Tessie Overmyer is a saxophonist primarily playing the alto sax. She has been making a huge impact on the Sydney and Australian jazz scenes in the past couple years. In this profile she describes taking up the alto at school (though she might have been an oboe player if one had been available) . She was introduced to jazz through listening to Charlie Parker solos when she was still at school. She decided that she wanted to make a career in music after her experience as a young musician playing at the Newport Jazz Festival
But she only really discovered the world of Australian jazz when she went to the Sydney Conservatorium. Now playing in large and small ensembles she is immersed in Australian jazz, and names Johnathan Zwartz as a major influence. In the next couple of years, her next move will probably be to study in the USA or Europe
Before she speaks, we hear a live recording Tessie made of her trio playing a piece called Midnight at Central. After she has been speaking, we hear another live recording of Tessie’s from the same trio: Tessie on alto, Chloe Kim on drumset and Jacques Emery on bass. This piece is called Ecky Thump. While she is talking there are snatches of the self titled album from the quintet JIEM, which she co-leads with Miles Rooney
The profile was produced by Mick Paddon, from an interview he conducted with Tessie. It was first broadcast on the 20th July 2023 on his weekly radio show on Eastside , Time and Space, which airs from 12 midday to 14.00.
This podcast is the most recent in a series titled Changing the Face of Jazz. For the past five years Mick has been producing these profiles of Australian, female jazz instrumentalists, as a follow on to his radio documentary, Music Has No Gender. They are musicians who are changing the way we see jazz, even if not the way we hear the music