John Hardaker Archive

Review: Anish Kapoor, MCA Sydney

I was going to call this review Anish Kapoor: The Joy of Size. Then, for obvious reasons, I dropped that in favour of  Anish Kapoor: The Joy of Surface, then settled on Anish Kapoor: The Joy of Looking. And then settled on …
Review: Darren Percival, A Tribute to Ray Charles

Review: Darren Percival, A Tribute to Ray Charles

Among the slew of bedroom Beyoncés and pre-teen chirrupers that grind through the X-Factor/Idol/Voice talent quest mill, it is nice to see the occasional hardworking muso get up. It is also nice when success in these nationally broadcast spectacles pushes the career of …
Review: Jane Sheldon, North+South: Ten Folk Songs

Review: Jane Sheldon, North+South: Ten Folk Songs

Purity. There’s not much of it about in the modern world. In fact, there seems a conscious effort to move away from purity towards distortion, clumping amalgamation and cloying over-decoration. This trend is so all-pervasive that you only notice all this impurity …
REVIEW: Crystal Barreca – Dreaming

REVIEW: Crystal Barreca – Dreaming

Jazz singer Crystal Barreca has found her groove. For a few years now I have had the pleasure of hearing Barreca singing around Sydney’s (and now Canberra’s) jazz spots, cafes and holes-in-the-wall. I most recently remember hearing her up front of the …
REVIEW: James Carter – After All

REVIEW: James Carter – After All

Listening to After All, the new release by young Melbourne altoist James Carter, I was taken back to the wonderful Ron Carter Trio gig at Sydney’s Basement in June last year. Like Ron Carter’s spry unit, the James Carter group also works without a …