Diggin’ Bones Down Under:
NY Jazz Composer & Saxophonist Phillip Johnston (Microscopic Septet) Joins Forces in Australia with
Bassist Lloyd Swanton (The Necks), Organist Alister Spence & Drummer Nic Cecire to
Coolerate a New Sound & Release an Animated Album
The Coolerators brings together two of Australia’s most internationally acclaimed touring musicians, Alister Spence (Alister Spence Trio, Clarion Fracture Zone, AAO) and Lloyd Swanton (The Necks, the catholics) with one of Sydney’s most in-demand rhythm section players, Nic Cecire. The music covers a range of styles but avant organ jazz is at the centre of it.
Johnston has led Phillip Johnston & the Cooleratorssince 2005, alongside several other live performance and recording projects, including Sydney’s Greasy Chicken Orchestraand New York’s Microscopic Septet, and while extensively touring with Wordless!, his multi-media theatrical collaboration with illustrator Art Spiegelman and the band The Silent Six. But beginning in 2018, while still involved in those other projects, Johnston began focussing on the Coolerators as his main vehicle for live performance.
Diggin’ Bones adds a new chapter to Johnston’s extensive discography, which began in 1983 with The Micros’ Take The Z Train. His most recent previous releases include numerous CDs on Cuneiform Recordsby The Microscopic Septet(with co-composer Joel Forrester) and Fast ‘N’ Bulbous (a Captain Beefheart tribute band that he co-leads with Gary Lucas). All of these releases have been widely and exceptionally reviewed (all receiving 4 stars in Downbeat) and received many Best of the Year critical listings.
Many of Johnston’s releases feature exemplary art work by notable illustrators, including Art Spiegelman and Barry Blitt, among others, and Diggin’ Bones is no exception, featuring art and cover design by Keith LoBue. Both groovy and cerebral, the Coolerators play animated and funky dance music for a cartoon universe.
The label Asynchronous is releasing Phillip Johnston and the Coolerators’ Diggin’ Bones simultaneously with another Phillip Johnston album, The Adventures of Prince Achmed, a soundtrack that Johnston composed for the world’s first feature-length animated film, a 1926 silhouette animation by female film pioneer Lotte Reiniger. In addition to Johnston, two of the five musicians on the Prince Achmed soundtrack album are members of The Coolerators: Nic Cecire and Alister Spence. Johnston has composed, recorded, and performed live numerous soundtracks for silent film. He has also published writings and presented conference papers on the subject. In addition, Johnstonis author of ‘Jazzin’ The Silents: Jazz and Improvised Music in Contemporary Scores for Silent Film’ for the upcoming/2019 book, When Jazz meets Cinema, edited by Emilio Audissino and Emile Wennekes (Brepols: Turnhout, Belgium).
Phillip Johnston & the Coolerators
Alister Spence: organ
Lloyd Swanton: bass
Nic Cecire: drums
1. Frankly
2. What Is Real?
3. Diggin’ Bones
4. Temporary Blindness
5. Later
6. The Revenant
7. Legs Yet
8. Trial By Error
9. Regrets #17
10. Ducket Got A Whole In It
All tracks by Phillip Johnston © Jedible Music (BMI)
except Track 6 by Michael Hurley © Snocko Music (BMI)
Produced by Lloyd Swanton
Recorded & mixed at Rancom St Studios by Tim Whitten in Oct/Nov 2017
Assistant Engineer: Antonia Gauci
Mastered at Sound Heaven Studios by Michael Lynch
Art and cover design by Keith LoBue
