Bands
I have been priveleged to work with many fine musicians and musical outfits. What follows are a brief rundown of some of the groups and their members, as well as a few recordings where I could find them. Please forgive the quality on some of them but in many circumstances it was unavoidable.
Click the track name to play it! To play these files you will need the Quicktime plugin.
Justin Buckingham Quartet
Recently I have been busy recording myself playing some originals and a few standards. I have had the pleasure of being recorded by Greg Le Couteur of Shadowsounds. Greg was dedicated to ensuring the best possible sound and the results are excellent. In the past I have been very hesitant to give out low-quality recordings of myself (as some of the recordings further down are) and so I am happy to have a product which sounds proffessionally recorded.
Also on the album are Steele Turkington on skins, Peter Edmunds on bass and David Carr on guitar. It brings me great joy to hear these guys on this recording because it seems every time I hear them they sound better than before. Below are the five mastered tracks.
Taught Me to Smile
I'm a Fool to Want You
There's Never Gonna Be Another Girl Like You
Pequena Czarda
Straight Down
The John Hardaker Direction
John Hardaker is a gifted guitarist who has cobbled together a group of jazz musicians to create a shifting and nebulous jazz-funk group called 'The John Hardaker Direction'. With straightforward and hardriving originals and standards the band can be as soft as a mouse or roar like a lion in heat. Here are some live recorded tracks from our Excelsior gig in September:
Bossa Never Never
Footprints
Green G
The Newspeak Quartet
The Newspeak Quartet was my outfit for some time, with regular members Steele Turkington (drums), Jara Johnston-Anderson (acoustic and electric bass) and Dave Hoskin (guitar). The Newspeak Quartet plays traditional jazz with the occasional foray into more experimental territory. The group handled most of my function work but was always ready to take it faster and wilder if the situation allowed.
The Jaraka Collective
The Jaraka Collective has core members Steele Turkington (drums), Jara Johnston-Anderson acoustic and electric bass) and Chris Notley-Smith (keys). For some time I played with this combo, with the addition of Kai Johnston-Anderson (marimba,) with a regular gig at the Ultralouge at Castle Hill. This band was notable for its experimentation and energy with quick and inventive versions of standards and lesser well know charts from the jazz canon.
Moodswing
Moodswing's run was notable for a regular spot at Star City's Astral Bar. Members included Peter Edmunds (electric bass), David Hall (drums) and Jeremy Yang (keys) with the occasional addition of Isaac (vocals).
Groups without Names
There are many great musicians who I have played with but you couldn't say we were in a name band (whatever that really means).
Recently I did a few gigs for Joe, a bass player (can't remember his last name- sorry Joe!) and Ron on guitar. These were recorded on a paddle steamer on the Hawkesbury.
There Will Never Be Another You
These Foolish Things
Back when I was doing my classical study I recorded a few sax and guitar tracks with David Carr (guitar). I present two tracks here purely for curiosity's sake- Dave sounds great, but my tone is really, really classical. Sounds kind of nice but it definitely is not a jazz sound in the slightest.
Just for Fun
Although I haven't done much for a while, there was a time when my recreation time was taken up with the composition of funky beats with tongue-in-cheek sort of subject matter. Whenever I referred to myself in regard to these tunes I called myself DJ Gruff Turnip. I offer here only a few of the more than forty tunes I've made. I would put more in but most are so trite and their subject matter so childish I thought I shouldn't put them here. Although, if you do like these, email me and I will try to post some more.
What follows are some very rough tests of sax quartets I wrote for a school group last year. Again, I put them in for curiosity's sake- they were made only to give me a sense of the quartets, but I thought you might enjoy them.
