Barney McAll (born Melbourne, Australia, 1966) is a jazz pianist and composer who lives in Melbourne, Australia.

Barney McAll  joined saxophonist Gary Bartz‘s band in 1997. As well as remaining to be a member of the Gary Bartz quartet, he also plays with the Josh Roseman Unit, Fred Wesley and the JB’s, Groove Collective, and Kurt Rosenwinkel‘s “Heartcore”. He completed a Bachelor of Music at the Victorian College of the Arts in Melbourne, studying with pianists Paul Grabowsky, Tony Gould and Mike Nock and with guitarist Doug Devries.

His ensembles include “M.O.D.A.S”, “Sylent Running”, “GRAFT” , ASIO (Australian Symbiotic Improvisers Orbit) TQX featuring Sia and his  “Non Compliance Trio”.

He was awarded the Australia Council Fellowship in 2007 and worked as musical director for Australian vocalist

Sia Furler from 2011-2012.

Barney McAll is also the 2015 recipient of the Peggy Glanville-Hicks composer residency in Sydney, Australia 2016.

He has recorded or performed internationally with many other musicians including Dewey Redman, Roy Ayers, Kenny Garrett, Maceo Parker, Jimmy Cobb, Eddie Henderson, Aloe Blacc, Peter Apfelbaum, Billy Harper, Daniel Merriweather and Vernel Fournier.

At the ARIA Music Awards of 2015 McAll won Best Jazz Album for Mooroolbark.[1]

 

McAll is partial to unleashing surprises himself, whether they be radical dynamic shifts –
such as suddenly reducing a solo to the merest trickle of notes against thrumming bass
and whispered cymbal chatter – or just finding bewitchingly unexpected turns to take in
developing a melody. Masterful.
-SYDNEY MORNING HERALD

 

Selected discography

  • Leader

    • 1996 – Exit (Jazzhead)
    • 1998 – Widening Circles (Jazzhead)
    • 2000 – Release the Day (Transparent Music/Jazzhead)
    • 2005 – Mother of Dreams and Secrets (Jazzhead) (Extra Celestial Arts)
    • 2005 – Mother of Dreams and Secrets (Extra Celestial Arts)
    • 2009 – Flashbacks (Extracelestial Arts)
    • 2011 – Blueprints (Jazzhead)
    • 2011 – Recollections – Best Of (Jazzhead)
    • 2012 – Graft (Jazzhead)
    • 2013 – Chucky Vol.1Swirl Cauldron Swirl (Extra Celestial Arts)
    • 2013 – Solo Piano Live (Extra Celestial Arts)
    • 2015 – Mooroolbark (album) (ABC Jazz)
    • 2015 – Nourriture De L’Amour (Extra Celestial Arts)
    • 2017 – Hearing The Blood (Extra Celestial Arts)
    • 2017 – Zephyrix with Monash Art Ensemble (Extra Celestial Arts)
    • 2018 – Global Intimacy – TQX (Extra Celestial Arts, Inpartmaint Inc )
    • 2019 – An Extra Celestial Christmas – (Extra Celestial Arts)
    • 2020 – Lockdown Hard Drive Pearl Dive – (Extra Celestial Arts)
    • 2020 – Bleeding Trees – Single – (Extra Celestial Arts)
    • 2021 – Transitive Cycles – (Heavy Machinery Records)
    • 2022 – Precious Energy – (Extra Celestial Arts)

     

  • Sideman

    • 1993 – Vince Jones – It All Ends Up In Tears
    • 1993 – Bill Ware – Groove Thing (Eight Ball)
    • 1994 – Kate Ceberano and Friends – ABC
    • 1996 – Vince Jones – Trustworthy Little Sweethearts
    • 1996 – Dale Barlow – Dale Barlow
    • 1997 – Vince Jones – Future Girl
    • 1997 – Tim Rollinson – Cause + Effect Mercury Records
    • 1997 – Jack Lee – Poong-Un – Nuevo
    • 1998 – Vince Jones – Here’s to the Miracles
    • 1998 – Slave Pianos – A Diagnosis Revolver Records
    • 1999 – David Rex – Collision Course
    • 1999 – Vince Jones – Virtue
    • 1999 – The Whitlams – Love This City
    • 1999 – Groove Collective – Declassified (Shanachie)
    • 1999 – Gary Bartz – Live At The Jazz Standard
    • 2000 – Phil Stack – Lucky You
    • 2000 – LIVE and Hard to Find Groove Collective
    • 2000 – Richard Worth – Rise (Giant Step)
    • 2000 – DET Live! Vol. 2: Exclusive Live Performances from WDET-FM 101.9 Detroit
    • 2001 – Vincent Herring – Save The World
    • 2001 – Ron Trent
    • 2001 – Groove Collective – Giant Step Record Sessions Vol.1 (Shanachie)
    • 2001 – Groove Collective– It’s All in Your Mind (Shanachie)
    • 2002 – Groove Collective – Live And Hard To Find (live album) (Kufala Records)
    • 2002 – Gary Bartz – Live At The Jazz Standard Vol 2
    • 2002 – Ron Trent – Musical Reflections
    • 2002 – Wangaratta Live – Jazzhead
    • 2002 – Groove Collective – Brooklyn, NY 04.20.02 (live album) (Kufala Records)
    • 2003 – Red Lotus – Make Way
    • 2003 – Greg Gonzales – X=X
    • 2003 – Jacam Manricks – Skies the Limit
    • 2003 – Greta Gertler – The Baby That Brought Bad Weather
    • 2004 – Jay Rodriguez and Ron Trent Olájopé – Batidos
    • 2004 – DJ Jazzy Jeff – In The House
    • 2004 – Fred Wesley and The JB’s – Wuda Cuda Shuda
    • 2004 – Paul Williamson’s Hammond Combo – A Month Of Mondays
    • 2005 – The Modern Congress – The Hidden Soul of Harmony (Casa Del Discos)
    • 2005 – Fabio Morgera – The Voice Within
    • 2005 – The Jay Collins Band – Poem For You Today
    • 2006 – Jazzhead2006 – Jazzhead records compilation
    • 2006 – Josh Roseman – ‘Treats for the Night Walker
    • 2006 – Groove Collective – People People Music Music Savoy Records
    • 2006 – Greta Gertler – Pecadillo vocal feature “i’m not a lizard”
    • 2006 – Ayla Napa Valley – Finest Ambient Tunes
    • 2008 – Jazzhead – Jazzhead Vol 7.
    • 2008 – Pamela Luss – Magnet
    • 2007 – Groove Collective – PS1 Warm Up:Brooklyn, NY, July 2, 2005 (live album) (Kufala)
    • 2007 – Umberto Echo – Dub Trail
    • 2007 – Jojo Kuo – No Kelen Kelen – Goin Native Records
    • 2008 – Josh Roseman – Constellations: live in Vienna (ENJA)
    • 2008 – Jo Lawry – I Want To be Happy
    • 2009 – Jonathan Zwartz – The Sea
    • 2009 – Julien Wilson / Steve Magnusson – Kaleidoscopic (Jazzhead)
    • 2009 – Sa-Ra – Nuclear Evolution: The Age of Love
    • 2010 – Umberto Echo – Dub the World
    • 2010 – Rebecca Barnard – Everlasting
    • 2010 – Blue Six – Noesis
    • 2010 – Tom Browne – S’Up (Pony Canyon)
    • 2010 – Sia – iTunes – Live in Sydney
    • 2011 – Andy Bey – Companions Of The Lost Ark – ILM Recordings
    • 2012 – Jazzhead12 – Jazzhead Records
    • 2012 – Gary Bartz – Coltrane Rules: Tao of a Music Warrior (OYO Records)
    • 2012 – Tim Rollinson – The Protagonist (The Modern Congress)
    • 2012 – Brad Jones – Avant Lounge (Ropeadope Records)
    • 2012 – Tim Clarkson – Evolution Of Beauty – Dangerous Music Records
    • 2012 – The Universal Thump – The Universal Thump
    • 2013 – Jonathan Zwartz – The Remembering and Forgetting Of The Air
    • 2013 – Julien Wilson – This Is Always ( Lionshare Records)
    • 2014 – Gary Bartz – Coltrane Rules: Tao of a Music Warrior Volume 2 (OYO Records)
    • 2014 – Sparkler – Peter Apfelbaum – I Colored It In For You EP M.O.D. Technologies Bill Laswell
    • 2014 – Aaron Comess – Aaron Comess Quintet
    • 2015 – Julien Wilson – This Narrow Isthmus ( Lionshare Records)
    • 2016 – Alice Bierhorst – The Beacon
    • 2016 – Umberto Echo – Elevator Dubs
    • 2016 – Jazztrack – Celebrating 40 Years – ABC
    • 2017 – Sara Valenzuela – Fulgor
    • 2018 – John Wesley Harding – Greatest Other Peoples Hits
    • 2018 – Mike Rivett Quartet – Live At Cottage Point
    • 2018 – Jonathan Zwartz – Animarum
    • 2019 – Kian – Bliss – EMI Music
    • 2019 – Laneous – Monstera Deliciosa- Soul Has No Tempo
    • 2019 – Michael Jordan – AIM
    • 2019 – How Much Is the Robot – Analog Bass Camp
    • 2019 – The Art Of Fighting – Luna Low
    • 2020 – Daniel Merriweather – “Rain” – (Rain Recordings)
    • 2020 – Jazz 100 selected Highlights – ABC
    • 2020 – Third Wing (with Rob Vincs)
    • 2020 – MIJF – These Digital Times Compilation
    • 2021 – Martha Marlow – Dont Want To Grow Up
    • 2021 – Gian Slater – Grey Is Ground
    • 2021 – Dewey Redman – Live In Chicago (Extracelestial Arts)
    • 2021 – Billy Harper Quartet – Live In Brooklyn (Extracelestial Arts)

 

 

Collaborator

  • 1998 – Jonathan Zwartz, Hamish Stuart, Barney McAll – Zeeks Beek ABC/EMI
  • 2005 – Jody Watley, Ron Trent, Barney McAll – Saturday Night Experience
  • 2005 – Barney McAll, Genji Siraisi – Baby Winter
  • 2006 – Barney McAll, Badal Roy, Rufus Cappadocia – Vivid
  • 2008 – George Schuller, Barney McAll, Matt Pavolka – That Trio This
  • 2009 – Sylent Running – Empathy Chip
  • 2014 – Trio Feral – Don’t Feed
  • 2020 – Seven Wonders Compilation – Wondercore Island/Plug Seven
  • 2020 – WatArtists Compilation – At Clouds Length
  • 2020 – Third Wing (with Rob Vincs)
  • 2021 – Sex On Toast – Take Your Mask Off

Arranger

  • 1996 – Vince Jones – Trustworthy Little Sweethearts
  • 1997 – Vince jones – Future Girl
  • 1998 – Vince Jones – Here’s to the Miracles
  • 1999 – Vince Jones – Virtue
  • 2000 – Vince Jones – Live
  • 2006 – Pamela Luss – There’s Something About You I Don’t Know
  • 2007 – Pamela Luss – Your Eyes
  • 2008 – Pamela Luss – Magnet
  • 2008 – Paulette McWilliams – Flow
  • 2010 – Tom Scott with Paulette McWilliams – Telling Stories
  • 2010 – Rebecca Barnard – Everlasting

Producer

  • 1997 – Vince Jones – Future Girl
  • 1998 – Vince Jones – Here’s to the Miracles
  • 2006 – Barney McAll, Badal Roy, Rufus Cappadocia – Vivid
  • 2009 – Jacam Manricks – Labyrinths (Co-Producer)
  • 2009 – Sylent Running – Empathy Chip
  • 2010 – Rebecca Barnard – Everlasting (Co-Producer)
  • 2012 – Brad Jones – Avant Lounge (Ropeadope Records) (Co-Producer)
  • 2018 – Global Intimacy – TQX (Extra Celestial Arts)
  • 2019 – Michael Jordan – AIM (Co-Producer)
  • 2019 – An Extra Celestial Christmas –(Extra Celestial Arts)
  • 2020 – Daniel Merriweather – “Rain” – (Rain Recordings) (Co-Producer)
  • 2021 – Gian Slater – Grey Is Ground
  • 2021 – Sex On Toast – Take Your Mask Off (Co-Producer, Co-Composer)
  • 2022 – Precious Energy – (Extra Celestial Arts)
  •  

Solo Albums Producer

  • 1996 – Exit (Jazzhead)
  • 2000 – Release the Day (Transparent Music/Jazzhead)
  • 2005 – Mother of Dreams and Secrets (Jazzhead)
  • 2009 – Flashbacks (Extracelestial Arts)
  • 2011 – Blueprints (Jazzhead)
  • 2011 – Recollections – Best Of (Jazzhead)
  • 2012 – Graft (Jazzhead)
  • 2013 – Swirl Cauldron Swirl (Extra Celestial Arts)
  • 2013 – Solo Piano Live (Extra Celestial Arts)
  • 2015 – Mooroolbark (ABC Jazz)
  • 2017 – Hearing The Blood (Extra Celestial Arts)
  • 2018 – Zephyrix with Monash Art Ensemble (Extra Celestial Arts)
  • 2018 – Global Intimacy – TQX (Extra Celestial Arts)
  • 2022 – Precious Energy – (Extra Celestial Arts)
  •  

Film Score Credits

  • The Forgotten Australians – SBS Broadcasting Group
  • Pushing The Elephant – PBS
  • The Position – Second Act Films
  • We All Fall Down – The American Mortgage Crisis
  • Overhere – Documentary – Reelworks/ Chanel Thirteen
  • Bayshore – A Small Piece of The World
  • Water Flowing Together – Gwendolen Cates/ PBS
  • I Am Ahmed Ahmed
  • Motherland Afghanistan – Aubin Pictures/ Independent Lens
  • Hide and Seek – 20th Century Fox
  • Kathy Griffin – Kathy Griffin: My Life on the D-List
  • Face Value
  • Sacco and Vanzetti – Documentary by Peter Miller/ Ken Burns Florentine Films
  • Peter Berner’s Loaded Brush – Australian Broadcasting Corporation
  • Liberia: An Uncivil War – Discovery/Times
  • Brother to Brother – Rodney Evans- Independent Lens
  • Freaks Like Me – Giraffe Partners
  • Solstice
  • Homecoming- Edwina Throsby
  • Otto and Lumilla – John C Williams
  • Necesidades- Fernando de France
  • Facing The Dragon- Sedika Mojadidi
  • Gertie’s Law – Supreme Court Podcast

Works

  • 1993 “Diminuet” Exploring the possibilities of the miniature (La Mama, Carlton, VIC)
  • 1999 ¡¡EMANCIPATE THE DISSONANCE!! with Slave Pianos (Lombard-Freid Fine Arts NYC)
  • 2004 Two lives in flux – and vice versa Vilnius, Lithuania
  • 2009 “Vanishing Point” collaboration with video artist Janet Biggs (Claire Oliver Gallery NYC)
  • 2015 “The Unanswered Question (once touched, remains unknown) ” The University of Houston Choral Chorale Choir with Janet Biggs
  • 2016 Zephyrix – Monash Art Ensemble
  • 2016 Transitive Cycles – Federation Bells Commission, City Of Melbourne
  • 2017 “Attrocity Slave” – Slave Pianos – Moscow Stations / Last Stop East – Part II – Continent of Sorrow
  • 2018 “Trilogy Of Cycles” – Federation Bells Commission, City Of Melbourne
  • 1999 ¡¡EMANCIPATE THE DISSONANCE!! with Slave Pianos (Lombard-Freid Fine Arts NYC)
  • 2004 Two lives in flux – and vice versa Vilnius, Lithuania
  • 2009 “Vanishing Point” collaboration with video artist Janet Biggs (Claire Oliver Gallery NYC)
  • 2015 “The Unanswered Question” for UH Chorale Choir with Janet Biggs
  • 2015 ZEPHYRIX for Monash Art Ensemble

 

 

 

Awards

  • 1990 Winner Jazz Piano Award at the Wangaratta Festival Of Jazz
  • 1993 Winner APRA music award for Best Jazz Composition “Hindered On His Way To Heaven” (with Vince Jones)
  • 1996 Nominated ARIA Award Best Jazz Album : EXIT
  • 1998 Best Jazz Composition Award from NSW Jazz Action society
  • 2006 Bell Award nomination Best Jazz Album : MODAS (Mother Of Dreams And Secrets)
  • 2007 Grammy nomination for best contemporary Jazz Album (people people, music music)
  • 2007-2008 Australia Council Fellowship
  • 2010 Bell Award nomination Best Song : Flashback
  • 2010 Bell Award nomination Best Contemporary Jazz Album : Flashbacks
  • 2012 AIR Award of 2012 nomination Best Jazz Album : Graft
  • 2012 Nominated ARIA Award Best Jazz Album : Graft
  • 2012 Bell Award nomination Best Song “Nostalgia For The Present”
  • 2012 Bell Award nomination Best Jazz album : Graft
  • 2014 Bell Award nomination Best Contemporary jazz album : Trio Feral :Don’t Feed
  • 2015 Peggy Glanville-Hicks Composer Residency
  • 2015 Winner ARIA Award Best Jazz Album : Mooroolbark
  • 2015 Winner Australian Independent Record Labels Association Best Jazz Album : Mooroolbark
  • 2015 Winner The Age Music Victoria Awards Best Jazz Album : Mooroolbark
  • 2016 Bell Award nomination Best Produced Album
  • 2016 Bell Award nomination Best Ensemble “ASIO”
  • 2016 Winner Bell Award Best Jazz Album
  • 2016 Winner Bell Award Best Song “Nectar Spur”
  • 2017 Bell Award nomination Best Song “Love Is The Blood”
  • 2017 Winner Bell Award Best Ensemble
  • 2017 Winner Bell Award Best Album “Hearing the Blood”
  • 2017 Winner Bell Award Produced Album “Hearing the Blood”
  • 2018 Nominated Art Music Awards Excellence In Jazz : Hearing the Blood
  • 2018 Nominated ARIA Award Hearing the Blood
  • 2018 Nominated Age Music Awards : Hearing the Blood
  • 2018 Nominated Australian Music Prize : Zephyrix
  • 2019 Bell Award nomination Best Instrumental Jazz Album : Zephyrix
  • 2019 Winner Bell Award Best Produced Album : Zephyrix
  • 2019 Nominated ARIA Award Best Jazz Album : Zephyrix

 

 

 

“Barney is one of my favorite pianists, that’s why he’s been in my band for the last 20 years”

-GARY BARTZ

Barney is a special piano player with that certain heart and touch, so he has great possibilities.
He’s a genuine musician, not just a skilled artist. There’s a certain touch that I’m talking about.
It’s hard to explain, but he has that
-BILLY HARPER

There was a virtual absence of familiar bop riffs, extended bop harmonies or precise
bop rhythms. Instead, Rosenwinkel’s pieces offered turbulent, thickly textured waves of
sound, mostly produced by Barney McAll’s impassioned keyboard work.
-LOS ANGELES TIMES

Using space and simplicity, Barney McAll conjures mighty music.
-ALL ABOUT JAZZ

McAll manages to intelligently integrate pop elements into his music and deserves
much wider attention.
-LOS ANGELES TIMES

McAll displays an immediate feel for each pattern and the stamina to sustain them
without sounding automatic. McAll also contributed some of the most successful solos,
playfully blending his parts of the arrangements with bleeding voicings and darting accents”
-THE BOSTON GLOBE

“(McAll’s) ability to craft memorable themes is matched by a feel for the atmospheric…
Now established on the intensely competitive New York jazz scene, he plays here with
some of the city’s leading musicians. His music is utterly contemporary, McAll demonstrating
throughout that he is a talented composer as well as gifted keyboardist”
-ROLLING STONE MAGAZINE

The revelation of the evening is pianist Barney McAll. Playing beneath the liquid passages
of (Dewey) Redman, McAll carefully kneaded clusters of notes from his hands that I found
devastating. He explored ideas with a dramatic flourish that had the audience in raptures”
-DRUM MEDIA

 

 

 

 

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