Acculturation

We describe Tilt as a crossover jazz/pop. That doesn't usually expand to jazz/opera, but this night it did, at least to opera singer if not opera arias. Lisa Maeorg is a mate from schooldays. We caught up recently as she's been visiting Canberra for other matters. She studied singing at Elder Conservatorium in Adelaide, but that's a different world: this was her first outing in a jazz context. It's a strangely different voice from the jazz voices I've backed. Lisa recounts that a Hungarian tutor had labelled her lyrico-spinto (from Wikipedia: "Italian for 'pushed lyric', the Spinto soprano has the brightness and height of a lyric soprano, but can be 'pushed' to dramatic climaxes without strain, and may have a somewhat darker timbre"). So be it. We hadn't practiced with the band so this was a baptism of fire and a challenge all round. No conductor, the sparseness of a lead-sheet and the looseness of jazz had us struggling a bit at times, but when it clicked it was a fascinating and airy experience with sky-high voice and busy elaborations over firm grooves. Nothing that a bit of acculturation wouldn't fix. Thanks, Lisa, and welcome to jazz.

Lisa Maeorg (soprano vocal) sat in with Tilt at the Tradies. Tilt are James Woodman (piano), Eric Pozza (bass) and Dave McDade (drums).

This is CJBlog post no. 1600.