About Xobophon Records
We are a small independent record label based in Launceston, Australia.
Xobophon Records, which focuses mainly on the music of composer/arranger/guitarist/bassist, Jim Lade (Pictured left - Picture by David Lade), was set up in response to requests for copies of his recorded music.
In addition to the first Xobophon Records CD release entitled Jim Lade, a limited number of copies of Tasmanian Jazz Composers Volume 1 and Tasmanian Jazz Composers Volume 2 CDs are available from this site. These are not Xobophon releases – they are being sold on consignment for Little Arthur Productions.
Bio & CV
Learn some more about Jim Lade, the man behind Xobophon Records.
Albums
Click on an album below to find out more.
Jim Lade CD
TRACKS
- Smokem Ifya Gottem
- Nigel's Delight
- The 22nd Day In August
- Tiny Vats
- Whips And Spurs
- Trifid Nebula
- Dog Exterior
- Five - Four - Two
- Pisgah
- For Andy J
- Tune For Melanie
This CD can be bought through the links to various distribution platforms in the Buy CD section.
Tasmanian Jazz Composers Volume One
TRACKS
- Walk In The Mall (D. Gurr)
- Blockbuster (S. Patterson)
- Clarinet Music (I. Pearce)
- Softly Wild Drums (I. Pearce)
- Here We Go Again (M. Mahood/M. Reynolds)
- Tune For Melanie (J. Lade)
- Huon Pine (V. Zappner)
- Fluent Goat (P. McKercher)
- Birds Of Jupiter (F. Piscioneri)
- Dice Splice (S. Marskell)
- Will We Ever Be Together My Love (F. & M. Piscioneri)
- Summer Moonshine (T. Pickering)
- Sort of Dance (I. Pearce)
- Adrift (M. Gourlay)
- Around The Traps (F. Bradshaw)
LINER NOTES
Tasmania has a population of just under 500,000, about the same, I understand, as one large-ish Melbourne suburb, so it’s not a bad effort to find a dozen people who are actually writing-composing jazz (there are others not represented here). It was Frank Piscioneri’s bold idea to collect some of the available material and with admirable dedication and only a little help from here and there, to see the thing through.
The collection is inevitably eclectic (as a similar collection of Tasmanian poets or painters would be) ranging as it does from the young Simon Patterson’s fiery rock-based “Blockbuster” to the not-so-young Tom Pickering’s gently melodic “Summer Moonshine”; from two sung ballads to rockish-Latin-jazz fusion to straight-ahead mainstream pieces. But it is just not a bland “something for everybody” collection – it is an exciting cross-section of what some of Tasmania’s jazz musicians are writing – and when possible, playing.
Let’s hope this recording may be the first of several featuring all original material from Tasmania, this “Isle full of noises, sounds and sweet airs that give delight and hurt not”.
Ian Pearce
A number of copies of this CD are available from this site. This is not a Xobophon release – it being sold on consignment for Little Arthur Productions.
Copies of this CD are also available from:
Frank Piscioneri
Little Arthur Productions
25 Hinman Drive
Kingston
Tasmania 7050
Australia
(03) 6229 1756
Tasmanian Jazz Composers Volume Two
TRACKS
- Four Plus One (F. Bradshaw)
- Fairy Tales (P. McKercher)
- Funny Ways (S. Marskell/J. Pirere)
- The Actress And The Bishop (I. Pearce)
- Back in Control (P. Bywaters)
- Tell Me (M. Reynolds)
- No More Dreams (T. Pickering)
- Akasha (J. Lade)
- Conventional (D. Gurr)
- Tune For Francis (L. Thomas)
- Cool Cat (B. Whitton)
- If You Think So (S. Patterson)
- Mole Creek (I. Pearce)
- Four For Three (N. Levis)
- Lake Salome (F. Piscioneri)
- Artistic Neurosis (D. Bates/E. Tucker)
LINER NOTES
This second volume of the music of some Tasmanian jazz composers is important not only because it gives non-Tasmanians a chance to hear some otherwise little-heard native talent but because it gives the composers and musicians themselves a chance to hear what they really sound like. For being able to hear themselves on record is one of the ways that jazz musicians improve, and in a country where most jazz musicians only work part-time at their music and never get a chance to record, this is an important opportunity for honest self-appraisal.
As with Volume One, Volume Two covers a wide range of styles, from Ian Pearce’s “Mole Creek”, with its early Duke Ellington/Don Redman flavour, to the very contemporary sounds of Phil McKercher’s “Fairy Tales” and Jim Lade’s “Akasha”. And although this is nominally a composers’ album, we must not lose sight of the fact that some of Tasmania’s finest improvising musicians perform on it, including Fred Bradshaw, Ian Pearce, Simon Patterson, Alf Properjohn, and Paul Martin, none of whom has any reason to hide his light under a bushel.
Like its ground-breaking predecessor, this is an important recording for, inter alia, both the reasons adduced above. And for the second of those reasons, I believe it is even better than Volume One – which is as it should be.
Robert Cox
A number of copies of this CD are available from this site. This is not a Xobophon release – it being sold on consignment for Little Arthur Productions.
Copies of this CD are also available from:
Frank Piscioneri
Little Arthur Productions
25 Hinman Drive
Kingston
Tasmania 7050
Australia
(03) 6229 1756
Buy CD
You can purchase the Jim Lade CD at the following outlets or by contacting Xobophon Records using the information in the contact section.
Testimonials
Album Testimonials