Listen back to the live performance of “Big Creatures and Little Creatures: The Modular Suite” by Murphy's Law at Bennett's Lane on Saturday 2nd June.
Led by bassist and composer Tamara Murphy, Murphy’s Law is a Melbourne ensemble that features the unusual combination of trombone (Jordan Murray), guitar (Nash Lee) two drummers (Daniel Farrugia and Joe Talia) and Tamara Murphy playing double bass. This performance at Bennetts Lane was the premiere of a new work from Murphy called “Big Creatures and Little Creatures – The Modular Suite”. This piece is the result of the PBS Young Elder of Jazz Award won by Tamara Murphy. The award is made possible by the generosity of Mark Newman and allows for the public performance of a substantial new work commissioned for the Melbourne International Jazz Festival.
On Saturday night a full-house at Bennett’s Lane experienced the premiere performance of this major work – a truly modular piece in which each of the 5 instrumentalists takes a leading musical role in each of the 5 individual movements. Where “Big Creatures and Little Creatures” differs from most ensemble works is that the order of the 5 movements is not pre-determined. Instead the players determine the order in which the movements are played very much in an equitable, organic and intuitive way.
PBS Production Manager Paul Maybury recorded the performance for broadcast on Black Wax with Adam Rudegeair. Click here to listen back to the recording of Murphy’s Law with “Big Creatures and Little Creatures: The Modular Suite” – inaugural winner of the PBS Young Elder of Jazz Commission.
Listen back to the live audio here:
Photography by Lucy Spartalis
