Jazz
As well as his work in rock and pop, Rai has performed in a number of jazz combos with many Australian jazz musicians, including ARIA award winning guitarist James Muller, U.S. jazz bassist Christian McBride, Tenor Saxophonist Dale Barlow and Phil Stack who also plays bass in Thirsty Merc. In 2008, Rai performed a concert with respected Australian jazz/pianist/composer Mark Isaacs at the Brisbane Jazz festival. Mark is on record as saying,“It's a well-kept secret that Rai is an outstanding jazz pianist… I consider Rai the most exciting young jazz pianist to emerge in this country in recent years.” He has performed solo at the Wangaratta Jazz Festival and twice at the Stonnington Jazz Festival in Melbourne, once in 2011 and once in 2012. He is also the regular guest keyboardist in the Sydney Rock/Jazz fusion group 'The Subterraneans.' Rai also writes spoken word prose and poetry, sometimes performing and recording under the name 'Michael Albatross.' Michael Albatross' debut album, 'I Can See Oxygen,' is available as a free download on soundcloud. Rai played all the instruments, including live drums, and mixed the album himself.
Read more about this topic: Rai Thistlethwayte
Famous quotes containing the word jazz:
“Though the Jazz Age continued it became less and less an affair of youth. The sequel was like a children’s party taken over by the elders.”
—F. Scott Fitzgerald (1896–1940)
“The further jazz moves away from the stark blue continuum and the collective realities of Afro-American and American life, the more it moves into academic concert-hall lifelessness, which can be replicated by any middle class showing off its music lessons.”
—Imamu Amiri Baraka (b. 1934)
“He could jazz up the map-reading class by having a full-size color photograph of Betty Grable in a bathing suit, with a co- ordinate grid system laid over it. The instructor could point to different parts of her and say, “Give me the co-ordinates.”... The Major could see every unit in the Army using his idea.... Hot dog!”
—Norman Mailer (b. 1923)