AN ARCHIVE OF FEATURE STORIES, mainly about artists associated with Merri-bek Band in one way or another.
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GETTING BETTER is a music and video project exploring the role of music in recovery from catastrophic illness. The project presents stories from some of our finest musicians, all of whom have an affiliation with Merri-bek City Band. It combines personal narratives and original music, integrating screen content and live musical performance.
Work from this project - including the short film Everything Was Fine... was presented as part of the Cross Street Music Hall Reborn event in November 2022. The initial stage of this project was developed with the support of Merri-bek City Council. MCB especially acknowledges the contribution of Angela Lumicisi (1977 - 2022) to this project. JIM CUOMO (1945 - 2018) was a composer, saxophonist and writer who spent the last part of his life in Melbourne, working extensively with the MCB Phoenix Project.
Originally from the US, Jim studied and worked in Texas, Illinois and New York - including a period working closely with avant-garde composer John Cage - before relocating to Paris which became his base for 30 years. Jim's bands included - at various times - Spoils of War, Mormos and Pacific Eardrum. He was a prolific collaborator and session player, working with Marianne Faithfull, Tim Hardin and Vivian Stanshall, amongst others. Jim was also a noted artist and music composer in the early era of computer games. This video, produced for a special event at Cross Street Music Hall in March 2021, is compiled from material in Jim Cuomo's personal archive. |
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On a weekend in November 2022, Merri-bek City Band celebrated the redevelopment of Cross Street Music Hall with CROSS STREET REBORN, a festival of music featuring an illustrious program of some of Australia's finest musicians, all of whom have an association with MCB.
Nick Herrera recorded the performances and Raymond Hoefer produced this collection of selected videos. A VERY MORELAND CHRISTMAS, 2020
MCB Phoenix Project, under the direction of Eugene Ball, presented a suite of Christmas tunes in a special short film produced by Moreland City Council. 'A Very Moreland Christmas' was produced under COVID conditions in lieu of the regular 'Carols by the Lake' event. Featuring star performances by singers Kutcha Edwards, Kylie Audist and Sarah Ward (aka Yana Alana), the film can be viewed here. |
Oskar and Bebra
Featuring Dushan Mitrovic (saxophone, fluegelhorn, clarinet), Tom Fryer (guitar), Christopher Young (clarinet, flute), Michael Portley (percussion), John O'Hagan (bass) Paul Williamson Trio
Featuring Paul Williamson (saxophone), Jake Mason (Hammond organ) and Mike Jordan (drums) Sheldon King
I Hold the Lion's Paw
Featuring Ronny Ferella (drums), Reuben Lewis (synthesiser), Emily Bennett (vocals & synthesiser), Joe Franklin (bass) and Dylan van der Schyff (drums) Niram Dasika Trio
Ray Pereira & friends
Featuring Ray Pereira (percussion), Julien Wilson (saxophones) and Theo Carbo (guitar) The Antripodean Collective
Featuring Scott Tinkler (trumpet), Scott McConnachie (saxophones) Erkki Veltheim (violin) and Ren Walters (guitar) 
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