Congratulations!

Philip Harvey lives in Victoria. His poem Saturday Afternoons won third prize

Our second prize winner is from WA. He’s Kevin Gillam and his poem is called twelve bar blues

Our first prize winner is Ross Clark from Queensland and his poem is called The Death of Jazz

All the winning poems will be published in issue 5 of extempore and you can order your copy here for posting in late October

Read more about the National Jazz Writing Competition http://njwc.extempore.com.au

Imagine our surprise when we read this week’s email newsletter from Bennetts Lane Jazz Club and saw them talking about us. Here’s what Jeremy from Bennetts had to say:

So, Allan Browne handed me a gift on Monday night and as is usual for Al’s gifts, it was a book. Normally it’s poetry he gives me to read, but this time it was something very different; Three Wishes: An Intimate Look at Jazz Greats by Pannonica de Koenigswater. Students of jazz history may remember her name as being the person whose apartment Charlie ‘Bird’ Parker died in, but she was a major patron of the jazz scene back in the 50’s-70’s and during that period she took Polaroids of all the musicians that came through the place. As well as the photos, she also asked them to answer the simple question of “If you had 3 wishes, what would they be?”

The obvious answers about money and health came up fairly often, but there are also some really surprising and off-the-cuff wishes made too. I won’t spoil them by mentioning them here, but I do recommend you seek the book out and read it.

The main reason I’m mentioning it is because I think it was a great idea that should have a follow up – with that unique Aussie twist that we give things here. To do this, I need your help though. If I start taking photos of all the musicians that play here, what question should I ask them to answer? It needs to be simple, and not require an essay to answer. Feel free to send me suggestions, and if we get a good question to ask, I’ll start asking it. I might also speak to Miriam about making a special section in extempore (are you reading this Miriam?) for all the answers and photos we get.

I reckon this would be worth a book! I’d encourage you to contact Jeremy with your ideas… try him at meggs [at] bennettslane.com … Yeah, I know he’s not Meggs, but I’m fairly sure the mail will get to him there…

Reviewers ahoy! Want to do CD reviews for us? You may have noticed that we’ve started putting reviews of Australian jazz and improvised music on our website and the response has been fantastic. We want you to be a part of it! We regularly receive CDs for review and we need enthusiastic listeners who have a way with words. You’ll get to keep the CD, and we’ll pay you a small fee (sorry we don’t have the budget for big fees!) We also offer editorial mentoring for new reviewers. And of course, if you’re already reviewing and you’re looking for a new outlet, we’d love to hear from you.

For a list of CDs available for review and view guidelines, go to our Music Reviews page > For more information, talk to Miriam on info@extempore.com.au or on 1300 783 446

Issue 5 of extempore (due out in November) is shaping up beautifully! If we’ve gone a bit quiet on Facebook and Twitter, that’s our excuse, but don’t worry, we’re like swans on a pond here at extempore… seeming to float gracefully along on the surface of things. Underneath, our legs are paddling frantically to keep us heading in the right direction! At this stage we’ve firmed up some great content for Issue 5 including insightful interviews with John Rodgers and Erik Griswold, John Clare on UMMG (Google it if you don’t know!), essay and photos from Canberra’s Jazz At The Gods concerts, fiction from John Shand, Pierz Newton-John and more, and pages and pages of poetry including the winners of the 2010 National Jazz Writing Competition. Our CD in Issue 5 is from Jazzgroove records, so expect some vibrant sounds. You’ll be able to pre-purchase Issue 5 from 1 September and we’ll Tweet and Facebook and Newsletter updates regularly in the next few weeks!

Update – thank you !

Thanks to all of you who subscribed and even donated to extempore in response to our call in the first week of July.

extempore was started by a writer who wanted to celebrate the music, and the part it plays in all of our creative lives.  The journal hasn’t received any funding. After 2 years we finally ran out of funds. Crunch time!

extempore creates a bridge between writing, art and music in a way that is unique not only in Australia but in the world.

Without your help we won’t be able to produce a print issue past Issue 5 (November this year).

What you do next will help determine whether extempore will survive. Please help. Without you, we can’t go on.

Subscribe – essential for our survival!

• Subscribe before 15 August and take advantage of our special ‘cry for help’ deal of a free back issue!
• $30 per year (online edition)
• $55 per year for the print journal and access to the online edition too!

Or there are always individual copies

• Issue 4
• Issues 1, 2 and 3 are available here at a great discount

Talk to Miriam here miriam@extempore.com.au

• for a great discount on orders of five or more copies of any combination of issues 1-4, or
• if you want to help but can’t afford $30 per copy or the $55 print subscription.

Free ways to help!

• Go to our Facebook page and like us!
• Follow us on Twitter extemporeAus
• Sign up for our Newsletter
• Spread the word by linking to http://www.extempore.com.au from your website or blog
• Tell your mailing lists about extempore and recommend us (some sample words below, ready to cut and paste)
  Have you heard about extempore? It comes out twice a year in a print journal or an online edition. It’s full of fantastic information about Australian jazz and improvised music, including interviews, essays, fiction, poetry and photographs, plus a bonus CD with every issue.  Check out the website at www.extempore.com.au

To those of you who have subscribed already, who have supported us with links and recommendations, thank you.

Really, really, thank you

Miriam

extempore Issue 4 - featuring a print by John Ryrie

Issue 4 of extempore is here! Look out for a great piece on Roger Frampton by John Shand. We asked him to answer the questions ‘Who was Roger Frampton?’ and ‘Why should we care?’ In his response, find out how Roger Frampton contributed to the history of improvised music in this country.

John Clare talks about liking what you like, and how pointless it is to get others to agree! Jorge Sotirios joins the exclusive club of extempore contributors with the first of two essays he’s agreed to write for us. This one’s on jazz and existentialism. PS Cottier moves from poetry to prose, with her short story about Noddy, a jazz punter in limbo. We have National Jazz Writing Competition prize-winning essays by Peter Mitchell and Paul Pax Andrews. Belinda Webster interviews bass player Steve Elphick. Will Guthrie and Ren Walters captured in conversation and Adrian Jackson chats to Andrea Keller. And more, of course. It’s your usual 192 pages of interviews, essays, fiction, poetry, photos.

Order your single copy here for immediate delivery, or subscribe>

Australia / Overseas

Mailed Within Australia $30.00 Mailed Outside Australia $40.00

Editor’s Note
Contributors
•
In Conversation
Andrea Keller with Adrian Jackson
Steve Elphick with Belinda Webster
Jess Green with Peter Wockner
Will Guthrie and Ren Walters
Cameron Undy of 505 with Miriam Zolin
•
Essays
John Shand Into the Clouds: Roger Frampton in Retrospect
Jorge Sotirios Philosophical riffs: jazz ‘n’ existentialism
Andrew W Hurley On the Sunny Side of the Street:
‘Ghetto Swinger’ in Australia
Peter Mitchell The Certainty of Risk njwc second prize
Paul Pax Andrews The Scene… Sydney, way back then njwc third prize
•
Verbatim
Merv Collins A Fine Romance…
John Clare Oo Koo K-Choo
•
Fiction
PS Cottier Noddy
•
Poetry
Chris Cody Jazz Chords
Chris Cody For Oliver Johnson
PS Cottier Palm cockatoos
Arjun von Caemmerer Piano Player Study No 52
Wayne Tompkins Bermuda Onion Night
Allan Browne Wild Bill
Allan Browne Conjuror
•
Visuals
Natasha Blankfield: Phil Slater’s Sculthorpe Songbook Project
John Ryrie: Linocuts
•
Book Review
John Shand reviews The Jazz Composer: Moving music off the paper
by Graham Collier
•
Bonus CD from Rufus Records
‘Rufus Redux’: An Ode to Survival by John McBeath
Q&A with Tim Dunn of Rufus Records
Track Listing

Watching and listening...

It’s becoming a tradition: extempore launches are thinly disguised excuses for a celebration, and celebration is exactly what they are about!

Issue 3 of extempore was launched in style on Friday 30 October, at Wangaratta Jazz.

A big thank you to Mike Nock who launched the journal again, and to John Clare and Geoff Page who read from their contributions to Issue 3. Baddaginnie Run supplied delicious wines and Milawa Cheese was enjoyed by all.

Thanks also to Steve Doig, the hallmaster at St Patrick’s Hall for his help in setting up!

Appearing today on a resonate website near you: a little blog item about extempore >

Fools rush in…

by Miriam Zolin

The idea behind extempore—a bi-annual journal with content inspired by jazz and improvised music—has from the beginning been a foolish idea. Let me count (some of) the ways:

Read more…

Do comments count?  A comment on the blog of one of our wonderful editors, Penni Russon, has complimented extempore. Always good to read about such things as one slaves away over a hot keyboard, getting issue 2 all squared away.

When PS Cottier submitted her poem ‘Silver-eyes and figs’ to the first issue of extempore , we loved it immediately. When we saw John Ryrie’s work, we knew straight away that his striking prints were perfect for our first issue–so perfect that we featured one of them on the cover. Both these contributors have rich creative lives outside extempore and they’ve both separately shared exciting news with us, which we in turn are very happy to share with you!

PS Cottier’s book The Glass Violin, published by Ginninderra Press is to be launched in February. If the poems we’ve already seen are anything to go by, this is going to be one of our favourite poetry collections for 2009 (early days, but we know what we like). We’ll keep you updated on launch news as we get it, and watch the extempore website for opportunities to purchase the collection.

From a recent review on the Reiter’s Block blog:

Australian poet P.S. Cottier truly does see the universe in a grain of sand–as well as in a tram ticket, a Caesarian scar, the names of Australian military operations, a shabby bear in the Soviet zoo, a wren visiting a dead friend’s garden, and myriad other small details of modern life that she turns into windows on the human condition, in verses both whimsical and profound.

Meanwhile, the wonderful printmaker John Ryrie, with his own expressive and whimsical approach to the human form and the human condition is exhibiting this month at the Gippsland Art Gallery in Sale in Victoria. The exhibition is of recent work and is open from 10 January to 8 March at the Gippsland Art Gallery, Sale 68-70 Foster Street, Sale, Victoria.  Telephone: (03) 5142 3372 The Gallery is open weekdays 10 am to 5 pm and Saturday and Sunday from 12 pm to 4 pm. Entry is free.

So, congrats to both of them… and we can tell you right now… Shhhh! … we’re going to have a little bit more from both of them in Issue 2 (we couldn’t resist!)