Wednesday, February 11, 2009

Adrian Mears - a great trombone player

Adrian Mears: een prima trombonist (Nederlands) Adrian Mears - a great trombone player (English )
An extensive (but selected) Adrian Mears discography.

ADRIAN MEARS - a great trombone player.
Hans Koert

Last year the second album of the Adrian Mears New Orleans Hardbop Quintet has been released. This album is titled Birdseye View. On the album Adrian Mears, trombone player, with Domenik Landolf tenor saxophone and bass clarinet, Peter Madsen piano, Stephan Kurmann bass and Mario Gonzi drums. I learned about Adrian Mears a few years ago, thanks to his first New Orleans Hardbop album, titled Jump On In which surprised me. I reviewed it one and a half year ago in a contribution titled: Adrian Mears.


Adrian Mears ( photo courtesy: Rolf Frei)

The album, which has the same, easily recognizable funny cover design, is the second one of this band, which is in fact his regular concert band, to play in venues all around Switserland, Austria and Germany. He loves to created the live atmosphere, so typically for the performances with this "working band", the quintet which grows and changes throughout the years. Adrian Mears was born in Newcastle, Australia in 1969 and learned to play trombone at the Sydney Conservatory. He performed in the late 1980s with visiting US jazz man like Don Pullen and got an opportunity to study in the US with some great trombone players like Steve Turre, Slide Hampton and Conrad Herwig. Back in Australia he won several awards and in the 1990s he settled in Europe to give trombone lessons on conservatories in Cologne and Basel. Seven years ago he toured with the Vienna Art Orchestra and became a member of it. Now he is a celebrated trombone player, appreciated for his playing on this hard to handle instrument. (Adrian Mears (16 June 2007))

f.l.t.r: Peter Madsen, Mario Gonzi and Adrian Mears

All tracks on the album are composed by Adrian Mears, some in rather unconventional time-signatures, like Children At Play and Today Is The Day, both 7/4 compositions. The first track, Riding East, starts in a rather uncommon 9/4 time signature, a groove, that remembers me to the 1960s Blue Note recordings, to change halfway into a 3/4 piano solo. For most experienced jazz lovers, I think, this kind of unusual time-signatures make the music surprising and exciting. It remembers me to the concert I heard with the Dutch Pierre Courbous Vijfkwarts Sextet (what's in a name) at the Porgy en Bess Jazzclub in Terneuzen ( in the southwest part of The Netherlands) november 2008. In Joe's Fantasy Adrian tributes Joe Henderson's composition Inner Urge, which was recorded by Joe with his quartet in November 1964 as the title song for a Blue Note album. Adrian Mears ( photo courtesy Rolf Frei)

In The Poor Man Adrian Mears proves that he is a great composer. This piece was composed in 2006 as a project to be performed by a large choir, a chamber orchestra, a church organ and a jazz ensemble. It was released on the Mears Music label as Between Two Worlds. This Poor Man starts with a great bass clarinet intro played by Dominik Landolf.

Domenik (or Domenic) Landolf and Stephan Kurmann
Adrian Mears has been developed as one of my favourite trombone players. After I listened to his first New Orleans Hardbop record I found one of his previous issues All For One, released by Enja in 1999, with his quartet (four tracks) and his 10 piece Australian Composers Ensemble, a group of European musicians that play Australian compositions: Australia of course, because it's his motherland! Adrian plays the Didgeridoo too on that album. These 10 years old recordings are great too and I love to recommend Adrian Mears great trombone. Love to finish with a small fragment I found by the Adrian Mears New Orleans Hardbop. Although the sound is rather moderate, I hope you like it.

It's a pity, that Adrian Mears website isn't up to date, so I can't inform you now where or when his New Orleans Hardbop Quintet will be performing in the near future.
Adrian Mears New Orleans Hardbop - Birdseye View ( TCB 28103)

Hans Koert - keepswinging@live.nl


AN EXTENSIVE (BUT SELECTIVE) ADRIAN MEARS DISCOGRAPHY:
Hans Koert

=Steve Taylor-Brown ( Indigo Groove)(Australia) ca. 1990
=Free Spirits - "Free Spirits" : Roo Art(Polygram Australia) Monica & The Moochers -"Too Darn Hot" : Roo Art Records(Polygram Australia)
=The Marcus Plattner Trio with Adrian Mears - "The Song Man" : TCB (Switzerland) ( April 1991)
=The Harald Rüshenbaum Quintet - "Free Spirits" : Pro Jazz Records
The Adrian Mears & Johannes Enders Quintet - "Discoveries" ENJA records ( August 1993)
=Cocinando - "Still Sun" feat Paquito D`Rivera : Bellaphon Records
=Bobby Burgess Big Band Explosion - "Butters Idea" Bell Records ( Sep. 1994)
= A-STRAIN feat Peter O`Mara, Adrian Mears, Patric Scales & Falk Willis: SBF - Musilverlag (Austria)
= Till Martin - "On the Trail" Nabel Records
=Bach, Blech & Blues - feat Till Bronner & Adrian Mears: EDEL/BERLIN CLASSICS
=BABAMADU - "Bitama" ENJA Records (May 1995)
=A-Strain - Tune Order ( SBF) (Feb. 1996)
=Thomas Stabenow Quartet (Bassie Sound) (March 1996)
=Imre Bajka's Cocinando - Still Sun - ( L+R) ( Apr. 1996)
=Till Martin Quintet - On The Trail ( Babel) (Sep 1996)
=UGETSU - "Live in Athens" : MONS Records (Oct. 1996)
=East West Wind feat; Adrian Mears, Adam Pieronczyk,Jeff Williams and Vitold Rek : Tasco Music Production
=UGETSU - "Theres Something On The Way" : MONS Records (Nov 1997)
=The Bamberg Symphony Big Band - Denon Records =SCALES - "GROUNDED" - BLUE NOTE Records GROUNDED" - BLUE NOTE Records
=UGETSU - "Live In Shanghai" Mons Records (Nov. 1998) =Sammelsurium - Thomas Stabenow (Basic Sound Records)Connexion Latina - "Mambo Nights" ENJA records =ADRIAN MEARS - "All For One": ENJA records
=Lungau Big Band - Live at Montreux. Austro Mechana (Jul 1999)
=Sidewinders feat. Adrian Mears - "The Bestie" Mons Records
=UGETSU - Cape Town Blues. NAXOS JAZZ records (Oct. 1999)
=Didgeridoo Project - Thommy Fuchsberger
=Vienna Art Orchestra - European suite ( TCB) Nov. 2000
=Vienna Art Orchestra - "Artistry in Rhythm" ( CD/Video TCB records, Switzerland)
=Carlo Mombelli
& the prisoners of strange - Bats in the Belfry (Baobab Art Records, South Africa).
=Christian Stock Trio feat. Shiela Jordon and Adrian Mears yvp music
=Sidewinders - die Bestie ( Mons) 2001
=The Bob Brookmeyer New Art Orchestra "Waltzing With Zoe" Challenge Records (Jan 2001)
=Johannes Faber Consortium - No Coincidence ( Mons) May 2001
=TROMBONEFIRE "Sliding Affairs" Laika records (3510146.2)
=Frank Eberle Septet - Scarlet Sunrise SDP records (SDP1041)
=Vienna Art Orchestra "Art & Fun" Universal (017072-2)
=Vienna Art Orchestra "Sound of Loisium" (Loisium) ( June 2003)
=Vienna Art Orchestra "Ellington" live Universal rec (0602498654194) ( June 2003)
=Vienna Art Orchestra "Big Band Poesie" EmArcy ( Aug 2004)
=TROMBONEFIRE "Different Moods" Laika records (3510146.2)
=Adrian Mears New Orleans Hardbop - "Jump On In" (TCB 25202) (Feb-March 2004)
=Straight six - Live At Birdland - Neuburg (Alessa) May 2005
=Vienna Art Orchestra - Swing and Affairs ( July 2005)
=Mathias Kielholz Octet - Sunny Strings ( Brambus) Sep. 2005
=The Roman Schwaller Sextet: The Thurgovian Suite
=Vienna Art Orchestra - 30th Anniversary box ( EmArcy) jul-sep 2006
=Stephan Kurrman Strings - Play Hermeto Pascoal ( SKS) Oct - Nov 2006
=Bobby Burgess Orchestra - Live At Rosenau ( Dec. 2006)
=Adrian Mears New Orleans Hardbop - Birdseye View ( TCB) March 2007
Adrian Mears also takes part isseveral International Festival Big Band recordings made during the Internationales Jazztreffen in Frauenfeld (Generations 2000 - 2002 - 2004 )
Hans Koert - keepswinging@live.nl

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