Unforeseen Quintet

Quintet, new work: music developed and refined over two years of performances and ritual.

Composition as threshold: lifting the thin veil between adjacent realities.

Improvisation as continuation: written material and improvisation operate as one process ;  the ensemble composes in real time, extending tone and direction already in motion.

Living form: Incantatory melodies and open zones where the sound chooses its own future. 

Unforeseen is new music by Barney McAll. Inspired by the tale of a King trading his cities for a single jewel, this music reflects the belief that true worth lies in what cannot be seen or easily grasped. Through new sounds profound melodies, we explore the faith it takes to let go, and uncover some kind of nature, some kind of unseen liberty. To see smoke and know fire is insight; to cut off all streams and move freely is mastery—whose actions are these?

Barney McAll is a GRAMMY-nominated, ARIA-award-winning pianist, composer and producer widely regarded as one of Australia’s most visionary and uncompromising musical voices. With nearly 30 solo albums and appearances on more than 100 recordings, his international career spans two decades between New York and Australia. Since 1997 he has worked extensively with NEA Jazz Master Gary Bartz and collaborated with legends including Dewey Redman, Billy Harper, Maceo Parker and Fred Wesley, while also serving as music director for Sia. Landmark releases such as Mother of Dreams and Secrets, the ARIA-winning Mooroolbark, and the expansive Precious Energy place him at the forefront of artists redefining the language of modern spiritual and creative jazz.

For this festival McAll presents Unforeseen, a new ensemble performing his latest quintet compositions.

“Adventurous, innovative, super creative and just downright enthralling (and often breathtaking) listen from one of our finest musicians and a superb musical assemblage of talents” - Stuart Coupe 

"A magnum opus that belongs alongside the kaleidoscopic 21st century jazz-inspired sounds emerging from London, Chicago, and Los Angeles, though it towers above most of them." - ALL MUSIC 

“Barney is one of my favorite pianists, that’s why he’s been in my band for the last 20 years.” – Gary Bartz

“McAll is partial to unleashing surprises himself, whether they be radical dynamic shifts – such as suddenly reducing a solo to the merest trickle of notes against thrumming bass and whispered cymbal chatter – or just finding bewitchingly unexpected turns to take in developing a melody. Masterful” – Sydney Morning Herald

“Barney McAll is a musical conjurer of the highest order” – CMJ Review 

“There was a virtual absence of familiar bop riffs, extended bop harmonies, or precise bop rhythms. Instead, Rosenwinkel’s pieces offered turbulent, thickly textured waves of sound, mostly produced by Barney McAll’s impassioned keyboard work” – Los Angeles Times

“In a memorable highlight, pianist Barney McAll presented a 20-minute performance which closed the festival in the Verbrugghen Hall. With a highly thoughtful program, McAll advanced his well deserved reputation as one of the current giants of Australian jazz” – The Australian