Australia Day concert, Canberra 1996

From The Canberra Times, January 1996

Tony Magee branches out from piano playing

    ALL THAT JAZZ

by Michael Foster

Voice lessons from Gery Scott have inspired Tony Magee to branch out from piano playing.

He has formed a “flexible” band to back him and called the compact versions Watch What Happens and the larger 8 piece ensemble, Ultra Lounge.

The band can vary from quartet upwards or outwards and so far has included Andrew Hackwill on alto sax, Andrew Piper on trumpet and flugelhorn, Lane Moore on trombone, Wayne Kelly on keyboards, Brendan Clarke, Duncan Brown or Scott Dodd on bass, Colin Hoorweg on percussion and Matt Moore on drums.

Originally published in The Canberra Times, January 15, 1996

Going off at the Wall

         ALL THAT JAZZ

by Michael Foster

A Canberra group, featuring vocalist Gaye Reid, has received invitations to return to China after New Year’s performances in Beijing’s Sheraton Great Wall Hotel.

The band, which included Andrew Hackwill on alto sax, Andrew Piper on trumpet and flugelhorn, Tony Magee on piano, Col Bernau on guitar, Kevin Hailey on bass and Noddy Brassington on drums, played for a New Year’s Eve diplomatic party, hosted by Australia, in the hotel’s ballroom. It then played for a New Year’s Day brunch-time audience in the hotel’s atrium restaurant.

The event was attended by 470 people from the Australian embassy and agencies and their guests. It opened with the Beijing Film Orchestra playing themes from films made in the West, Hungarian folk tunes and Strauss waltzes.

The Canberrans then took over, offering danceable jazz before changing the mood with pop and rock from the 60’s and 70s which Reid does so well.

The next day the group offered solo piano, played by Magee on an unexpected Steinway grand “in reasonable tune”, then brackets in varying combinations. One with rhythm (without piano) sounded so good, there are thoughts of trying it here at home.

This audience included many Chinese and tourists from Australia, Europe and Scandinavia with 60 or 70 diners present most of the time.

The group has tentative bookings for a residency in mid-1996, for return performances in Beijing next New Year and in Singapore.

Originally published in The Canberra Times, January 1996

Les Misérables - Canberra Philharmonic - January 1996

Article: China blue

Thursday, January 4, 1996

AROUND THE WORLD                                                                         EDITED BY SIMON GROSE

About 470 Aussie bleeders turned up at Beijing’s Sheraton Great Wall Hotel for a New Year’s Eve ball last Sunday. Organised by our bug-free (we hope) embassy, the big do was emceed by Andrew Denton, with music supplied by Canberra’s Big City band.

Once the show got going, they could have been back in the Michigan Room at Canberra’s Lakeside in mid-winter because Beijing’s temperature these days hangs around zero. But the Big City band and singer Gaye Reid, had a Beijing experience the previous day which made them realise they were along way from Garema Place on a Saturday arvo.

Visiting Tiananmen Square for a squiz, they discovered a footpath artist dashing off their caricatures. He offered them the drawings but refused to accept money in payment. The happy big Vegemites, not wanting to take advantage of a fellow down-trodden artist, decided to return the favour by chortling Waltzing Matilda into the chilly China air.

The Weird Mob choir quickly attracted a crowd. But after a single verse, the words came true: “down came the troopers, one two three”. The Square Police, who had left their tanks at home, broke it all up, told them to button their lips and move on.

Denton missed that impromptu gig. He and the band were flown in courtesy of Cathay Pacific and its Chinese airline Dragon Air. Qantas refused to be so generous, despite the fact that Beijing’s Aussies try to arrange their travel to support the one weekly Qantas flight to Australia.

Mrs Denton (once a key 60 Minutes celeb Jennifer Byrne) and son Connor had hoped to make the trip, but chicken pox kept them in Melbourne.

First published in The Canberra Times, Thursday January 4, 1996