FM
History
Australian jazz group Clarion Fracture Zone reached international audiences with the release of their Australian Recording Industry Award (ARIA)-winning debut release Blue Shift in 1990. The three constants in the group are husband-and-wife team Tony Gorman and Sandy Evans, and Alister Spence. The group is noted for its adventurous compositions, which include evocative melodic pieces as well as complex works of a spiritual nature. Perhaps their most noted work in the former category is their 1993 release What Love Can Do. Their 2001 recording of their 1997 collaboration with the Bulgarian Martenitsa Choir, Canticle, is thought to be among their most spiritual work.
Saxophone and flute player Sandy Evans studied at the New South Wales (NSW) Conservatorium of Music before joining such Australian jazz groups as the Bruce Cale Orchestra, the KMA Orchestra, and Great White Noise. In 1982 she formed Women and Children First, which toured Australia extensively. She later joined the Ten Part Invention jazz group, with whom she continued to contribute as a performer and composer after forming Clarion Fracture Zone. In 1987 Evans and Scottish saxophonist Tony Gorman co-led the saxophone quartet SAXTC. With Gorman and husband Spence, Evans formed Clarion Fracture Zone. Spence also attended the NSW Conservatorium, where he earned an associate diploma in Jazz Studies. He also studied in New York with Cedar Walton and Andy Laverne.
