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
Cheryl Durongpisitkul, Stephen Hornby, Marcos Villalta
Title of the work
Koi Kingdom
Performer
Koi Kingdom
Performance Date
17/5/2024
Venue
Jazzlab
Nominator Statement
The work is an expansive magnum opus of creative fantasy. The album is a single epic work of six movements, accompanied by a graphic novel.
The three composer performers have developed an incredible and subtle improvised art over the last nine years of performing throughout Australia together.
Their third album and first release on the Earshift label was launched with a national tour, and I was privileged to hear the launch at Jazzlab (one of the musical highlights of 2024).Koi Kingdom has established themselves as one of Australias most interesting jazz trios.
Cheryl Durongpisitkul is one of Australias up and coming jazz music superstars, Marcus Villalta is a wildly creative guitarist and composer with his thumb in an incredible number of musical pies and Stephen Hornby is the bass and composer of the fundament which keeps the group grounded in the earth and then sends the ensemble soaring for the skies.
The work weaves together themes of friendship, loss, grief rebirth and joy into an epic 40 minute suite of music accompanied by an incredible visual artwork (which comes as a book with the vinyl edition of the work).
The graphic novel illustrates the fantasy narrative of the Koi Kingdom(and deals with many of the current and pressing crises of our time - political instability, habitat and environmental destruction and loss).The suite opens with a musical Arc which acts as an overture setting the musical themes of the work and hinting at how they will be explored. Long arcs of melody with intricate lines are interwoven between all three musicians. Musical ideas are developed while being improvised upon/played with.The second movement is experimental and brutal, with heavy distortion and street and family life audio samples from various digital formats fomenting an extreme sense of auditory discomfort.The heavy metal influences and erratic playing is amazingly disturbingThe third Movement theatre of the everyday was launched with an exquisite video clip, which illustrates the themes of the movement. These are the traps, frustrations and beauties of home life and the repetitions involved in peaceful co-existence.
The fourth movement is genre bending, suggesting epic stadium dimensions, which works into a mad frenzy of destruction. The group foreshadows elements of the finale in stroke of compositional genius.
The fifth movement offers consolation from the destructive whirlwind which preceded it with long stretches of stillness and simplicity.
The opening part of the finale features Keshav Yoganathan on percussion. This expands the realms of the trio exponentially, giving the work an almost symphonic orchestral fullness and scope.
The second part of the finale amalgamates a range of folk and acoustic influences and the trio is joined by a full choir of the Koi Communities, who bring poetry and lyrics to the final movement of the music.The work could only have been written in 2024 and feels very contemporary. The recording and mixing by Rohan Sforcina is stunning, full and rich, and the mastering by Lachlan Carrick
This work is epic, a dream achievement and should definitely be awarded the jazz prize as the best piece of work in Australia in 2024.
Excerpt from additional nomination statement:
The album as a whole is highly exploratory, featuring dense arrangements, through composition and group improvisation. It comfortably straddles art music and jazz worlds, hints at influence from Brazilian, heavy metal and Indian rhythmic traditions, and deftly blazes an original trail. Subverting the jazz norms of a saxophone trio, all three instruments take a feature role throughout the work, interchanging melodic, rhythmic and harmonic roles. This is a beautiful work that represents their local artistic community - the final part has a choir made up of friends and family, and all three instruments take a feature role throughout the work, sharing power in an act of community-centred anarchy.
Musically, Koi Kingdom is an exhilarating study in contrast and synthesis. The music shape-shifts effortlessly, at times meditative and spacious, at others explosively intricatealways unpredictable, yet deeply intentional. Awarded a 5-star review by Eric Meyers of The Australian, Koi Kingdom is a staggering achievement that challenges, excites, and ultimately transcends conventional boundaries. It is a testament to the boundless possibilities of collaborative composition and a landmark release that demands recognition.
Nominee
Cheryl Durongpisitkul, Stephen Hornby, Marcos Villalta
Title of the work
Koi Kingdom
Performer
Koi Kingdom
Performance Date
17/5/2024
Venue
Jazzlab
The three composer performers have developed an incredible and subtle improvised art over the last nine years of performing throughout Australia together.
Their third album and first release on the Earshift label was launched with a national tour, and I was privileged to hear the launch at Jazzlab (one of the musical highlights of 2024).Koi Kingdom has established themselves as one of Australias most interesting jazz trios.
Cheryl Durongpisitkul is one of Australias up and coming jazz music superstars, Marcus Villalta is a wildly creative guitarist and composer with his thumb in an incredible number of musical pies and Stephen Hornby is the bass and composer of the fundament which keeps the group grounded in the earth and then sends the ensemble soaring for the skies.
The work weaves together themes of friendship, loss, grief rebirth and joy into an epic 40 minute suite of music accompanied by an incredible visual artwork (which comes as a book with the vinyl edition of the work).
The graphic novel illustrates the fantasy narrative of the Koi Kingdom(and deals with many of the current and pressing crises of our time - political instability, habitat and environmental destruction and loss).The suite opens with a musical Arc which acts as an overture setting the musical themes of the work and hinting at how they will be explored. Long arcs of melody with intricate lines are interwoven between all three musicians. Musical ideas are developed while being improvised upon/played with.The second movement is experimental and brutal, with heavy distortion and street and family life audio samples from various digital formats fomenting an extreme sense of auditory discomfort.The heavy metal influences and erratic playing is amazingly disturbingThe third Movement theatre of the everyday was launched with an exquisite video clip, which illustrates the themes of the movement. These are the traps, frustrations and beauties of home life and the repetitions involved in peaceful co-existence.
The fourth movement is genre bending, suggesting epic stadium dimensions, which works into a mad frenzy of destruction. The group foreshadows elements of the finale in stroke of compositional genius.
The fifth movement offers consolation from the destructive whirlwind which preceded it with long stretches of stillness and simplicity.
The opening part of the finale features Keshav Yoganathan on percussion. This expands the realms of the trio exponentially, giving the work an almost symphonic orchestral fullness and scope.
The second part of the finale amalgamates a range of folk and acoustic influences and the trio is joined by a full choir of the Koi Communities, who bring poetry and lyrics to the final movement of the music.The work could only have been written in 2024 and feels very contemporary. The recording and mixing by Rohan Sforcina is stunning, full and rich, and the mastering by Lachlan Carrick
This work is epic, a dream achievement and should definitely be awarded the jazz prize as the best piece of work in Australia in 2024.
Excerpt from additional nomination statement:
The album as a whole is highly exploratory, featuring dense arrangements, through composition and group improvisation. It comfortably straddles art music and jazz worlds, hints at influence from Brazilian, heavy metal and Indian rhythmic traditions, and deftly blazes an original trail. Subverting the jazz norms of a saxophone trio, all three instruments take a feature role throughout the work, interchanging melodic, rhythmic and harmonic roles. This is a beautiful work that represents their local artistic community - the final part has a choir made up of friends and family, and all three instruments take a feature role throughout the work, sharing power in an act of community-centred anarchy.
Musically, Koi Kingdom is an exhilarating study in contrast and synthesis. The music shape-shifts effortlessly, at times meditative and spacious, at others explosively intricatealways unpredictable, yet deeply intentional. Awarded a 5-star review by Eric Meyers of The Australian, Koi Kingdom is a staggering achievement that challenges, excites, and ultimately transcends conventional boundaries. It is a testament to the boundless possibilities of collaborative composition and a landmark release that demands recognition.