There will not be too many Australian musicians who can list jazz legends Roy Haynes and Dave Holland as their collaborators in a jazz trio recording. Pianist and composer Mark Isaacs was thirty when he recorded the album Encounters with them in 1988. This year he celebrates his 60th birthday with a performance at the Camelot Lounge on June 21st with his reformed, Australian trio. Mark talked with Mick Paddon on Time and Space about his long, extensive and varied musical career. He describes himself as something of a prodigy who started playing the piano at age five, and produced his first compositions when he was twelve and intending, at that point, to be a classical composer and conductor rather than a performer. Jazz was one of the things that changed his mind when he returned to playing and performing on piano. As a prelude to the conversation we hear a solo piano interpretation by Mark of the jazz standard, Stella by Starlight from his CD Elders Suite. The podcast closes with his trio playing a version of Lennon and McCartney’s the Fool on the Hill from Mark’s Visions albums. Part way through the discussion we hear Mark playing with another one of the greats of 20th century jazz, Kenny Wheeler, also from his Elders Suite CD. The interview was first broadcast during Time and Space on Wednesday June 6th.
