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Jazz from Australia

Today's reason to take another look at music from Australia is the new, seventh album from the band The Vampires. Founded in 2005 in Sydney, the band features four fellow classmate members - they are Jeremy Rose on the saxophone, Nick Garbett on trumpet, Alex Masso on drums and Mike Majkowski on bass. People with connections and roots from all parts of the world. This to some extent predetermines their sound, which could be described as cosmopolitan, global music, grounded in Ethiopian and Middle Eastern music, but also with an eye to classical standards and the typical Scandinavian sound. From their debut album, The Vampires attracted critical attention and were soon participating in jazz festivals around the globe.

Listeners often find jazz to be boring or incomprehensible music, but here, as we shall see, those preconceptions can be safely dismissed. The sound is rich and full-bodied, with colourful and varying ideas, and the rhythm seems borrowed from earth itself.

After six released albums, The Vampires are now a name not only in Australian contemporary music, but also in world contemporary music. Last month, the quartet released their seventh studio album. For the recording of the project, the band is joined by another serious Australian musician, pianist Chris Abraham of legendary trio The Necks. As a result, in May this year, the album entitled The Vampires featuring Chris Abrahams "Nightjar" (Earshift Music 2023) was released.

We listen to this beautiful album today and are transported into nature, as the musicians themselves advise us. We listen to the sound of the waves and let ourselves be carried away by the harmony the water brings. A wonderful gift for summer evenings that will keep us warm even when winter returns.

Today we listen to the great album Nightjar, by The Vampires.

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