Johnston, Phillip / The Coolerators - Diggin’ Bones
SKU
Asych 196
Phillip Johnston: soprano/alto saxophone
Alister Spence: organ
Lloyd Swanton: bass
Nick Cecire: drums
“It is jazz played with some true wit… freely drawing on all styles of music to create quirky, cartoonish pieces, coloured with chirpy melodies and unexpected moments of poignancy.” – John Shand, Sydney Morning Herald
When composer / saxophonist / bandleader Phillip Johnston, leader of New York’s legendary jazz ensemble The Microscopic Septet, moved from the Big Apple to Sydney, he assembled several of Australia’s best musicians – Alister Spence, Lloyd Swanton, Nic Cecire – and began brewing a distinctive and lively Australian ensemble. The Sydney-based Phillip Johnston & the Coolerators now releases its first album, Diggin’ Bones, whose unique sound combines funky organ combo jazz with modernist jazz composition, including a touch of klezmer. Produced by The Necks’ Lloyd Swanton and featuring some of Australia’s finest jazz/multi-genre improvisers, Diggin’ Bones shows a new side of Johnston’s music.
The Coolerators brings together two of Australia’s most internationally acclaimed touring musicians, Alister Spence (Alister Spence Trio, Clarion Fracture Zone, AAO) and Lloyd Swanton (The Necks, the catholics) with one of Sydney’s most in-demand rhythm section players, Nic Cecire. The music covers a range of styles but avant organ jazz is at the centre of it.
Johnston has led Phillip Johnston & the Coolerators since 2005, alongside several other live performance and recording projects, including Sydney’s Greasy Chicken Orchestra and New York’s Microscopic Septet, and while extensively touring with Wordless!, his multi-media theatrical collaboration with illustrator Art Spiegelman and the band The Silent Six. But beginning in 2018, while still involved in those other projects, Johnston began focussing on the Coolerators as his main vehicle for live performance. Both groovy and cerebral, the Coolerators play animated and funky dance music for a cartoon universe.”
- LabelAsynchronous
- UPC752830271968