As I have previously flagged up in these pages, the Australian jazz scene (largely, but by no means totally, concentrated in the cities of Melbourne and Sydney), is vibrant, highly creative and extremely original. Regular updates from Earshift Music reveal the quality and depth of what is going on Down Under and the picture they paint unfailingly reinforces the positive impression of my own first hand impressions of what is a vital, yet still relatively unexplored area of jazz. It’s not a scene where one man or woman leads, while others draw on the original inspiration and follow, instead everyone is their own leader, following their own path with such determined individuality they create their own space in the music.

Take austraLYSIS’ Dualling for example. Here is a sophisticated management of electronic sounds and acoustic instruments that has musical direction, rather than suffocating ambient washes with random bumps and bangs that sound as if the man next door is putting the bins out, which so often passes as 'electronic jazz'. As with any successful production, it is not the means used to create an end, but the end that it achieves that counts, and if a certain amount of post production work and editing is involved, so what?

Sam Anning’s Earthen decompresses the moods to thoughtful introspection while retaining melodic integrity. The ensemble contains two of Oz’s finest – Andrea Keller on piano and Julien Wilson on tenor – who match Anning-as-composer’s intent, both in ensemble and solo. The thoughtful use of electronics here is of watercolour washes, and works well in what is a well conceived and thoughtfully executed album – even the drifts in and out of abstraction sit well within the overall conception.

If Anning’s album might be described as miniatures, then Callum Allardice is a big picture man of Carravagio-esque conception on Cinematic Light Orchestra. These are not small band compositions inflated for the 27-piece ensemble, but conceived as works for large ensemble, such as the epic ‘Phobos & Deimos,’ which begins small with Allardice’s guitar outlining the melody and is a masterful exercise in building tension and ultimate release. Collective improvisation on ‘The Vibe’ is managed well and ultimately features that splendid pianist Luke Sweeting to profound effect.

It’d be good if some enterprising promoters brought the New Zealander and key members of the ensemble to tour. Maddison Carter, also from NZ, does not see things through the wide lens of Allardice, but he is equally concerned with shifting colours, textures and the balance between with written and improvised on Polymorphic. More modernistic, in the true sense of the word, in conception, its thoughtful deployment of means are rewarded by the ends it achieves, modest to be sure, but with sufficient wit and wisdom to draw you back to this highly original music.