It was a small break and the Con trail to Michelle Nicole. Now I know Michelle well and have delighted in her performances in the past and this was just expected. I'd been speaking glowingly of Michelle to the mostly Sydney audience and she wasn't so known. Perhaps not a core group of jazz followers. She didn't disappoint. From the top it was detailed, distinct, subtle, emotional, exquisite. She was playing with new guitarist James Sherlock and he fitted easily and with some expansiveness. Pretty sure he was reading the dots for Bach and more, and his solos were exquisite works of sequences and slightly dirtied guitar. And Tom's solos were beautiful, long arpeggiations over the fingerboard and intermediate detailed semitonal colours and sweet melody. Ronny is recovering from an injury so was slightly subdued but he's always quietly delicate and supportive so still a pleasure. And Michelle just always stuns and ingratiates with her intimate presence and singer's singer meticulous perfection. This was their Bach project, something Michelle had designed as the jazz component at a classical festival and has now recorded and is touring. A subtle mix of wordless fugues and minuets and sung standards. Really a fascinating and successful exercise in arrangement with a composer who isn't out of place with modern song. OK, the voice sometimes got lost in the mix but my neighbours at the gig were equally entranced when we chatted as we walked back to festival central. Just a lovely return to Michelle and her band.
Michelle Nicolle (vocals) performed at the Orange Conservatorium with James Sherlock (guitar), Tom Lee (bass) and Ronny Ferella (drums).
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