Harry Mitchell (harrymitchell.net)

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

There are two revelations here for me; Harry Mitchell the jazz pianist and Harry Mitchell the composer. But neither should come as any surprise, as the Perth based pianist has been playing since the age of 8 and jazz since the age of 13. Not that age alone is the barometer for excellence, but with his self titled debut containing six originals and one standard with sidemen such as Jamie Oehlers and Daniel Susnjar, he seems to be playing and composing with advanced maturity way beyond his 22 years. Each piece has an utterly contemporary narrative defined by the talents of each band member and built on the tradition of post hard bop. The group also includes young talents of guitarist Jeremy Thomson and Karl Florisson double bass. Gabba the Hut, a play on the recognisable Star Wars character Jabba the Hutt, is a latin inspired piece starting with intense ensemble work before Oehlers enters on the head in unison with Thomson’s guitar. Then Oehlers and Susnjar break out and trade their own mighty blows before the piano and bass re-enter and Mitchell takes a solo using an amalgam of languages from Hancock to Perez to Rubalcaba. The piece finishes with a series of block chord and drum punctuations before intensifying into a cutting session that one senses could have continued indefinitely not for the fade out; high drama with a sense of fulfilling satisfaction

Peter Wockner