Many happy returns

There was a time with three large ensembles at the Jazz School.  Now there are two, or at least at the Friends concert we heard two, and they were wonderful, inventive, capable groups and a huge pleasure to revisit.  Why am I so excited?  Because small bands are wonderful but relatively easy to create; big bands, jazz orchestras and the like are difficult.  They require charts and practice and interplay at a different level and they return a complex, integrated sound at best.  The bands were the ANU Jazz Orchestra and the ANU Recording Ensemble.  They are mostly made up of ANUSOM students but also open to non-SOM ANU students.  Greg Stott is musical director for the Orchestra; Miro Bukovsky for the Recording Ensemble.  The Jazz Orchestra is a more standard format.  I find a Jazz Orch to be more modern and exploratory in its charts, but essentially the format is much the same as a traditional big band: rhythm section and colours from saxes, troms and trumpets.  Perhaps a singer.  Miro's recording ensemble is a return to its previous purpose as a group that creates and performs its own music.  We heard three member-created originals from six tunes from them on the night.  The Recorders format was different though, more a product of membership, I guess: rhythm section with percussion and two (acoustic and electric) pianos, three/four horns up front, guitar and two singers.  So they were different groups with different players and a few stars in each.  I was taken by a few players, but don't take this as a full list: Jeremy was a blast on bass, highlighted by a double bass solo on Jaco's Chicken; Mereki, George and Fergus all impressed on saxes; Elliot on the Steinway; Koebi on voice; Rory on trumpet; humourously cocky Olivia on guitar.  Others too, but I missed some names.   Great to hear some words, too, from Koebi and Imogen on Mingus' uber-standard Goodbye porkpie hat, I think using Joni Mitchell's lyrics.  It reminded me of reading Mingus' autobiography so far back.  The book was Beneath the underdog; one line of lyrics was "They put him in an underdog position."  I will never forget that Mingus wrote so little of just the music in that book, but he dropped in one passage that something happened at the time he was practising 8 hours pd.  Words do impart further meaning.  As for the three original compositions from George, Ryan and Fergus (did I get that right?), they were impressive in any company.  So, great to see the large ensembles coming back and a huge pleasure to be in the Band Room for such a gig.

The ANU Jazz Orchestra and the ANU Recording Ensemble performed in the Big Band room at the ANU School of Music for the Friends of the ANUSOM.