Eugene Ball 4tet
Led by multi-award winning Melbourne trumpeter Eugene Ball who’s been performing on the jazz scene for 25 years, & appeared on around 30 albums, the Eugene Ball 4tet is a quartet comprising Eugene on trumpet, with trombone, electric bass & drums.
EUGENE BALL 4TET - EUGENE BALL (TRUMPET), JAMES MACAULAY (TROMBONE), JAMES MCLEAN (DRUMS), MICK MEAGHER (BASS)
From Down Here
From Down Here is brave, adventurous, iconoclastic. Improvisation is the binding thread - the composed material (penned by Eugene) appears unexpectedly; a series of character-laden cameos.
Joining Eugene on this adventure are long-standing collaborators, James Macaulay, Mick Meagher, and James McLean. These are musicians and humans of the highest order. James Macaulay, winner of the 2017 National Jazz Award, has redefined the very limits of fluency & dexterity expected of the modern trombonist. Mick Meagher has devoted the last decade to expanding the sonic palette of the electric bass. James McLean, winner of the 2016 Freedman Jazz Fellowship, has developed an artistic practice on the drum set that incorporates Korean principles of embodied fluidity.
Hi(gh) Curious
There are four originals, & three interpretations, including a sombre version of Joni Mitchell’s A Case of You.
Ball takes most of the solos & James Macaulay’s trombone captures the trumpet’s mood in his own solos & supports in ensemble passages either with precise harmonised melodic notes or playing a counterpoint line. The two horns work impressively well together throughout the collection, punctuated by Mick Meagher’s driving electric bass.
Cheddar Road All-Stars
The Cheddar Road All-Stars project is a collaboration between Reservoir-based songwriters Leo Francis (The Rechords), Cat Canteri (Kutcha Edwards), Justin Bernasconi, Danny Walsh (Danny Walsh Banned) & Emma Peel (PBS FM), & prolific Australian playwright, author & long-time Reservoir resident, Barry Dickins. It also features an array of special guest performers, including Mick Meagher.
BARRY DICKINS (VOCALS), MICK MEAGHER (BASS)
Nowhere Else to Feel Rotten.
Meagher was invited to record music to Dickins’ poem Get Your Own Phone. What follows is almost 9 minutes of atmospheric accompaniment that weaves around & through Dickins’ powerful story about a working class father, desperately seeking support from an unreliable Reservoir community to aid his dying son.
City City City
Weaving through a heady mix of genres, from ‘70s spy movie soundtracks to kraut rock beats, Slint-like guitars & occasional electronics, City City City were a Melbourne 8-piece, around from 2000 to 2006.
They toured Australia & New Zealand, played the fifteenth annual Meredith Music Festival & released 2 albums.
CITY CITY CITY (final line-up)- Ned Collette (guitar, voice, synths), Naomi Jean (voice, percussion), Jim McDonald (guitar), Rory McDougall (drums), Eamon McNelis (trumpet), MICK Meagher (bass), Joe Talia (drums, electronics, bass)
The Perimeter Motor Show
An ambitious & engaging offering that forges a path somewhere between the music of ‘60s film scores, post punk, free jazz, kraut rock & chanson pop.
Dawn & the Blue Light District
City City City’s entirely instrumental debut album, recorded almost entirely live in a living room is a mix of squalling guitars, hip-hop beats & rather stupid melodies.