Tim Bruer's High 5

Historical article recovered from a Wayback capture dated 2018-02-24.

Tim was born in Adelaide, and after a number of years of classical training, began playing jazz in the late 70’s. In 1980 he started his professional career and became involved in the local jazz scene, most notably as part of the group “Small Hours”, which played support gigs for Joe Henderson, Johnny Griffin and Freddie Hubbard. In 1982 he began his Bachelor of Music degree at Adelaide University where he studied with pianists Ted Nettelbeck and Bruce Hancock, and in 1985 he graduated with a major in jazz performance.

He then moved to Sydney, where he became involved in the jazz scene playing with musicians such as Lloyd Swanton, Carl Orr, Dave Addes, and James Greening, and in the R&B scene, playing with bands such as The Hippos and Bop Till U Drop.

In 1989, he moved to the Blue Mountains where he lived for many years, whilst continuing to perform in the Sydney area, particularly with the Swing-Jive band “The Anthill Mob”. During that time he also worked often with Monica Trapaga, and was a member of a number of bands, including the Gai Bryant Quintet. As well, he held down long term residencies at venues in both the Mountains and Sydney, most notably with the trio “Lush Life” with Paul Joseph and Alex Hewetson.

From 2002 he studied at the Sydney Conservatorium of Music, studying extensively with Mike Nock, and looking in particular at the playing of Keith Jarrett. This resulted in him gaining his Masters of Music degree, and in 2004 he moved back to Sydney where he has since been performing, as well as teaching at the Australian Institute of Music.

2007 sees the release of his first album as leader, “The Tim Bruer Quartet” which also features saxophonist Sean Coffin, bassist Brett Hirst, and drummer Simon Barker, playing a program of his own contemporary jazz compositions.

Tim has also performed with (amongst others) Bernie McGann, Dale Barlow, James Morrison, Errol Buddle, Bruce Cale, Steve Hunter, Jackie Orszaczky, Hamish Stuart, Jonathon Zwartz, Dave Theak, Steve Brien, Pat Powell, Steve Elphick, and Andrew Gander.

His career highlights include :- finalist in the inaugural Wangaratta jazz award in 1990; performances at the Manly, Gold Coast, and Cairns jazz festivals; appearances on many TV shows; arranger and pianist for Nielsen Gough; support gig for U.K. guitarist Ronnie Jordan; featured soloist on Max Sharam’s top ten single “Be Firm”; recording with Guy LeClaire; Musical Director/pianist for Delilah; recording in London with Gene Calderazzo; recording with Kate Swadling at the Hillcrest Coachman jazz festival.

1. KEITH JARRETT – Adelaide Festival Theatre, 1982

This concert was obviously a long time ago, but I remember it as being one of those special nights where at the end of it you feel totally musically satisfied. Keith improvised all night, and it felt like he played all the music you’d ever want to hear. Specifically, I remember being aware of the contrapuntal aspect of what he was doing, and thinking “there’s all this fugal stuff going on!” There was also one part where he was doing a typical classical V - I cadence (I remember it as “Beethovenesque”), which he kept repeating because he felt unable to decide when it should finally come to rest. What was particularly memorable about this was that it seemed like the audience was right with him in this process, and able to relate to the quandary of where to finish. He played five encores, and the last one was the only pre-composed piece of the night, a beautiful rendering of “My Song” that I remember sounded like a whole band.

2. KENNY GARRETT QUARTET – Iridium, New York 2003

I remember this gig primarily for the energy, particularly from Kenny himself and the drummer, Ronald Brunner (the other members were Vernell Brown on piano and Kristopher Funn on bass). They were mainly playing music from the album “The Standard of Language”, and although there were some quiet moments, it was by and large the intense, burning modal style at which Garrett excels. I loved the tunes, which were contemporary, but accessible and not overly complex. His solos were generally long, but he seemed to have so many ideas that I never got bored. As you can imagine it was very exciting and Brunner’s drumming, which was a large part of this, was so loud I had to stuff bits of paper napkin in my ears.

3. PAUL GRABOWSKY DUO WITH MARK ISAACS at the Basement (somewhere around 1999/2000)

The first time I really heard Paul was with his trio with Gary Costello and Alan Browne, and what particularly impressed me was his sound on the instrument. He played a cadenza on “My Heart Stood Still”, and his touch and level of tone production were as if he’d practiced it like a classical piece, but of course he was improvising. I’ve since heard him many times, and it’s hard to pick a stand out because his playing is always at such a high level, but I’ve decided on a duo concert with Mark Isaacs.

It was a two piano gig, and the two of them just improvised freely, occasionally drifting into the odd standard. They played really well together, as they obviously had a deep knowledge of the contemporary jazz piano language, had had much experience with classical music, are both prolific composers, and also have perfect pitch. What I particularly liked was that the situation seemed to allow Grabowsky to escape from the confines of song structures (his own tunes, which he tends to play more than anything else, are usually very complex harmonically) and to play in an earthier, and perhaps less intellectual way. The moment I remember most was where he reached a climax whilst playing some kind of chordal figure, and became extremely passionate, almost primitively so. At the end of it all, I felt that Paul was very much aware of the “process” of improvisation, and the idea of “being in the moment”.

4. WOMEN AND CHILDREN FIRST – Walkers Arms Hotel, Adelaide, 1984

As a jazz musician in Adelaide during the early 80’s, any visit by a Sydney band was a major event, and I enjoyed many such occasions. One that stands out was a concert by Sandy Evans’ band, Women and Children First. Apart from the music, part of the initial impact of the group was visual, as I remember drummer Tony Buck was wearing a bright orange jump suit, and I think both him and bassist Steve Elphick were also wearing make up. It was of course though, the music that made the evening memorable for me, and this was in no small part due to the presence of the brilliant keyboard player Indra Lesmana. He was about 18 at the time, but sounded like a seasoned veteran and seemed to have the whole contemporary jazz piano thing covered, as well as the synthesizer. They started with a powerful modal piece which I recall was based on a poem of Thomas Tallis’, and from then on I just remember being in the thrall of the excitement of it all, and unable to stop dancing in my seat.

5. ROGER WOODWARD – Joan Sutherland Performing Arts Centre, Penrith, early 2000’s

The thing that impressed me most about this concert was that apart from Woodward’s flawless playing, he played a huge variety of styles, all from memory. The repertoire as far as I can remember was Beethoven’s “Appassionata” sonata, a Mozart sonata, J.S. Bach’s suite in G major from the French suites, and the Chromatic Fantasy in D minor, some Debussy pieces, and then a number of encores which included Scriabin and I think some Poulenc.