Phil Treloar
Encyclopedia
Phillip Maurice Treloar (born 7 December 1946, Sydney
) is an Australian jazz
drummer, percussionist and composer. In an extensive career devoted to creative pursuit Treloar has addressed himself to the problems of relationship found at the intersection of notated music-composition and improvisation. In 1987 Treloar coined the term, Collective Autonomy, to signify his endeavor in this field of work. Fundamental in this has been composition- and performance-development projects, with these at times involving electronic media. Collaborations have, and continue to be, crucial.
scene, playing with musicians such as Alan Lee, with Roger Frampton
and Barry Guy
, Erroll Buddle, Judy Bailey
, and Bernie McGann
, then worked with Frampton again in the Intersection group in 1984, which toured Asia. During the first half of the 1970s he was also a member of the Jazz Co-Op, along with Roger Frampton (piano and saxes), Howie Smith
(saxes), and Jack Thorncraft (bass). The Jazz Co-op was one of the most influential jazz units in Sydney during the 70s, and worked at major venues such as The Sydney Opera House, Sydney Town Hall and played to packed houses at over 30 engagements at Sydney's premier jazz club at that time, The Basement. In 1980 Treloar performed with the Bruce Cale Quartet with Bruce Cale
(bass) Roger Frampton
(piano and saxes) and Dale Barlow
(saxes). Two live concerts by this group have been recorded, The Bruce Cale Quartet Live (Adelaide concert) and On Fire – The Sydney Concert.
Under the guidance of Dr. Graham Hair he received the B.Mus. degree, composition major, from the Sydney Conservatorium of Music
, 1988. He has also studied in New York, USA, with renowned jazz drummer, Billy Hart
, 1980; in Delhi, India, at Gandharva Mahavidyalaya with the Khayal vocalist, Madhup Mudgalaya, 1984; and in Colombo
, Sri Lanka
, at the Institute of Aesthetic Studies, with Piasara Silpadipathi, 1984.
Treloar held a lecturer's position at La Trobe University
teaching composition, performance, and music theory, 1989 ~ '90. He has fulfilled composer residencies and guest lectureships at NSW State Conservatory of Music, Victoria College of the Arts (VCA), Perth Conservatory, Conservatorium of Tasmania, and Hobart College of the Arts.
In the areas of jazz and improvised music Treloar has shared in creative partnerships with musicians such as: Roger Frampton
, Mark Simmonds
, Steve Elphick, Jack Thorncraft, David Ades, Bruce Cale
, Carl Dewhurst, Bernie McGann
, Simone De Haan, Daryl Pratt, Hamish Stuart, Peter boothman
, Chuck Yates, Bobbie Gebert, Mike Nock
, Dale Barlow
, Michele Morgan
, Scott Tinkler, Errol Buddle, Judy Bailey
, John Clare
. International artists include Barry Guy
, David Baker, Chico Freeman
, Howie Smith
, David Friesen
, Ricky Ford
, Chip Jackson, and The World Drum Ensemble. He led his own groups in the 1980s, including Expansions (1981–82) and Feeling to Thought (1987–89).
Among composer commissions and premiere performances are: the late Gabor Reeves, Ron Reaves, Steve Reaves, Ros Dunlop, David Miller, Julia Ryder, Simone DeHaan, Christian Wojtowicz, Michael Kieran Harvey
, Geoff Dodd, Mardi McSullea, Mike Nock
, Hamish Stuart
, Graeme Leak, Daryl Pratt, Tom O'Kelly, Pipeline Contemporary Music Project, The Astra Choir
, Synergy Percussion, Victorian College of the Arts
, Australian Broadcasting Corporation
, the University of Tasmania
Conservatorium, Miki KIDO, Shunsuke Omura, Takashi Yamane, Hisae Kido, Junko Kamishima, Sotoko Hiramatsu, Eri Yoshimura, Kimiko Sunakawa.
In the 1988 Australian Bicentennial New Directions concert series a complete program was devoted to Treloar's work. Many of his compositions have been recorded and broadcast, particularly by the ABC. In addition to vinyl records and CDs his work has been featured in radio and film documentaries, the 4 x 1hr. Intersections (ABC radio) and Beyond El Rocco (film) are representative. In more recent years Treloar's work has been performed in the Sydney Opera House
and at the international Wangaratta Festival of Jazz
. Throughout his career Treloar's thoughts and concepts regarding creative musical expression have been accounted for in various publications: Nation Review
, The Sydney Morning Herald
, East West Arts, Jazz, Sounds Australian, The Mercury
, 24 Hours, etc.
He moved to Kanazawa
, Japan
in 1992 where his two-hour work, Zen's Way: Through the Eye of Gogo-an – homage to Ryokan, received its world premiere performance in Kanazawa, 2004. Phil also presents solo percussion recitals and to date two of these have been published as CDs. On occasions he has been invited by the Japan Poets' Association to perform improvised music together with poetry readings. A major event inspired by the poetry of Matsuo Basho
, October 2005, and for which Treloar provided the music, is indicative of the creative interaction he shares with the Japanese tradition. Facing East, a performance initiative inaugurated by Phil in 2005 and based in Kanazawa, presents occasional concerts. These have premiered several new works written by Treloar and for which Australian, together with Japanese artists, have been invited to participate. Stemming from this initiative, Converging Paths, a collaboration with the Australian percussionist, Hamish Stuart, has, to date, generated a three-CD series. Phil's life-long project, Collective Autonomy, continues to engage him with research. In a nutshell, Collective Autonomy explores the intersection between improvised and composed/notated music-making. It provides a space wherein individuals' concerns and abilities to enter into creative discourse might be enabled, and specifically, where the notion of interdependence is wholeheartedly embraced.
http://www.feeling-to-thought.com/index.html
Sydney
Sydney is the most populous city in Australia and the state capital of New South Wales. Sydney is located on Australia's south-east coast of the Tasman Sea. As of June 2010, the greater metropolitan area had an approximate population of 4.6 million people...
) is an Australian jazz
Jazz
Jazz is a musical style that originated at the beginning of the 20th century in African American communities in the Southern United States. It was born out of a mix of African and European music traditions. From its early development until the present, jazz has incorporated music from 19th and 20th...
drummer, percussionist and composer. In an extensive career devoted to creative pursuit Treloar has addressed himself to the problems of relationship found at the intersection of notated music-composition and improvisation. In 1987 Treloar coined the term, Collective Autonomy, to signify his endeavor in this field of work. Fundamental in this has been composition- and performance-development projects, with these at times involving electronic media. Collaborations have, and continue to be, crucial.
Biography
Phil Treloar was born in Sydney on 7 December 1946. He commenced his musical career in the late 1960s, playing drums with various groups at local Sydney venues and in the early 1970s was very active in the Australian jazzAustralian jazz
Jazz music has a long history in Australia. Over the years jazz has held a high profile at local clubs, festivals and other music venues and a vast number of recordings have been produced by Australian jazz musicians, many of whom have gone on to gain a high profile in the international jazz...
scene, playing with musicians such as Alan Lee, with Roger Frampton
Roger Frampton
Roger Frampton was an Australian jazz pianist, saxophonist, composer, and educator. Based in Sydney, he played a major role in shaping the evolution of Australian jazz...
and Barry Guy
Barry Guy
Barry John Guy is a British composer and double bass player. His range of interests encompasses early music, contemporary composition, jazz and improvisation, and he has worked with a wide variety of orchestras in the UK and Europe...
, Erroll Buddle, Judy Bailey
Judy Bailey
Judy Ann Bailey ONZM is a former news presenter for ONE News, the highest rated evening television news programme in New Zealand. She has been called the "Mother of the Nation"....
, and Bernie McGann
Bernie McGann
Bernie McGann is an Australian jazz alto saxophone player. He began his career in the late 1950s and is still active as a performer, composer and recording artist.- Biography :...
, then worked with Frampton again in the Intersection group in 1984, which toured Asia. During the first half of the 1970s he was also a member of the Jazz Co-Op, along with Roger Frampton (piano and saxes), Howie Smith
Howie Smith
Howie Smith, is a saxophonist, composer, jazz musician and educatorHowie Smith was born in Pottsville, Pennsylvania in 1943...
(saxes), and Jack Thorncraft (bass). The Jazz Co-op was one of the most influential jazz units in Sydney during the 70s, and worked at major venues such as The Sydney Opera House, Sydney Town Hall and played to packed houses at over 30 engagements at Sydney's premier jazz club at that time, The Basement. In 1980 Treloar performed with the Bruce Cale Quartet with Bruce Cale
Bruce Cale
Bruce Cale is an Australian jazz double-bassist and composer.Cale began studying music at age nine, and worked professionally in Sydney from 1958. He worked with Bryce Rohde from 1962-65, then moved to England, where he played with Tubby Hayes and worked in John Stevens's Spontaneous Music Ensemble...
(bass) Roger Frampton
Roger Frampton
Roger Frampton was an Australian jazz pianist, saxophonist, composer, and educator. Based in Sydney, he played a major role in shaping the evolution of Australian jazz...
(piano and saxes) and Dale Barlow
Dale Barlow
Dale Barlow is an Australian jazz composer, multi-instrumentalist: especially tenor, alto saxophone, soprano saxophonist, baritone saxophone and flute....
(saxes). Two live concerts by this group have been recorded, The Bruce Cale Quartet Live (Adelaide concert) and On Fire – The Sydney Concert.
Under the guidance of Dr. Graham Hair he received the B.Mus. degree, composition major, from the Sydney Conservatorium of Music
Sydney Conservatorium of Music
The Sydney Conservatorium of Music is one of the oldest and most prestigious music schools in Australia...
, 1988. He has also studied in New York, USA, with renowned jazz drummer, Billy Hart
Billy Hart
William "Billy" Hart is a jazz drummer and educator who has performed with some of the most important jazz musicians in history.-Biography:Early on Hart performed in Washington, D.C...
, 1980; in Delhi, India, at Gandharva Mahavidyalaya with the Khayal vocalist, Madhup Mudgalaya, 1984; and in Colombo
Colombo
Colombo is the largest city of Sri Lanka. It is located on the west coast of the island and adjacent to Sri Jayawardenapura Kotte, the capital of Sri Lanka. Colombo is often referred to as the capital of the country, since Sri Jayawardenapura Kotte is a satellite city of Colombo...
, Sri Lanka
Sri Lanka
Sri Lanka, officially the Democratic Socialist Republic of Sri Lanka is a country off the southern coast of the Indian subcontinent. Known until 1972 as Ceylon , Sri Lanka is an island surrounded by the Indian Ocean, the Gulf of Mannar and the Palk Strait, and lies in the vicinity of India and the...
, at the Institute of Aesthetic Studies, with Piasara Silpadipathi, 1984.
Treloar held a lecturer's position at La Trobe University
La Trobe University
La Trobe University is a multi-campus university in Victoria, Australia. It was established in 1964 by an Act of Parliament to become the third oldest university in the state of Victoria. The main campus of La Trobe is located in the Melbourne suburb of Bundoora; two other major campuses are...
teaching composition, performance, and music theory, 1989 ~ '90. He has fulfilled composer residencies and guest lectureships at NSW State Conservatory of Music, Victoria College of the Arts (VCA), Perth Conservatory, Conservatorium of Tasmania, and Hobart College of the Arts.
In the areas of jazz and improvised music Treloar has shared in creative partnerships with musicians such as: Roger Frampton
Roger Frampton
Roger Frampton was an Australian jazz pianist, saxophonist, composer, and educator. Based in Sydney, he played a major role in shaping the evolution of Australian jazz...
, Mark Simmonds
Mark Simmonds
Mark Jonathon Mortlock Simmonds is a Conservative Party politician in the United Kingdom. He is the Member of Parliament for Boston and Skegness in Lincolnshire, and was first elected in 2001, succeeding Sir Richard Body...
, Steve Elphick, Jack Thorncraft, David Ades, Bruce Cale
Bruce Cale
Bruce Cale is an Australian jazz double-bassist and composer.Cale began studying music at age nine, and worked professionally in Sydney from 1958. He worked with Bryce Rohde from 1962-65, then moved to England, where he played with Tubby Hayes and worked in John Stevens's Spontaneous Music Ensemble...
, Carl Dewhurst, Bernie McGann
Bernie McGann
Bernie McGann is an Australian jazz alto saxophone player. He began his career in the late 1950s and is still active as a performer, composer and recording artist.- Biography :...
, Simone De Haan, Daryl Pratt, Hamish Stuart, Peter boothman
Peter Boothman
Peter Boothman is an Australian jazz guitarist, composer, and educator. Since he started playing in the late 1960s he has worked at most top jazz venues in Sydney including The Basement, Festival of Sydney, Sydney Opera House, Jenny's, The Rocks Push, El Rocco, Wentworth Supper Club, and Horst...
, Chuck Yates, Bobbie Gebert, Mike Nock
Mike Nock
Mike Nock is a jazz pianist, currently based in Australia. He began studying piano at 11 and by 18 was performing in Australia. He headed a trio that toured England in 1961 and then attended Berklee College of Music...
, Dale Barlow
Dale Barlow
Dale Barlow is an Australian jazz composer, multi-instrumentalist: especially tenor, alto saxophone, soprano saxophonist, baritone saxophone and flute....
, Michele Morgan
Michèle Morgan
Michèle Morgan is a French film actress, who was a leading lady for three decades.- Career :Morgan was born Simone Renée Roussel in Neuilly-sur-Seine, Hauts-de-Seine, a western suburb of Paris....
, Scott Tinkler, Errol Buddle, Judy Bailey
Judy Bailey
Judy Ann Bailey ONZM is a former news presenter for ONE News, the highest rated evening television news programme in New Zealand. She has been called the "Mother of the Nation"....
, John Clare
John Clare
John Clare was an English poet, born the son of a farm labourer who came to be known for his celebratory representations of the English countryside and his lamentation of its disruption. His poetry underwent a major re-evaluation in the late 20th century and he is often now considered to be among...
. International artists include Barry Guy
Barry Guy
Barry John Guy is a British composer and double bass player. His range of interests encompasses early music, contemporary composition, jazz and improvisation, and he has worked with a wide variety of orchestras in the UK and Europe...
, David Baker, Chico Freeman
Chico Freeman
Chico Freeman is a modern jazz tenor saxophonist and trumpeter and son of jazz saxophonist Von Freeman...
, Howie Smith
Howie Smith
Howie Smith, is a saxophonist, composer, jazz musician and educatorHowie Smith was born in Pottsville, Pennsylvania in 1943...
, David Friesen
David Friesen
David Friesen is an American jazz bassist born in Tacoma, Washington. Friesen plays the double bass as well as the Oregon bass, which is an electrified acoustic bass....
, Ricky Ford
Ricky Ford
Ricky Ford is an American jazz tenor saxophonist.Ford was born in Boston and studied at the New England Conservatory. In 1974 he recorded with Gunther Schuller and then played in the Duke Ellington Orchestra under Mercer Ellington from 1974 to 1976...
, Chip Jackson, and The World Drum Ensemble. He led his own groups in the 1980s, including Expansions (1981–82) and Feeling to Thought (1987–89).
Among composer commissions and premiere performances are: the late Gabor Reeves, Ron Reaves, Steve Reaves, Ros Dunlop, David Miller, Julia Ryder, Simone DeHaan, Christian Wojtowicz, Michael Kieran Harvey
Michael Kieran Harvey
Michael Kieran Harvey is an Australian pianist whose career has been notable for its diversity and wide repertoire. He is renowned for commissioning and performing new music. He has especially promoted the works of Australian composers, such as Carl Vine, all of whose piano music he has recorded...
, Geoff Dodd, Mardi McSullea, Mike Nock
Mike Nock
Mike Nock is a jazz pianist, currently based in Australia. He began studying piano at 11 and by 18 was performing in Australia. He headed a trio that toured England in 1961 and then attended Berklee College of Music...
, Hamish Stuart
Hamish Stuart
Hamish Stuart is a guitarist, bassist, singer, composer and record producer.- Biography :Stuart had recorded a couple of singles with his first band, the Dream Police, before he was invited to join the recently formed Average White Band in June 1972.A member of AWB from 1972 to 1982, he went on to...
, Graeme Leak, Daryl Pratt, Tom O'Kelly, Pipeline Contemporary Music Project, The Astra Choir
Astra Chamber Music Society
The Astra Chamber Music Society is a concert organisation for choral music and contemporary performance, based in Melbourne, Australia and under the musical direction of John McCaughey....
, Synergy Percussion, Victorian College of the Arts
Victorian College of the Arts
The Faculty of the VCA and Music is a faculty of the University of Melbourne, in Victoria . VCAM is located near the Melbourne central business district, on two campuses, one - the Melbourne Conservatorium of Music - on the Parkville campus of the University of Melbourne, and the other - the...
, Australian Broadcasting Corporation
Australian Broadcasting Corporation
The Australian Broadcasting Corporation, commonly referred to as "the ABC" , is Australia's national public broadcaster...
, the University of Tasmania
University of Tasmania
The University of Tasmania is a medium-sized public Australian university based in Tasmania, Australia. Officially founded on 1 January 1890, it was the fourth university to be established in nineteenth-century Australia...
Conservatorium, Miki KIDO, Shunsuke Omura, Takashi Yamane, Hisae Kido, Junko Kamishima, Sotoko Hiramatsu, Eri Yoshimura, Kimiko Sunakawa.
In the 1988 Australian Bicentennial New Directions concert series a complete program was devoted to Treloar's work. Many of his compositions have been recorded and broadcast, particularly by the ABC. In addition to vinyl records and CDs his work has been featured in radio and film documentaries, the 4 x 1hr. Intersections (ABC radio) and Beyond El Rocco (film) are representative. In more recent years Treloar's work has been performed in the Sydney Opera House
Sydney Opera House
The Sydney Opera House is a multi-venue performing arts centre in the Australian city of Sydney. It was conceived and largely built by Danish architect Jørn Utzon, finally opening in 1973 after a long gestation starting with his competition-winning design in 1957...
and at the international Wangaratta Festival of Jazz
Wangaratta Festival of Jazz
The Wangaratta Festival of Jazz is an annual festival of jazz and blues held in the town of Wangaratta, 2.5 hours from Melbourne in North East Victoria, Australia. It has become the premier jazz event in Australia and is renowned internationally....
. Throughout his career Treloar's thoughts and concepts regarding creative musical expression have been accounted for in various publications: Nation Review
Nation Review
Nation Reviewwas an Australian Sunday newspaper, which ceased publication in 1981. It was launched in 1970 after independent publisher Gordon Barton bought out Tom Fitzgerald's Nation publication and merged it with his own Sunday Review journal...
, The Sydney Morning Herald
The Sydney Morning Herald
The Sydney Morning Herald is a daily broadsheet newspaper published by Fairfax Media in Sydney, Australia. Founded in 1831 as the Sydney Herald, the SMH is the oldest continuously published newspaper in Australia. The newspaper is published six days a week. The newspaper's Sunday counterpart, The...
, East West Arts, Jazz, Sounds Australian, The Mercury
The Mercury (Hobart)
The Mercury is a daily newspaper, published in Hobart, Tasmania, Australia, by Davies Brothers Pty Ltd, part of News Limited and News Corporation...
, 24 Hours, etc.
He moved to Kanazawa
Kanazawa, Ishikawa
is the capital city of Ishikawa Prefecture, Japan.-Geography, climate, and population:Kanazawa sits on the Sea of Japan, bordered by the Japan Alps, Hakusan National Park and Noto Peninsula National Park. The city sits between the Sai and Asano rivers. Its total area is 467.77 km².Kanazawa's...
, Japan
Japan
Japan is an island nation in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean, it lies to the east of the Sea of Japan, China, North Korea, South Korea and Russia, stretching from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea and Taiwan in the south...
in 1992 where his two-hour work, Zen's Way: Through the Eye of Gogo-an – homage to Ryokan, received its world premiere performance in Kanazawa, 2004. Phil also presents solo percussion recitals and to date two of these have been published as CDs. On occasions he has been invited by the Japan Poets' Association to perform improvised music together with poetry readings. A major event inspired by the poetry of Matsuo Basho
Matsuo Basho
, born , then , was the most famous poet of the Edo period in Japan. During his lifetime, Bashō was recognized for his works in the collaborative haikai no renga form; today, after centuries of commentary, he is recognized as a master of brief and clear haiku...
, October 2005, and for which Treloar provided the music, is indicative of the creative interaction he shares with the Japanese tradition. Facing East, a performance initiative inaugurated by Phil in 2005 and based in Kanazawa, presents occasional concerts. These have premiered several new works written by Treloar and for which Australian, together with Japanese artists, have been invited to participate. Stemming from this initiative, Converging Paths, a collaboration with the Australian percussionist, Hamish Stuart, has, to date, generated a three-CD series. Phil's life-long project, Collective Autonomy, continues to engage him with research. In a nutshell, Collective Autonomy explores the intersection between improvised and composed/notated music-making. It provides a space wherein individuals' concerns and abilities to enter into creative discourse might be enabled, and specifically, where the notion of interdependence is wholeheartedly embraced.
Selected discography
- Pathways of the Mind: exploring sympathetic resonance – (second series) Phil Treloar solo percussion recital ( August 2005 ) (Feeling to Thought, FT-002, 2006)
- Pathways of the Mind: exploring sympathetic resonance – (first series) Phil Treloar solo percussion recital ( August 2006 )(Feeling to Thought, FT-001, 2006)
- On Fire – The Sydney Concert (Bruce Cale Quartet) (Tall Poppies Records)
- Bruce Cale Quartet Live – Adelaide Festival 1980 (Tall Poppies Records, TP175, 2004)
- In the Pipeline – Simone deHaan, Daryl Pratt, Phil Treloar (Tall Poppies Records, TP095, 1996)
- (...and then) SUNRISE – Tom O'Kelly, solo percussion (Victor, vicc-80, 1992)
- Jazz Co/Op (Philips (vinyl), 6641 225, 1974)
- Pathways of the Mind – second series DVD (the complete concert)(Feeling to Thought)
External links
- Music Australia, an online service developed by the National Library of AustraliaNational Library of AustraliaThe National Library of Australia is the largest reference library of Australia, responsible under the terms of the National Library Act for "maintaining and developing a national collection of library material, including a comprehensive collection of library material relating to Australia and the...
, has various resources re Phil Treloar
http://www.feeling-to-thought.com/index.html
Further reading
- Staintilian, Schultz, and Stanhope, Biographical Dictionary of Australian Composers. 1996.