Eastside’s album for October 2010
Live – Matt Keegan Trio
“Keegan takes the [tenor trio] format in a new direction”
Aaron Searle
MCA Music Forum May-July 2008
Matt Keegan – Sax and effects
Cameron Undy – Electric Bass
Dave Goodman – Drums
Live performances have a special energy and this recording has captured the intensity and chemistry that these three musicians have been developing together in their 8 years as a band together. Recorded live at Jazzgroove as a part of their 2008 national tour,
Matt Keegan trio LIVE features the band in its electric incarnation performing a set of brand new material coupled with some new versions of old favourites from their previous 3 studio albums. The great ensemble playing is enhanced by a wide palette of sounds that are conjured up from the various electronic effects that Keegan and Undy have at their disposal.
REVIEW
“It begins with layers of mournful, elegaic sax. Enter a skittering ride cymbal, and then thrumming, propulsive bass, glancing off the main melody like hail off a basalt monolith. Clouds of steam, lichen on black rock, boulder-strewn hillsides.
You might associate this kind of aural landscape painting with the ECM label, with John Surman, or Terje Rypdal perhaps. But no, this is local tenor saxophonist Matt Keegan and his cohorts Cameron Undy (electric bass) and David Goodman (drums), recorded live at the Excelsior Hotel in Surry Hills, and the piece is Ambiguous.
The Trio is equally adept at evoking cityscapes (Half Full has the kind of hangdog sexiness that makes for a great cop show theme) and all-out weirdness. Toplepsey begins with a creepy descending bass figure, rim-shots, and gnarly, twisting double-tracked sax – Keegan works a mean FX pedal – before falling apart in a clattering heap, and regrouping like a King Crimson out-take from 1975. Blood-Let features spindly, helix-like melodies .
An invigorating set of originals played by musicians who won’t let purism stand in the way of good music.”
– Brian Yatman
Mat Keegan Trio – Live is available now on Chillum Records
Upcoming Gigs:
Saturday 18th December 2010 FUNDRAISER @ 505
Saturday 15th January 2011 JAZZGROOVE FESTIVAL @ 505
Check out the gig guide for more information