The Phillip Johnston 7tet

Phillip Johnston is an American jazz musician and composer who divides his time between Sydney and New York. As a composer, he has written theatre music for the Bell Shakespeare Company and film music for Paul Mazursky, Henry Bean and Philip Haas; his silent film scores have been performed at the New York Film Festival, across Europe, and at the Melbourne Festival and Sydney & Perth Film Festivals. His collaboration with graphic artist Art Spiegelman, Wordless, has recently made a nine-city tour of the US, following its premiere at the Sydney Opera House.

In March of 2015, he did a one-week residency at The Stone in New York, in which he presented 12 different ensembles over six days. He will recreate some of this music with a group of top-shelf Australian jazz musicians. 

Drawing upon his work with The Microscopic Septet and Big Trouble, this seven-piece ensemble featuring four saxophones will present an evening of original swinging jazz, blues and Latin music that “infuses big-band-era dance music with beguilingly modernist sensibilities” (Jazziz). 

John Shand of the Sydney Morning Herald called Manhattan Moonrise, his most recent record with The Microscopic Septet, “one of the most distinctive sounds in contemporary jazz.”

Personnel:

Phillip Johnston: soprano saxophone

Peter Farrar: alto saxophone

Jeremy Rose: tenor saxophone

James Loughnan: baritone saxophone

Alister Spence: piano

Lloyd Swanton: bass