“Spike Mason’s soprano and alto in these ballad settings drip with emotion and tenderness.”

— Peter Wockner - Jazz and Beyond

OXIMETRIC live @ Johnston St Jazz

spike mason

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This is a live recording of the music I composed during my research for my PhD (which I resigned from before completing) Oximetric music invites listeners into a space where time is not counted but felt, where structure Read more
This is a live recording of the music I composed during my research for my PhD (which I resigned from before completing)
Oximetric music invites listeners into a space where time is not counted but felt, where structure is not fixed but lived, and where the ensemble’s unity emerges not from synchronisation, but from shared purpose.
Unlike traditional jazz performance, the ensemble does not align around a common tempo, groove, or time signature. The musicians begin together only in spirit, not in synchrony. Their pulses are not mathematically related, subdivided, or coordinated. Instead, they coexist—distinct voices occupying the same sonic space, unified by mood, intention, and collective awareness rather than by meter.
At the core of the oximetric concept is ‘phrasic’ rhythm: musical gestures that expand and contract like breath. Composed rhythmic ideas serve as flexible frameworks that each performer may stretch, compress, or reshape according to their own expressive instinct. This creates a music that feels organic and bodily—alive in its irregularities, its surges, and its moments of stillness.
Because each performer navigates the form at their own pace, the structure of the composition becomes a fluid architecture. No two performances are alike. The music evolves through the interplay of independent pulses, converging and diverging in ways that cannot be predicted or repeated.
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  1. 1
    something to lose blues LIVE 16:27
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  2. 2
    do svidaniya paula LIVE 13:46
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  3. 3
    childsplay LIVE 10:03
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  4. 4
    the world must be round LIVE 8:04
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  5. 5
    hardhead LIVE 14:40
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threedom vol2

spike mason

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At the end of 1996 I was 27 yrs old. I recorded my first album while studying jazz at the Sydney Conservatorium of Music. I improvised a series of contrafacts - which are original melodies played on the chord changes of Read more
At the end of 1996 I was 27 yrs old. I recorded my first album while studying jazz at the Sydney Conservatorium of Music.

I improvised a series of contrafacts - which are original melodies played on the chord changes of standard jazz tunes. I chose these particular tunes from a long list of standard jazz tunes that I was studying at the time.

27 years later in 2023 I recorded the same tunes with the same bass player - my dear friend Mark Lau - and another dear friend on drums - Dave Goodman - to capture how my skills of melodic invention had developed.

Often the title of a contrafact will be a wordplay on the actual title of a standard jazz tune. So if you know the titles of jazz standards you can figure out what tunes we're playing over.

God willing I'll record and release vol3 in another 27 years...

1) If you want to try something that's fun and you play a chordal instrument you can use this album as a ‘playalong’ and try to join in with us. 🎹 🎸 🪗 🪕

2) If you want to try something else that’s fun you can listen to both albums 'threedom' https://spikemason.bandcamp.com/album/threedom followed by this album 'threedom vol 2' to hear how we’ve progressed (or maybe regressed?) 🤔
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  1. 1
    you are these things 9:50
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  2. 2
    figure and spirit 5:17
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  3. 3
    both of us alone 12:25
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  4. 4
    oh where can you be 11:15
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  5. 5
    you know what it is 8:17
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  6. 6
    bella by barlight 9:45
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  7. 7
    triune 7:31
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  8. 8
    river jordan 10:07
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Now's Not The Right Time

spike mason

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The oximetric concept involves the execution of a largely unfamiliar performance practice within jazz ensemble music. Each musician within the ensemble plays melodic, harmonic, and rhythmic material, either composed or Read more
The oximetric concept involves the execution of a largely unfamiliar performance practice within jazz ensemble music. Each musician within the ensemble plays melodic, harmonic, and rhythmic material, either composed or improvised, within their own unrelated pulse. The musicians, although playing at the same time, do not adhere to a common pulse, time signature, or groove. Each of the pulses are played with the goal to maintain a sense of the individual. There is no need for them to start or finish together. The pulses are not rhythmic subdivisions of each other or related mathematically. They are separate voices that create a synergy by being sounded together in the same sonic space, and sharing a common intent, or mood. The oximetric concept incorporates archetypal rhythms that are expanded and compounded by each of the performers in the ensemble at their discretion. The rhythms are to be executed ‘phrasically’ - so that each melodic or rhythmic segment is not strict but flows and breathes as in our natural bodies. In this way, the composed forms that are the structural foundation of each of the compositions become fluid - arbitrary frameworks on which multiple unique performances can be built. The melodic and harmonic relationships that follow these forms echo what is already found in the music of the jazz canon, where interactions may be as consonant or dissonant as the individuals within the ensemble deems appropriate.
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  1. 1
    Something To Lose Blues 1 11:03
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  2. 2
    Childsplay 1 9:54
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  3. 3
    Do Svidaniya Paula 1 7:41
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  4. 4
    Interlude 1:14
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    The World Must Be Round 1 7:44
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  6. 6
    Hardhead 1 9:11
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    Childsplay 2 9:28
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    Hardhead 2 9:27
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  9. 9
    The World Must Be Round 2 5:45
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    Do Svidaniya Paula 2 10:13
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  11. 11
    Something To Lose Blues 2 9:22
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    Hardhead 3 8:56
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  13. 13
    Do Svidaniya Paula 3 10:58
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  14. 14
    Childsplay 3 6:53
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  15. 15
    Something To Lose Blues 3 13:45
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  16. 16
    The World Must Be Round 3 6:47
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the barossa meditations

spike mason

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At the end of August last year, my father, who lives with us and is very healthy, mysteriously shut down completely overnight. He was unable to move, talk, eat, or anything. He was in hospital for 10 days, and when he Read more
At the end of August last year, my father, who lives with us and is very healthy, mysteriously shut down completely overnight. He was unable to move, talk, eat, or anything. He was in hospital for 10 days, and when he came home I became his full-time carer. I immediately stopped playing gigs, researching my PdD, and teaching. I cared for him for 5 months, in which time he slowly recovered. Strangely and frustratingly, even though he had many tests at the hospital, we still have no diagnosis or reason as to why he got sick or why he got better...

During those 5 months I started playing short solo improvised piano pieces each night just before I would go to sleep. I was too exhausted to do anything else and wanted to keep playing music somehow. I would simply put my hands down on the keys and play.

One night I thought - 'I should record these improvisations.’ So I began recording them from that time, and stopped when I had 100 pieces. I listened back to them all, and then chose some of them that seemed to fit together. I then added other instruments, saxophone, electric bass, and virtual sounds, until I had what sounded like an album.

This album is a series of sonic meditations lovingly dedicated to my dad - barry mason.

I hope the music connects with you 🩵
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  1. 1
    cessation 1:26
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  2. 2
    shuffling back 3:46
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  3. 3
    lost perspective 2:50
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    gazing inwards 4:19
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  5. 5
    house of mirrors 2:15
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  6. 6
    hallways 2:19
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  7. 7
    holding patterns 3:28
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  8. 8
    reverie 1:33
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    under and over 2:14
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  10. 10
    entente 3:44
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  11. 11
    theatrical enactment 3:09
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  12. 12
    unfolding 2:14
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  13. 13
    reclaiming spaces 3:14
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TRiUNE

spike mason

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I've always wanted to record a jazz album with strings. So I started composing a whole lot of music for strings and a jazz trio. I booked a studio, and some lovely musicians who would help me to record. But the more I Read more
I've always wanted to record a jazz album with strings. So I started composing a whole lot of music for strings and a jazz trio. I booked a studio, and some lovely musicians who would help me to record. But the more I listened to my compositions the less I felt like they were 'right' for this album. They sounded like string music with a jazz trio added - and not jazz music with a string quartet added.
So 2 weeks before we went into the studio I threw all the music out !
Then I set myself the task of writing 1 tune a night for 10 nights - no judging, no editing, just composing, accepting, and onto the next one.

During this new process I was trying to figure out how to tie the whole album together. And then I had a dream - and in it I was playing a melody on the saxophone. The tune woke me up (at around 3am) so I quickly sang it into my phone and went back to sleep. When I woke up - at a more reasonable hour - the tune was still playing in my head.
It's a chant of 4 bars, and contains only 15 notes. But it's simple form, when repeated, builds a foundation on which evolving melodic offerings can be explored.
The chant is TRiUNE.

I finished writing the pieces in time for the recording, composing 'timekeepers' on the night before the rehearsal. The quintet played through the music once at the rehearsal and then we went into the studio two days later. So the sounds you will hear are very fresh interpretations of the music. After the recordings were completed I listened to the takes for a few weeks and wrote the string parts to accompany them. We recorded the strings in my loungeroom a few weeks after that.

It was so much fun recording this new music with all of my lovely, talented, generous, musicy friends. I really hope you enjoy this album.
Love yas all,
Spike

p.s. I’d like to give a shout out to all the beautiful people at Arts Tasmania. If I hadn’t received the financial support through a grant for this album it simply wouldn’t have happened. I can’t thank them enough.
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  1. 1
    TRiUNE 1 3:50
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    The Poet 5:15
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  3. 3
    Twitches 4:54
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    Clouds 6:42
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    TRiUNE 2 3:23
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  6. 6
    Timekeepers (for Roger Frampton) 4:11
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  7. 7
    River Jordan 7:07
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  8. 8
    TRiUNE 3 2:13
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  9. 9
    A Blues For Lilia 5:10
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  10. 10
    Please Come Down From The Sky 6:40
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  11. 11
    TRiUNE 4 5:49
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short

spike mason

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It's always a joy to book a studio, call some musos, and ask them to create some new music with you in the moment. You never know what you'll get. But you hope it will sound lovely. SHORT contains all of the freely Read more
It's always a joy to book a studio, call some musos, and ask them to create some new music with you in the moment.
You never know what you'll get.
But you hope it will sound lovely.
SHORT contains all of the freely improvised solos and duos that alf, damien, and I, played in 4 hours on a rainy tasmanian saturday afternoon.
On the day of the recording we laughed a lot, damien got sick, and alf brought kiwifruit - I hypnotised one of zarven's chickens.
I think the music is lovely, and I hope you do too - it's offering is as pure as we could make it at least…
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  1. 1
    submerged light 1:28
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  2. 2
    lingers and vanishes 1:36
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  3. 3
    primal wave 1:48
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  4. 4
    time becomes a circle 3:20
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  5. 5
    holiness is about learning 2:31
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  6. 6
    dispersed 5:38
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  7. 7
    line of sequence 1:10
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  8. 8
    edge of truth 0:47
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  9. 9
    secret door in the memory 1:22
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  10. 10
    alcoves 3:45
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  11. 11
    hidden deep 0:58
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  12. 12
    kindness and chaos 3:46
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  13. 13
    forgotten 5:24
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  14. 14
    silence that ripples 1:36
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  15. 15
    edge of false 5:34
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  16. 16
    oxygen 0:37
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another moment in time

spike mason

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THIS IS THE 10th ALBUM IN MY "10 ALBUMS IN 10yrs PROJECT" ABC's JAZZ ALBUM OF THE WEEK - https://www.abc.net.au/jazz/featured-music/feature-albums/another-moment-in-time-spike-mason/12910170 I'm really proud of this Read more
THIS IS THE 10th ALBUM IN MY "10 ALBUMS IN 10yrs PROJECT"

ABC's JAZZ ALBUM OF THE WEEK - https://www.abc.net.au/jazz/featured-music/feature-albums/another-moment-in-time-spike-mason/12910170

I'm really proud of this album, but I can't take all the credit - this album is a collaborative effort between all five of us. The wonderful musicians on this recording have been some of my dearest friends for about 25yrs - so much music has been shared between us. The compositions are all unique and yet they fit together so well. After the success of our first album "A Moment In Time" - Mike, Mark, Henri and I really wanted to record a second one. But it took about another 4yrs to get us all in the same city again.
We also decided to add a drummer to the group and Cameron Reid was the correct choice - the lovliest cat ever, and a deep and beautiful musician also.
We really hope you enjoy the performances of these tunes.
When the world is open again we'll have to tour this and the first album's music all about the place.

Stay safe and show love to all.

"The interesting outcome of the 10 albums project is that I already have another album ready to release, another one half completed, and another set of tunes that I still have to record. It seems like this project will keep going for a while longer. I guess the process turned the tap on - so I'm just going to let it keep flowing…”
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  1. 1
    River Jordan 7:47
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  2. 2
    Waiting and Leaving 5:33
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  3. 3
    Bach 6:29
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  4. 4
    Jemmy's Jim Jam 5:40
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  5. 5
    The Chalice 6:41
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  6. 6
    Armando 7:44
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  7. 7
    Water For Alan 3:59
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  8. 8
    Bossa For Bruce 6:45
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  9. 9
    Yigdal Saam 5:14
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1 + 1

barney wakeford & spike mason

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Barney and I met in an improvisation class at the Sydney Conservatorium of Music in 1994. We were both studying the Jazz Course. We quickly became friends and started playing music and talking about music together. We've Read more
Barney and I met in an improvisation class at the Sydney Conservatorium of Music in 1994. We were both studying the Jazz Course. We quickly became friends and started playing music and talking about music together. We've just kept playing and talking for 25 years, so we thought we'd record some improvisations over some forms we know. We never know where we're going to start or end, and that's the fun of what we do. We captured that fun with two mics over two late nights. And we're sharing this recording with anyone who wants it...
We hope you enjoy it.

btw - this isn't my 10th album from the "10 albums in 10yrs" project, this is an extra one, the 10th album will be released next year in 2020 :)
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  1. 1
    All Things Concidered 4:48
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  2. 2
    Derek's Dance 5:41
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  3. 3
    Feetprints 6:22
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  4. 4
    I Cry For You 8:16
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  5. 5
    Just Face It 5:22
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  6. 6
    Must You Believe 8:03
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  7. 7
    Together But Apart 13:14
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  8. 8
    Von Red Baron Flies Again 6:06
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  9. 9
    Warp & Weft 9:32
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the nine days after easter

spike mason

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“the nine days after easter” is the 9th album in my "10 albums in 10 years" project. It's also my first solo album, in that I play all of the instruments on it - saxophones, piano and drums. Four years ago my friend Greg Read more
“the nine days after easter” is the 9th album in my "10 albums in 10 years" project. It's also my first solo album, in that I play all of the instruments on it - saxophones, piano and drums.

Four years ago my friend Greg Dixon recorded me playing three hours of freely improvised piano solos in his studio. They were recorded on the night before we recorded the album "A Moment In Time". I didn’t know at that time what I would do with the tracks, but I knew that somehow they would become an album in the future.
Earlier this year, in my home studio, I spent the nine days after easter editing the piano improvisations into nine different forms. A few weeks later I recorded myself improvising along with the piano tracks on the drums. But I wasn’t listening to the piano while I was playing the drums - I just knew how long each track went for and then I just recorded myself playing freely improvised drums for that amount of time. After a little bit more editing these two parts together I then started recording the saxophone over the top. I chose to sometimes play pretty melodies along with the chords, or double a piano melody, and then sometimes I chose melodies that didn’t fit with the chords at all. Sometimes the saxophone melodies sort of fit the rhythms of the drums or the piano and sometimes they don’t. When I was recording the saxophone I just tried to play completely in the moment and as freely as I could. I hope you like what came out…

For 20yrs, since the creation of FREE FOR ALL and the release of my OXIMETRIC album, I have been thinking a lot about music that is not held together rhythmically or harmonically, but sonically. Freely improvised music that is played by an ensemble in the same sonic space and held together by intention, mood, dynamics, energy and timbre. Each member of the group plays with their own rhythmic pulse and harmony.
On this album the ensemble is just me…
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  1. 1
    day 1 5:18
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  2. 2
    day 2 6:23
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  3. 3
    day 3 7:33
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  4. 4
    day 4 3:38
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  5. 5
    day 5 5:11
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  6. 6
    day 6 5:14
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  7. 7
    day 7 5:59
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  8. 8
    day 8 4:36
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  9. 9
    day 9 6:51
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