Phillip Johnston & the Coolerators - Diggin' Bones (October 26, 2018)

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

When composer / saxophonist / bandleader Phillip Johnston, leader of New York’s legendary jazz ensemble The Microscopic Septet, moved from the Big Apple to Sydney, he assembled several of Australia’s best musicians – Alister Spence, Lloyd Swanton, Nic Cecire – and began brewing a distinctive and lively Australian ensemble. The Sydney-based Phillip Johnston & the Cooleratorsnow releases its first album, Diggin’ Bones, whose unique sound combines funky organ combo jazz with modernist jazz composition, including a touch of klezmer. Produced by The Necks’ Lloyd Swanton and featuring some of Australia’s finest jazz/multi-genre improvisers, Diggin’ Bones shows a new side of Johnston’s music. 

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

Phillip Johnston: soprano, alto sax

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

Phillip Johnston - The Adventures of Prince Achmed (October 26, 2018)

“Johnston’s soundtrack adds an extra dimension to the 2D-nature of the animation, with energetic jazz layered over the pre-recorded percussion track that builds up and flows through the film. While Johnston and Reineger’s compositions are each complex in their own ways, they come together simply and beautifully, stripping animation back to its abstract qualities of light, shadow, image and sound.”

– Anna Madeleine, The Guardian, 2015 (MONA FOMA)

Composer, Saxophonist, Bandleader, and Film Music Scholar 

PHILLIP JOHNSTON

Conjures a Magical Soundtrack for 

THE WORLD’S FIRST FEATURE-LENGTH ANIMATED FILM

– THE ADVENTURES OF PRINCE ACHMED –

to Bring to Life the Silhouette Animation by Groundbreaking Female Filmmaker 

LOTTE REINIGER

Awakening the Wonders of One Thousand and One Nights

This enchanting album contains the music that Phillip Johnston composed as a soundtrack for The Adventures of Prince Achmed, a 1926 silent silhouette animation that is a landmark in cinema history – the world’s first feature-length animated film.  Created by female film pioneer Charlotte “Lotte” Reiniger, the animated film is based upon One Thousand and One Nights, a collection of Middle Eastern folk tales often referred to as The Arabian Nights. To breathe Reiniger’s silhouettes to life, Johnston composed a continuous score of 65 minutes of music to be performed live with the film by a quartet of soprano sax, trombone, and two keyboards, against a pre-recorded track of samples, loops and live drums. For this recording of The Adventures of Prince Achmed, the music is performed by Johnston (soprano saxophone) with Australian musicians James Greening (trombone), Alister Spence (organ, keyboards), Casey Golden (organ, keyboards), and Nic Cecire (drums), and broken by the composer into twelve individual tracks.

Phillip Johnston has been composing and performing original scores for silent films for 25 years in both his native USA and current home in Australia. His previous silent film scores include The Unknown (Browning, 1927), The Merry Frolics of Méliès (Méliès, 1902-1909), Page of Madness (Kinugasa, 1926), Faust (Murnau, 1926), the first three of which were released on CD by Avant, Koch Jazz and Asynchronous, respectively. Johnston’s interest in silent film projects includes Wordless!, his multi-media collaboration with Pulitzer Prize-winning graphic artist Art Spiegelman, which features silent films and animation, spoken word/ Spiegelman’s historical essays, and live music by Johnston and his ensemble The Silent Six. Wordless! debuted at the Sydney Opera House on October 5, 2013 and has since been touring worldwide, including a nine-date tour of the USA and performances at the 2016 London Jazz Festival, Buenos Aires’ Comicópolis, and the Philharmonie de Paris. The film and music The Adventures of Prince Achmed have been performed across Australia, including the Sydney VIVID Festival, MONA FOMA and the Woodford Folk Festival, and Johnston is looking forward to touring the project overseas.

In addition to writing music for silent films and animation, Johnston has written articles on silent films for books and scholarly journals, in addition to presenting numerous conference papers.  He is author of the chapter “Jazzin’ The Silents: Jazz and Improvised Music in Contemporary Scores for Silent Film” for the upcoming book, When Jazz meets Cinema, edited by Emilio Audissino and Emile Wennekes (Turnhout, Belgium: Brepols, 2019). 

The label Asynchronous is releasing Johnston’s The Adventures of Prince Achmed simultaneously with another Johnston project: Diggin’ Bones, a jazz album by Phillip Johnston & The Coolerators. The Coolerators are Johnston’s main Australia-based live band, and include  Johnston (soprano/alto saxophone), Nick Cecire (drums), Alister Spence (organ) – all three of whom perform on The Adventures of Prince Achmed – in addition to Lloyd Swanton (bass), also of The Necks. 

Phillip Johnston: soprano saxophone

James Greening: trombone

Alister Spence: organ, keyboards

Casey Golden: organ, keyboards

Nic Cecire: drums

1. Prelude

2. The African Magician

3. Prince Achmed

4. Pari Banu Kidnapped

5. Adventures in China

6. The Witch & The Wedding

7. Take Me to Wak-Wak!

8. The Magic Lamp

9. Aladdin's Tale

10. The Witch vs The Magician

11. The Battle of The Spirits

12. Return to the Land of the Mortals

All tracks by Phillip Johnston © Jedible Music (BMI)

Recorded in Aug/Sep 2013 at Q Studios, Sydney

Record and pre-mix engineer: Richard Hundy

Final mix and mastering by Paul Bromley/Tanuki Studios

Cover design: Keith Lobue

Phillip Johnston - The Adventures of Prince Achmed (October 26, 2018)

This CD contains music that was composed as a soundtrack which is performed live with the The Adventures of Prince Achmed (1926) by Lotte Reiniger, a silent silhouette animation, considered by many to be the first feature length animated film, and based upon One Thousand and One Nights, a collection of Middle Eastern folk tales often known in English as The Arabian Nights. The music, which when performed with the film comprises a continuous score of 65 minutes, is here broken into individual tracks. It is performed live by a quartet of soprano sax, trombone, and two keyboards, against a pre-recorded track of samples, loops and live drums. 

Phillip Johnston has been composing and performing original scores for silent films for 25 years. His previous silent film scores include The Unknown (Browning, 1927), The Merry Frolics of Méliès (Méliès, 1902-1909), Page of Madness (Kinugasa, 1926), Faust (Murnau, 1926), the first three of which have been previously released on CD. [Wordless!, his collaboration with graphic artist Art Spiegelman, is also a variant on this kind of work.] The film and music have been performed across Australia, including the Sydney VIVID Festival, MONA FOMA and the Woodford Folk Festival. As of this writing it has yet to be performed overseas.

Phillip Johnston: soprano saxophone

James Greening: trombone

Alister Spence: organ, keyboards

Casey Golden: organ, keyboards

Nic Cecire: drums

1. Prelude

2. The African Magician

3. Prince Achmed

4.Pari Banu Kidnapped

5. Adventures in China

6. The Witch & The Wedding

7. Take Me to Wak-Wak!

8. The Magic Lamp

9. Aladdin's Tale

10. The Witch vs The Magician

11. The Battle of The Spirits

12. Return to the Land of the Mortals

All tracks by Phillip Johnston © Jedible Music (BMI)

Recorded in Aug/Sep 2013 at Q Studios, Sydney

Record and pre-mix engineer: Richard Hundy

Final mix and mastering by Paul Bromley/Tanuki Studios

Cover design: Keith Lobue

Phillip Johnston & the Coolerators - Diggin' Bones (October 26, 2018)

Diggin’ Bones, the first CD by Phillip Johnston & the Coolerators features a unique sound which combines funky organ combo jazz with modernist jazz composition. Produced by The Necks’ Lloyd Swanton and featuring some of Australia finest jazz/multi-genre improvisers, this recording shows a new side of Johnston’s music, and recording history which began in 1983 with Take The Z Train by The Microscopic Septet. 

The band 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. 

Phillip Johnston

Simultaneously embracing the past and the future makes perfect sense when you consider the Johnston’s most recent previous releases include CDs by The Microscopic Septet and Fast ‘N’ Bulbous on Cuneiform Records, which have been widely and exceptionally reviewed (all receiving 4 starts in Downbeat) and resulting many Best of the Year critical listings. 

Both groovy and cerebral, the Coolerators play funky dance music for a cartoon universe.

Phillip Johnston & the Coolerators 

Phillip Johnston: soprano, alto sax 

Alister Spence: organ 

Lloyd Swanton: bass 

Nic Cecire: drums 

All tracks by Phillip Johnston © Jedible Music (BMI) 

except Track 6 by Michael Hurley © Snocko Music (BMI) 

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

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