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Alister Spence

Alister is recognized as one of Australia’s most original, distinctive contemporary jazz pianists/composers. With a performing and composing career spanning more than 25 years, his wide-ranging talents have led him to perform with and compose for some of the world’s most respected artists in the areas of contemporary music, improvisation, film and theatre.

In recent years he has devoted his energy to writing and performing with his trio, The Alister Spence Trio with Lloyd Swanton (the Necks) on double bass and Toby Hall (formerly with pianist, Mike Nock) drums and glockenspiel. This celebrated group has recorded six CDs (Rufus Records and Alister Spence Music [ASM]) and has a growing international reputation.

Their most recent CD, Not Everything But Enough (ASM005, 2017) was listed in Top 10 Jazz Releases 2017, Music Magazine Japan and "Honorary Mention Best of 2017" in New York City Jazz Record. Alister Spence Trio: Live (ASM004, 2015) was recorded live at the Sound Lounge, Sydney in 2015 and received a 4 star review in Jazzwise Magazine. It was nominated for Australian Jazz Bell Awards 2016 and Art Music Award Excellence in Jazz 2016. Far Flung (Rufus Records 2012) also received a 4 star review in Jazz Journal (June 2013) and was listed in Critics Poll 2013 (January 2014). It was also listed in The WIRE 2013 Rewind - Critics' reflections by Andy Hamilton as Album of the year. fit (Rufus Records 2009) was voted in the top 15 jazz/improv releases worldwide for 2009 by The Wire, UK. Both Mercury (Rufus Records 2006) and Flux (Rufus Records 2003) received ARIA nominations (Australian Record Industry Awards) for 2004, 2007. The trio toured in U.K and Canada in 2006 and Japan in 2008.

Since performing at The Vilnius Jazz Festival 2009, with bassist, Joseph Williamson (Tobias Delius Quartet, Alex Ward) and drummer, Chris Cantillo (Nils Berg Cinemascope, Lena Nyberg), Alister has returned to Europe and the UK on a regular basis to tour with this lineup. Spence/Williamson/Cantillo released their debut CD, Begin (Alister Spence Music ASM003) in 2015. It was described as "Brilliant musicianship, masterful playing and imaginative improvisation" by Eyal Hareuveni, Salt Peanuts.

Alister also performs with improvising groups Sensaround - Alister Spence/keyboards, Raymond MacDonald (Scotland)/saxophone and Shoeb Ahmed/samples releasing two CDs Isotropes (2014 HelloOsquare Recordings) and Travelogue (2016 HellOSquare Recordings).; and ch/an/ce - Andrew Fedorich/saxophone, Evan Dorian/drums, Alister Spence/piano.

Since 2008, Alister has collaborated with acclaimed, Japanese pianist/composer Satoko Fujii performing a double bill at Tokyo International Jazz Festival - Alister Spence Trio and Satoko's ensemble Mah Doh Quartet. In 2011, they performed as a duo in Sydney at the Eugene Goosens Hall ABC and in 2015 performed as part of an improvisation concert at Kuhlspot Berlin wiht Magda Mayas, Natsuki Tamura and Andrea Parkins. In 2016, Alister toured in Japan with Sensaround and the Satoko Fujii Orchestra and performed several duo piano concerts with Fujii. He returned to Japan in 2017 to perform with Satoko Fujii and Natsuki Tamura and the Satoko Fujii Orchestras.

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4
Album Review

Alister Spence / Tony Buck: Mythographer

Read "Mythographer" reviewed by Dan McClenaghan


Duo recordings, no matter what the particular instrumentation, are able to showcase musical mind-melds. Two artists conversing, trading and extrapolating on each other's ideas. Pianist Alister Spence and drummer Tony Buck try the format on for size with Mythographer. This spontaneous, one-day-session recording opens with “Dry Wood Talking." It sounds as if the talking is being done with sleigh bells in the beginning, in a tune that unfolds in a searching-for-the-center mode. “And Yet She Turns," ...

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Radio & Podcasts

The Alister Spence Trio with Ed Kuepper Plus Other New Releases

Read "The Alister Spence Trio with Ed Kuepper Plus Other New Releases" reviewed by Bob Osborne


On this weeks show there is a focus on recent releases. There is also an Australian jazz-rock supergroup just about to embark their first tour, some classic jazz stylings in a modern setting, brand new work from cutting edge duos and exciting releases from Ricardo Pinzon, Yaniv Taubenhouse and Tony Malaby. Playlist Alister Spence Trio with Ed Kuepper “Not a Leaf in Any Forest" from Asteroid Ekosystem (Alister Spence Music) 00:00 Cooper-Moore and Stephen Gauci “Improvisation Seven" ...

4
Album Review

Alister Spence Trio With Ed Kuepper: Asteroid Ekosystem

Read "Asteroid Ekosystem" reviewed by Dan McClenaghan


Australian pianist/keyboardist Alister Spence—with his avant-garde credibility established via free-roaming work with his trio and collaborations with pianist/composer/bandleader Satoko Fujii—takes another let's-see-what-happens exploratory step in a collaboration with guitarist Ed Kuepper on the double CD outing, Asteroid Ekosystems, a sonic trek into the extraterrestrial area of space debris between Mars and Jupiter. Or not. Maybe the title was tagged on, after the two day recording sessions, after an “off-the-cuff" show in Sydney in March of 2018. Nevertheless, that ...

10
Album Review

Alister Spence: Whirlpool

Read "Whirlpool" reviewed by Karl Ackermann


Australian jazz pianist and composer Alister Spence has led his own trio for twenty years, picking up regional ARIA best jazz album nominations for Flux (2003), and Mercury (2006), both on the Rufus label. Spence has led the ensembles Clarion Fracture Zone and Wanderlust and was an early member of the Australian Art Orchestra. He is best known in the U.S. as a member of Scottish saxophonist Raymond MacDonald's International Big Band, and for his adventurous work with Satoko Fujii. ...

7
Album Review

Sensaround: Heart/Noise

Read "Heart/Noise" reviewed by Karl Ackermann


Sensaround is an electro-acoustic trio of Australian and Scottish lineage, co-led by the familiar names of Alister Spence and Raymond MacDonald and the less recognized Shoeb Ahmed. Heart/Noise is the group's third release following the 2014 Isotropes (hellosQuare recordings). The music defies categorization, combining--as the musicians describe it--"jazz ambience, ghostly dub, and post-punk experiments...." It is not likely to conjure up associations with anything else in or around the periphery of jazz. A composer, keyboardist and effects artist, ...

Album Review

Alister Spence & Satoko Fujii Orchestra Kobe: Imagine Meeting You Here

Read "Imagine Meeting You Here" reviewed by Alberto Bazzurro


Un bell'organico composto da musicisti in orbita-Satoko Fujii (a partire dal marito e compagno di mille battaglie musicali Natsuki Tamura) rilegge pagine orchestrali frutto della vis compositiva dell'australiano Alister Spence, con cui la pianista nipponica ha ripetutamente collaborato in tempi più o meno recenti (il loro primo incontro risale al 2007). L'impianto è—per così dire—misto, nel senso che a passaggi corali nitidamente predeterminati si alternano aree improvvisative piuttosto libere (non il classico assolo sopra un dato tessuto ...

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Radio & Podcasts

Burning Ghosts, Alister Spence and More

Read "Burning Ghosts, Alister Spence and More" reviewed by Maurice Hogue


Expat bassist Mike Parker is living in Poland now and making great music with his Trio Theory. This episode kicks off with a pair of tunes from Shiny Objects, Dark Places, his latest album. You'll also hear Burning Ghosts with their musical expression of anger and distaste for the current state of American politics. The second hour features Australia's Alister Spence continued collaboration with the great Satoko Fujii, conducting her Orchestra Kobe through a set of distinctly original music. The ...

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"Spence isn't capable of writing an uninteresting composition...' International Piano

"Like the greatest jazz pianish-composers such as Monk and Ellington, Spence's improvising shows a coherence and imagination that matches his compositional mastery.' Andy Hamilton, International Piano

'Spence has that priceless gift of always leaving you wanting more...He is never less than absorbing.' Jazzwise Magazine UK,

‘Ingenious themes prove fertile sources of improvisation. Spence is definitely a talent deserving wider recognition’ The Wire, UK

‘Utterly compelling’ Jazz Journal UK

'Art that allows us to be other than who we are, even for a moment, is invaluable...' Sydney Morning Herald

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Photos

Music

Recordings: As Leader | As Sideperson

Mythographer

Alister Spence Music
2023

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Asteroid Ekosystem

Alister Spence Music
2021

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Whirlpool

Self Produced
2020

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Imagine Meeting You...

Alister Spence Music
2019

buy

Heart/Noise

hellosQuare Recordings
2019

buy

Live

Self Produced
2016

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Imagine Meeting You Here 1

From: Imagine Meeting You Here
By Alister Spence

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