Miriam Zolin
Miriam Zolin is the publisher and editor at extempore and jazz-planet.com. She has enjoyed listening to a broad spectrum of jazz and improvised music for a number of years. As well as regular writing about Australian musicians and their music, Miriam has recently contributed to PenTales, Griffith Review, Cordite Poetry Review, Australian Book Review and The Sleepers Almanac.
Articles by and about Miriam Zolin
31 Jul 2007 Documenting the Australian Jazz World (not) by Miriam Zolin
Speaking from the perspective of a committed jazz fan, Miriam Zolin writes about the impact of the Internet on the information network that promotes and discusses this music.
27 Apr 2009 Fools rush in... by Miriam Zolin
I think it was Albert Einstein who said that foolish ideas are the only ones that lead to something really new happening. That is a paraphrase of course, but you get the gist.
The idea behind extempore—a bi-annual journal with content inspired by jazz and improvised music—has from the beginning been a foolish idea. Let me count (some of) the ways...
4 May 2012 Jazz in Australia by Miriam Zolin
When a new column starts, as this one does today, the author and editor usually have an idea of what it will look like - yet inevitably the column's form and content will change over time. It would be too ambitious to create a regular snapshot each month of everything that's happening, but taken as a series, we hope to provide picture that resonates with the flavour and texture of the jazz and improvised music scene in Australia.
28 Jun 2012 Jazz in Australia # 2 by Miriam Zolin
Graeme Bell passed away in June this year. Inevitably, every art form has its great and gracious contributors - the people who have blazed trails and helped to create the flavour of a particular scene. Graeme Bell was one of those...
6 Sep 2012 Jazz in Australia # 3 by Miriam Zolin
August in Melbourne can be shiveringly cold, but on four Thursdays this month, things heated up at Bennetts Lane as AAO associate artistic director, Scott Tinkler, curated an Australian Art Orchestra residency. Named 'Hard Core on the Fly', a feature of the residency was Tinkler's focus on what he sees as an under-appreciation of improvisation in the wider non-specialist world of music funding and infrastructure...
22 Nov 2012 Jazz in Australia #4 by Miriam Zolin
When promoters and venues wonder about where audiences go between festivals, the answer is often simply that you can have musical experiences at festivals that aren't possible at other times. Internationals and interstaters are flown in and – particularly in Wangaratta – thrown together in a creative atmosphere that lends itself to playful opportunities. A regional festival such as Wangaratta carries an extra dimension of delight that can't – logistically – happen in other contexts.
7 Feb 2013 Jazz in Australia #5 by Miriam Zolin
AAO appoints a new artistic director - MJC's 30th anniversary and funding cut - Australia Council fellowships - vale Brian Brown - cancellation of Darling Harbour Jazz Festival - Young Women's Jazz Workshops
14 Mar 2013 New jazz releases: Spence, Hannaford, Tawadros, Noordhuis, Sirens BB, Trichotomy by Miriam Zolin
It feels like every week a new album hits my desk. It's a fertile time for recording at the moment, and in this first of our jazz updates that features recent CD releases, we've selected just a handful of what's on offer in the Australian jazz scene.
9 May 2013 Jazz in Australia # 6 by Miriam Zolin
The 11th Annual Jazz Bell Awards were presented on Thursday 2 May. This was the first awards night to be held since the passing of Graeme Bell in 2012. Straight off the plane from New York, vocalist Chris McNulty was thrilled to receive the best Jazz Vocal Album award for The Song That Sings You Here. Young Australian Jazz Artist of the Year Steve Barry was in New York and unable to attend. David Ades was in Germany and his awards were received by daughter Amelia Thomas on his behalf. The music awarded on the night was a wide range: the Best Australian Traditional Jazz Album went to Flap! who expressed their gratitude to the judges for their broad definition of jazz.