zealand.

Jamie has collaborated with many great international jazz artists within Australia and overseas including performances and recordings with Ari Hoenig, Aaron Goldberg, George Garzone, Charlie Haden, Eric Harland, Reuben Rogers, Rufus Reid, Geri Allen, Cindy Blackman, Jamie Cullum, Bob Hurst, Megan Washington, Kate Ceberano and many more. He has released 13 CDs as a leader, including his most recent recordings "Night Music", “Innocent Dreamer” (with Tal Cohen), “The Burden of Memory” (with Paul Grabowsky, Eric Harland and Reuben Rogers), and “Smoke and Mirrors” (with Ari Hoenig). As a sideman, Jamie has recorded on another 50+ recordings. After completing his studies at WAAPA in 1993, in 1994 he furthered his studies at the prestigious Berklee College of Music, Boston. Jamie has been a saxophone and improvisation tutor at the Victorian College of the Arts and Monash University in Melbourne, and has held saxophone and improvisation workshops throughout Australia, USA, Japan, New Zealand and the UK. In 2008 he became the Head of Jazz Studies at WAAPA in Perth and has completed his PhD on reflexive practice within improvisation.

TENOR SONIC

Two-tenor frontlines are thin on the ground, but there is a small tradition. Back in the day, Eddie “Lockjaw” Davis/Johnny Griffin, Al Cohn/Zoot Sims and Sonny Stitt/Gene Ammons had good runs. Of the “Top 50 Tenor Sax Albums of All Time” (according to the June 2012 Jazz Times magazine), five were two-tenor collaborations.

Tenor saxophonists Remco Keijzer and Carl Mackey share a common perspective, phrase as one and deliver intriguing contrasts in light and shade.

While they stand apart as gifted soloists, Keijzer and Mackey flourish as a team, bringing lustre to every tune with their lyrical unison melodies and beautifully harmonised statements.
Spontaneity plays a big role, as it should when improvisers of this calibre get together, but foremost, what distinguishes this group is the logic and efficiency of its arrangements. Whether slow and spacious or brisk and complex; from originals and modernist classics to standards of '40s and '50s vintage.

This two tenor line up would not be possible without the excellent musicianship of bassist Tom Lee and master drummer Danny Fisscher comprising one of the finest rhythm sections in the business.

The Tenorsonic repertoire is a varied selection of straight ahead jazz from such icons as John Coltrane, Joe Lovano, Sonny Rollins, Mark Turner and Thelonious Monk. Expect to hear the two tenors go back and forth on their call and response on ballads, mid-tempo light swinger and burning up tempo jazz classics that features Tom Lee’s delicate bass playing and Danny Fisscher’s fine brush and stick work.

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