In what was palpably one of the highlights of the festival, pianist Barney McAll presented a 20-minute cameo performance as a curtain raiser for the Trio Grande 2.0 gig which closed the festival in the Verbrugghen Hall. Presenting a highly thoughtful short program, covering many bases, McAll advanced his well-deserved reputation as one of the current giants of Australian jazz. 10 McAll played Mike Nock’s legendary composition Ondas, the Michel Legrand standard You Must Believe in Spring, a piece called Strays, written by Larry Goldings, and James P Johnson’s rarely heard ragtime classic Carolina Shout, an immensely influential piece in jazz history – both Duke Ellington and Fats Waller, it is said, learnt it note for note. McAll’s spirited adaptation of this seminal work ended his set on a note of triumph.

 

-THE AUSTRALIAN

 

 

“Barney McAll offered a stunning solo set at the Holy Trinity Cathedral that – in its gospel-tinged fervour and heart-on-sleeve honesty – was as uplifting as any sermon could hope to be”.   -Sydney Morning Herald

 

 

 

 On reflection McAll was very much the festival highlight for me.
JazzLocal32.com

 

“Always flamboyant and theatrical… Barney combined skill with inventiveness, creativity and flourish”.  -Aus Jazz Blog

 

 

 

“Breathtaking solo performance”  -Cyber Halides Jazz

 

Mr McAll, whose solo piano recital in St Patrick’s Cathedral at the 2013 Wangaratta Jazz Festival was, for me, the highlight of the festival … -Jazz And Beyond

 

VIDEOS

New York  – Company Of Heaven Jazz Festival:


Live at “The Loove”,  New York:

 Live at “The Loove”,  New York: