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Broken River Review (Sydney Morning Herald) - John Clare Sept 6 2006
If you like it when one of the likely lads on SBS cult car show Top Gear has
his face re-moulded by acceleration, you might well enjoy the momentum of
this trio, led by the buzzing, ripe alto saxophone of Tim O'Dwyer.
In full cry, they perform some rapid rhythmic hopscotch. Then the foot goes
right down.
Clayton Thomas's pulsing bass sometimes roves, as the landscape does on fast
bends, and Darren Moore's drums throw up smashing punctuations. That's track
one.
There is another like it. Also some atmospheric electro-acoustic textural
play on slower tracks and, despite the starkness, a kind of dry lyricism,
some caustic humour and even a sort of objectified nostalgia to go with the
grainy Super 8 stills on the sleeve. Most satisfying.
JAZZ: NOW FESTIVAL at Sydney Opera House - John Clare Sept 2006
The final night was opened by Tim O'Dwyer's trio, who played pieces from
their excellent album Broken River. The title refers to a stream in the
Castlemaine region of Victoria just below the 37th parallel and east of 37
degrees longtitude - or near Bendigo if you prefer - where O'Dwyer grew up.
It's not so far from Heathcote, where my brother-in-law Graham Austin died a
few days ago. It can be very dry there.
There was a dry and even stark quality to the music, which took off with
terrific energy, O'Dwyer's intensely driven alto saxophone leading the trio
through some rapid, precise rhythmic scrambles and hurtling releases. The
three jammed the power on with such severity that I wondered how the broad
audience would take it straight out of the gate. You know the feeling:
phwoof! This is great; I wonder if everyone else can feel it. The response
showed that they surely could.
I think people are more likely to be happy when in motion than standing
still. The way music can give the feeling of motion even when you are just
sitting there is uncanny. In this case: an urgent pulse, and accents on and
across that pulse, which could be fence posts flying past or the random
chaos of rushing trees. Also the heavy forward pressure of O'Dwyer's
playing. It can give the feeling of terrific speed, of acceleration even
when the tempo has not moved, and of the strange hiatus on a bend as the
landscape roves about on another tack. O'Dwyer, bassist Clayton Thomas and
drummer Darren Moore can really get that happening.
And there was much more; textural play in which Thomas set off some
beautiful high overtones on rods of metal pushed through the strings of his
bass and Moore evoked for me at least the brittle intricacy of dry bush on
his kit, while O'Dwyer made some cries and squarks and high thin squeels
that seemed like harsh birdsong and stinging insects. All this sometimes
leading into slow, powerfully deliberate stomp rhythms. And through it all a
stringent lyricism and a kind of objectified nostalgia. A couple of pieces
came, I think, from the direction of Anthony Braxton, Oliver Lake, Arthur
Blythe.
Everything had a definite purpose and shape. The trio has a strong
individual grip on its territory. They got a rousing ovation. It was
wonderful to share this with, I am sure, many people who had never heard
this kind of music in person.
At Wangaratta Festival of Jazz - John Clare Nov 2007
"An absolute highlight of the festival came right near the end when the
great local Tim O'Dwyer Trio joined forces with Dutch visitors, Eric Boeren
(trumpet), Wilbert De Jood (bass) and Michael Vatcher (drums). Boeren has
been to Wangaratta before. His shining cornet playing was if anything even
more impressive this time, but the double trio was the thing, firing the
imagination from so many angles when you thought the limits of this music
might have been reached. O'Dwyer's trio (their Broken River CD is strongly
recommended) are Tim (alto and bass clarinet) Clayton Thomas (bass) and
Darren Moore (drums).
More at http://www.jazz.org.au
Review of Borken River CD-Launch, March 2004, ArtsHouse, Singapore
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