NOMINATION: Work of the Year - Jazz
For an original Jazz work of any instrumentation, including improvisatory composition.
A work is defined as a single complete musical composition, or expression. This includes music with movements or sub-works (i.e. song cycles), installations, and real-time compositions (improvised music).
If you believe your work to be nominated in the wrong category or the details of your nomination to be incorrect, please contact the AMC via email at awards@australianmusiccentre.com.au before proceeding with the nomination.
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Nominee
Casey Golden
Title of the work
Immortals 1
Performer
Casey Golden
Performance Date
13/11/2024
Venue
Present Day
Nominator Statement
Im nominating my brother, Casey Golden for Immortals 1, a track from his 2024 album Present Day. Casey has been consistent and prolific in releasing high quality music throughout his career. Present Day is his seventh album in the past decade and he has released a further eight albums during this time in co-led projects with guitarist Tony Barnard, piano trio States of Chaos and electronic production project This Week in the Universe. He has a quite a varied output as an artist and this album is unlike any music he has released in the past.
Present Day feels like a combination of several of Caseys musical worlds. It is very much a jazz album with a strong emphasis on improvisation, but also features some fantastic string writing and some electronic production elements in the use of synthesisers, samples and mellotron.
Immortals 1 is centred around the duo of Casey on piano and Evan Mannell on drums, with a string trio and synthesisers creeping in as the piece progresses. Its an unusual ensemble for jazz, but it contains all the elements present in good jazz. Its adventurous, rhythmic, cerebral and skilful while still being grounded and listenable to someone not familiar with improvised music.
A few technical elements I appreciate in Immortals 1:
Its a cleverly written asymmetrical cyclical form that can be difficult to pinpoint where the form repeats. This piece is largely a piano/drums improvisation over the harmonic structure of this cyclical form, with the written melody only entering in the final repeat, played by the piano and violin. Theres a beautiful shape to the piece as a whole. It starts very sparse and builds gradually to a rich texture by the end. The improvisation has a clear emotional arc and is very much in service of the composition. After a slow building of tension for most of the piece, the performance finally culminates in a harmonic resolution just as the strings overwhelm the piano. Its a great performance with an epic cinematic quality.
Immortals 1 displays many of the hallmarks of modern jazz, especially in regards to harmony and improvisational language, but also shows clear classical and rock influences. It has broad appeal while also satisfying the level of complexity that modern jazz listeners often crave.
This is a great piece of music recorded with a unique ensemble. It displays my brothers skills as composer, improviser and arranger and I know of no other artist in Australia that is making music like this.
Nominee
Casey Golden
Title of the work
Immortals 1
Performer
Casey Golden
Performance Date
13/11/2024
Venue
Present Day
Present Day feels like a combination of several of Caseys musical worlds. It is very much a jazz album with a strong emphasis on improvisation, but also features some fantastic string writing and some electronic production elements in the use of synthesisers, samples and mellotron.
Immortals 1 is centred around the duo of Casey on piano and Evan Mannell on drums, with a string trio and synthesisers creeping in as the piece progresses. Its an unusual ensemble for jazz, but it contains all the elements present in good jazz. Its adventurous, rhythmic, cerebral and skilful while still being grounded and listenable to someone not familiar with improvised music.
A few technical elements I appreciate in Immortals 1:
Its a cleverly written asymmetrical cyclical form that can be difficult to pinpoint where the form repeats. This piece is largely a piano/drums improvisation over the harmonic structure of this cyclical form, with the written melody only entering in the final repeat, played by the piano and violin. Theres a beautiful shape to the piece as a whole. It starts very sparse and builds gradually to a rich texture by the end. The improvisation has a clear emotional arc and is very much in service of the composition. After a slow building of tension for most of the piece, the performance finally culminates in a harmonic resolution just as the strings overwhelm the piano. Its a great performance with an epic cinematic quality.
Immortals 1 displays many of the hallmarks of modern jazz, especially in regards to harmony and improvisational language, but also shows clear classical and rock influences. It has broad appeal while also satisfying the level of complexity that modern jazz listeners often crave.
This is a great piece of music recorded with a unique ensemble. It displays my brothers skills as composer, improviser and arranger and I know of no other artist in Australia that is making music like this.