Tiny Hearts ALLUVIUM (alluviumrecords.com/Birdland) 3.5/5 One of the wonders of collective music making is the way a composition conceived by one person in isolation is interpreted, filtered and transformed by the assembled pool of sounds, experiences, muscles, emotions, imagination, expertise and aesthetic sense. It happens in rock bands and orchestras, but the process is magnified when improvisation is extensively involved. All five members of Sydney’s Tiny Hearts have contributed pieces to this debut album, yet what hits home is not so much the diversity of compositional approaches as the cohesion of the group interplay in realising them. Aiding the cause is the distinctiveness of Eamon Dilworth’s trumpet which, unlike most jazz-oriented players, sometimes carries a blast of the raucous vibrancy associated with Balkan Gypsies or Spanish bullfight bands. Other members are saxophonist Dave Jackson, pianist Steve Barry, bassist Tom Botting and drummer Paul Derricott: all musicians whose improvisation deepens the colour of a composition rather than just decorating it. Hear them at Venue 505 on August 28. JOHN SHAND Sydney trumpeter Eamon Dilworth is a highly active musician. His quintet The Dilworths released their debut album in 2009, and then his gypsy ska quartet Caravana Sun album debuted in 2011, with a second CD arriving in 2013. In between Dilworth has toured extensively in Europe, and studied and played in the US, Australia and New Zealand, and won numerous awards. Not bad for someone who’s just turned 27 |
John McBeath Previously published in The Australian April 2014 |