Tim Pledger Trio with
Jorge Rodrigues and
Harry Shaw-Reynolds

An intimate trio setting involving melodic improvisation through ensemble listening and artistic balance. Throughout his time as leader of “bohjass” Tim Pledger has been involved with many musicians and artists in creating works of relevance and meaning in an increasing atmosphere of negligence and apathy towards deeply felt spiritual artistic statements. With Jorge and Harry Tim delves freely into the existential pot-pourri of the musicians reason.

Tim Pledger : saxophone/clarinet/flute/guitar.

Since graduating from V.C.A in 1997 Tim has released 4 albums with his long running ensemble ‘bohjass’ and 4 as solo electronic artist ‘uncle e.’ Bohjass has played at most major venues in Melbourne and toured interstate. Last years Jazz Fringe was postmarked with ‘bohjass upas militia’s’ indelible brand of incessant minimalism and grandiloquent free rock blowing. Tim regularly plays with a trio setting in ‘The boys’ that explores the jazz blues repertoire of Coltrane, Mingus, Monk and Shorter. His other ensembles include “Sandwich Jesus” delving into iconography through the use of minimal abstracts of vision; “Viaduct”, an audio visual project incorporating live drawing and video art and “Bikeboy”; a virtual rock band linked with overt sexual deviance and tongue in your cheek beligerence.
HereÂ’s what some reviewers have said of TimÂ’s work:
Jeff Pressing (the Age Aust.): ‘Stylistically, Bohjass occupied a nether world of textural blocks that jumped between rhythmic minimalism, free jazz counterpoint and florid unison filigree: trance music meets jazz.’
Ben Watson (the Wire U.K 2001): ‘Then along comes saxophonist, guitarist and composer Tim Pledger and his group Bohjass, and you’re reminded that aching melodies and haunting harmonies can be written down, and that a score can still be a luanchpad for aural poetics.’
Â’maybe whatÂ’s most
admirable is PledgerÂ’s emotional investment in his melodies, his very unpostmodern absence of formal justification.Â’
Ben Watson (hi-fi news U.K 2001): ‘Pledger demonstrates his right to impose his ideas on the rest of the group by delivering amazing sax solos, where he evokes Ayler and Dolphy with just theright amount of detachment and humour to separate himself from the numbskull literalists.’
Ben Watson (Hi-Fi News U.K. 2002): ‘In Techno and Ambient, repetition is often a technique to avoid expression. Here, each beat is driven in with an avidity that is disturbingly sexual; and just when you think you cannot bear it anymore, the ensemble explodes into myriad free-jazz colours. Inspired.’