“Alto Summit” Tribute to Bernie McGann – Saturday, 9th of September 2023:
Australian jazz icon, alto saxophonist Bernie McGann died not long before Foundry616 opened. He had been programmed ahead to perform in October 2013 but sadly never took the stage.
To celebrate Bernie’s monumental contribution to jazz music in Australia, drummer Andrew Dickeson, part of the Bernie McGann Quartet for the best part of a decade, has organised an “Alto Summit” featuring three of the leading young alto saxophonists on the scene. Michael Griffin is the veteran of the trio, a semi-finalist in the 2016 Thelonious Monk competition Griffin’s technical mastery of his instrument moulded an early integration of his influences and a rapid consolidation of his bebop-based style.
Before completing her studies at the Sydney Conservatorium Tessie Overmyer was making waves on the local scene as part of bands like Mingus Amongst Us as well as those under her own leadership. Her musical maturity was evidenced early and her ability to construct exceptional, emotionally charged, complex solos
Damon Poppleton, who at just 16, was the winner of the James Morrison Generations in Jazz Scholarship (2019), will complete the alto section. A fierce exciting player who pushes the boundaries of post-bop alto Damon exemplifies.
The band will play a mixture of McGann originals (“Spirit Song” and “Brownsville”) as well as some of his favourite jazz standards, all driven by a superb rhythm section of Hugh Barrett on piano and Jacob Graham on bass and led by the immaculate, hard-swinging drumming of Andrew Dickeson.
