Quotes

"Burnett's ferocious facility on her instrument saw her using the full range of possible timbres from clarinet-like woodiness to the nasal quality of an oboe"
John Shand, Sydney Morning Herald, 29/11/99

"...soprano saxophonist Fiona Burnett might give the impression that Kenny G is just another cub scout making tons of money on a hold note..."
The Philipine Star, 11/10/99

"...Burnett is releasing her debut album at the age of 27. Her range of color and sophisticated chops certainly suggest someone with far more years under her belt."
Dave McElfresh, Cadence USA, September 99

"In Burnett we are hearing someone very definately on the rise."
John Clare, Rythms Magazine, May 99

"...soaring soprano tones of Burnett."
Cadence USA, March 99

"...her playing assured, inventive and fluent."
The Australian Financial review, 20-21/3/99

"...she is capable of creating an almost aching intensity."
Leon Gettler, The Age, 18/3/99

"Fiona Burnett's soaring improvisations on the soprano sax, at times executed with nerve-shattering Evan Parker like intensity."
The Age, 6/6/96

Sensaitional Sax
John Shand, The Sydney Morning Herald, 29/11/1999

Since she jumped ship and moved to Melbourne, Fiona Burnett has become rather more than just a very good soprano saxophonist.
Having formed the all-woman band Morgana, enthusiastically received in some quarters, she has branched out in a project of her own, resulting in the fine Venus Rising album (Newmarket).
This concert was the debut of a Sydney version of that project and, given minimal rehearsal and a one-off performance, it could easily have smacked of lackadaisical pick-up band and mismatched soloist. But bassist Lloyd Swanton, drummer Toby Hall, and recent winner of the National Jazz Awards, pianist Matt McMahon, proved a taut and sympathetic unit, which brought out the full force of Burnett's considerable talents as both player and composer.
On her own Racer she fairly trampolined over the rythm section, creating a thrilling sense of velocity, underscored by Hall's colliding drums and cymbal crashes. Here, as through most of the repertoire, McMahon took the piece to somewhere other than where he inherited it at the close of Burnett's solo.
Burnett's ferocious facility on her instrument saw her using the full range of possible timbres, from clarinet-like woodiness to the nasal quality of an oboe. It could carry some of the raucous scribble of the morning birdsong, or suggest the cry of a gull on a windswept coast.
She has an engaging effervescence, allied to an original sense of both dramatic and harmonic contour, whereby solos would be allowed to unwind substantially beyond the climax point, or would be left hanging unresolved in the air.
With Swanton always appropriate but never predictable, and hall listening hard (though occasionally too busy), Burnett has a ready-made band for future visits.
May they be more frequent.

Fiona Burnett is endorsed through the Music Place South Melbourne, Australia to exclusively play Keilwerth soprano saxophones & Rico Jazz reeds.

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