NEWS   The Making Of A “Digital Only” Album
Is This the Way of the Future in Music? No Cd’s! MP3’s only.
One of Australia’s first DIGITAL ONLY Releases!
THESE 2 ARTISTS HAVE TAKEN CHARGE OF THEIR OWN MUSIC!!!
In the “old” days, if you wanted to be known in music you had to secure that all elusive record contract to record a disc. Some wonderful talent was overlooked and many artists never saw a “dime” tied up in onerous contracts or if over-looked deemed not pretty enough, young enough, or popularist enough. This Album “Never The Less” bypasses all those issues, No actual Cd’s will be sold through stores or even online, but only digital mp3’s will be made available for sale, supporting the ever-popular ipods and other mp3 players. There are very few Jazz Labels as such in Australia who will finance the making of an Album anymore. This has forced Australian Musicians to finance their own Albums and find more economical ways of manufacturing distributing and recording them. “Digital only” releases cut out the middleman and save substantially on manufacturing costs. This release will be the first of many such Albums in the future. Many of George Golla’s and Leonie Smith’s contemporaries will be watching closely to see the success of it. If they can pay off the costs of the production of this Album by sales and resulting performances, they will be ahead of the pack, who sadly in this country increasingly fail to do so in the pop driven music world.
“George Golla and I met during the recording of my first album “Sweet Jazz” in 2003, and the four tunes in duo with George soon proved the most popular. George and I then toured to Burnie, Tasmania, once in 2004 and again in 2005. At the Manly Jazz Festival in 2004 we worked as a duo and as part of the “Legends in Jazz”, a line-up of George on guitar, Errol Buddle on sax, Cliff Barnes on double bass and Cyril Bevin on drums. We opened the Noosa Jazz Festival, together with Matt Thompson on piano and Paul Furniss on reeds.
George and I have decided to record together again for purely selfish reasons... because we like to play music together, and to have something permanent to keep of our time together.
Because I wanted an honest portrayal of our live performances, our new album “Never the Less” (named after the punch-line in one of George's fine anecdotes) was recorded live in John Morrison's home studio and it was made very easy for me because of George’s vast experience as an accompanist and his collaboration with Don Burrows.
This album is self-produced and self-released and only digital copies will be available for download from the usual In-ternet sites. I am manufacturing sample CDs for airplay and promotion only. This is something of an experiment and came about because the cost of producing an album on CD is very expensive for the independent artist, and the with imminent demise of the shop-front CD store Digital is certainly the way of the future and more economical. The Internet is now providing a much bigger audience for our music.
I hope you enjoy this example of our music, as much as we enjoyed recording it.” Regards Leonie Smith
George Golla by the end of the ‘50s had begun collaborating with Don Burrows, as part of the famous Don Burrows Quartet. With 1972 appearances at both the prestigious Montreux and Newport Jazz Festivals. Touring for many around Australia, Asia, and Brazil. George also performed for 14 years on Eric Jupp's Magic of Music, The Bryan Davis Show, Don Lane's Tonight show, Bandstand, and many other television programs. He has recorded some 100 al-bums as well as with Stephane Grappelli as part of the Australian ensemble in 1977. In 1985, he was awarded the Order of the Australia for his services to the country's music scene. George is still very active in Jazz, recording many Albums in collaboration with many of Australia's best Jazz artists, and working and touring still.
Leonie Smith has been singing professionally since 1992, with George Golla in duet twice to Tasmania, 2004/05, also with Bobby Gebbert, Matt Baker, John Morrison, Matt McMahon.
Leonie appeared at the Manly Jazz Festival in 2004, the Dubbo Jazz Festival in 2004, the Wagga Wagga Jazz Festival in 2004, the Moruya Fest in 2004, and the Noosa Jazz Festival in 2005. She is also in constant demand for both private and corporate events. Venues include “The Basement” Sydney, Soup Plus, The Intercontinental Hotel, Manchester Lane, Melbourne, and many others. Leonie has a regular spot at Dee Why RSL with her trio.
She released her Debut Album in 2003. "Sweet Jazz" produced by Kerrie Biddel, and John Morrison, two very well known names in the Australian Jazz Scene. The Band included Matt Baker on piano, Julian Gough on sax, George Golla on guitar, Stan Valacos on bass, and John Morrison on drums.
Leonie is also the presenter of the “Jazz at 5” Friday afternoon show on FM99.3 2NSB “North-side Rhythm and Jazz” where she promotes local contemporary Australian Jazz musicians and singers.