JUDY BAILEY & JOHN SANGSTER: MELODIES FROM A SUNSHINE CULTURE by Eric Myers ______The Judy Bailey Quintet, with John Sangster Concert for the Action Society, Musicians' Club Sydney Morning Herald, April 4, 1980 ______his concert, featuring two of the great names in , reinforced my view that our best jazz players are producing rich and T original music. The program consisted largely of compositions by the vibraharpist John Sangster and the pianist Judy Bailey, played by Judy's quintet, consisting of Col Loughnan (saxophones and flute), Bernadine Morgan (vocals and percussion), Ron Philpott (electric bass) and Laurie Bennett (drums).

John Sangster (left) pictured with Judy Bailey, some years earlier, during their years at the El Rocco jazz cellar, in Sydney’s Kings Cross… PHOTO COURTESY JUDY BAILEY Admittedly, Judy Bailey's music is eclectic, freely borrowing from a wide variety of sources, but the spirit which informs her music is fundamentally Australian — easygoing, melodic and sensual, the product of a sunshine culture.

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By any standards, her best compositions are superb, including The Spritely Ones (dedicated to the aged), Cavatina, and Colours Of My Dream (which unfortunately we did not hear at this concert). The same comment could well be made in the case of John Sangster, who has contributed more than anyone else to the creation of an indigenous jazz which has an authentically Australian flavour.

Pascuel Locanto’s image of John Sangster, which appeared in the Sydney Morning Herald to illustrate this review… The concert was strong in individual brilliance. Judy Bailey's piano style is, in fact, not one style but an amalgam of styles, with almost every tune showing a different facet of her control at the keyboard. The rhythm section in this group no longer feels the need to articulate the time continuously, so that the bass, drums and percussion frequently either drop out entirely, or provide gentle, soft colours so that, against a background of unstated time, Judy Bailey freely explores the keyboard.

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Judy Bailey: in her composition The Spritely Ones, she plays impressionistically, establishing a meditative mood which foreshadows the entry of a sad, lovely melody…PHOTO COURTESY JUDY BAILEY In many of these unaccompanied solos she plays what can only be described as gentle exploration of early jazz, building carefully on the fundamental ideas of . At other times she gives an exhibition of biting, percussive, two- handed playing, breaking into rippling, one-note phrases which show a certain affinity with the style. In her inspired composition The Spritely Ones, she plays impressionistically, establishing a meditative mood which foreshadows the entry of a sad, lovely melody.

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