Visiting the theatre

I first heard some tunes as I was setting up to record and the melodies just about brought tears to my eyes, even from Sound of Music.  That's when you realise just how good can the music in musical theatre be.  This concert was called Musical theatre songs - a journey and it was just that, a few songs here and there from 1938 on.  I was delighting in the beauty of these melodies and the clever emotional needles of the lyrics and then, to end, Madeline sang an opera aria, O mio bambino caro from Puccini Gianni Schicchi and I could see the similarities of musical structure and heart-rending stories and finally get the connection with opera.  Otherwise it's seemed a distant pairing to my ears.  Anyway, this was Madeline Anderson and with Hilda Visser-Scott and three of their vocal students, Aria Wallace, Laura Green and Ruby Holden.  The students were all capable even if the voice of the day was obviously the more-experienced Madeline.  Some things, including voices, take time, but there was presence and pleasure throughout.  Each student sang 2 tunes and as a vocal trio accompanied Madeline on The sound of music.  Otherwise there were tunes from numerous musicals, Moulin Rouge to Pal Joey, Les Miserables to Phantom of the opera, Carousel to Grease and a few others beside.  All fabulously well written and very nicely performed.  There's a reason that Rogers and Hammerstein and the like are famed.  And a reason why musicals are so popular.  Opera for our times.  Very much enjoyed.  And thanks to Hilda for the classic pic.

Madeline Anderson, Aria Wallace, Laura Green and Ruby Holden (vocals) were accompanied by Hilda Visser-Scott (piano) at Wesley.

Fresh jam

It was a strange entry to John Mackey's new jam night at Smiths.  I expected it was upstairs in McGregor Hall (as advised online) and innocently walked in on a life drawing session but was hussled out very quickly.  The jam was downstairs this week.  Then a few greetings and a few jam bands and a chance to play a couple of numbers with new jammers, Night in Tunisia and Misty.  The bass was pretty heavy work to my ageing hands but you adjust.  More to the point, there was no bass pickup so the music was limited in volume.  Our tunes were OK if somewhat a struggle to settle on Misty.  Strange that!  John didn't play but some local stars did and they were truly impressive, as expected: Tom, Chris, Matilda, Simon and others.  Then through more players and more who might have played but didn't.  I caught up with Alysa but she didn't sing this evening: singers have the added issue of changed keys, although chords, if not melodies, are pretty well handed with tech these days.  Perhaps not the hottest jam I've attended, partly for the bass volume, but a good outing none-the-less.  Thanks to John for the new session and the chance to meet some new players.  PS thanks to John for the pic of my jamming band.

John Mackey runs a jam session each Tuesday evening at Smiths.

The Pots+ 16 Aug

The buzz is beckoning!  Nice to see Chamberlain proudly promoting The Pots in currently warmer climes, on the waters around Rhode Island, no less.  Thanks Chamberlain!  In the meantime, the buzz is on, at least at my house, with the release of The Pots - Flesh on Saturday 16 August.  It's not quite as explicit as you may surmise despite MegSee feat. as Sappho!  In summary, The Pots joins with MegSee to consider the themes of love and desire through the writings of several historical authors, Sappho and Euripedes, Dante and TS Elliot.  But so as not to not limit our vision, we also hear of Hoodies and 18yo experience and the inevitable political rant and throw in some tortured Renaissance song.   You'll find The Pots on all the major streaming platforms and Bandcamp or just follow the link below to the ePea page on CJ.  And to Chamberlain, enjoy the swim and thanks again.

ePea on CJ

Out two too

It’s standard practice for me on visiting a town to find out what bands and events are on, or if larger, where are the jazz clubs and the like.  I visit Beechworth often enough to know the several windows with their A4 ads for upcoming bands and visitors.  There were 2 coming for Friday and Saturday at Tanswell’s, the main street pub.  The visitors aren’t around this weekend, but include classical singers, renowned jazzers and pop bands at times.  Meg Washington was here recently.  The two Front Bar bands at Tanswell's would be it for this visit.  We managed the first set of The Torpedoes on the Friday night, a rock-blues quartet (2xgt/vox, bs, dr) playing Summertime blues, a string of 12 bars, Allejuliah I just love her so and the like. Plenty of good vibes and noise and dancing in a small space and the inevitable crew at the bar or standing by the fire.  Not sure how the bartender managed to hear orders, but it seems to work OK.  Then the Owls on Saturday.  Again a quartet (2xgt, bs, dr, all vox), in from Melbourne.  I happened to stand at the bar and chat to the leader's partner, Irene, and he was Sean McMahon and the others were Matt Green, Josh Duiker and Tim McCormack.  Sadly the PA and room were muddy so no recognisable lyrics, and for this folk-blues-rock-indie music, for me the lyrics are the key, although there were some decent solos and grooves amongst it all.  But Sean is noted for folk and songwriting and he writes this music so lyrics would be a key.  The music seemed to be all or mostly original, not that I'd recognise this style too well regardless.  I managed a chat with bassist Tim in the break and loved his '74 PB.  I once had a '72 PB and ever dread that I sold it.  This was identical, same pickguard, sunburst colour, rosewood neck in good condition, if less in the body than where it matters.  Lovely.  And the audience could be a blast, not least the schoolies or there-abouts with the mid-winter themed costumes, the girls videoing their black and fur hat presences.  So two bands in two nights in the front bar at Tanswell's.  Good.  Excuse the low-light pics.

The Torpedoes played Tanswell's front bar on Friday night.  The Owls played there on Saturday night.  The Owls comprised Sean McMahon (guitar, vocals, songwriting), Matt Green (guitar, vocals), Tim McCormack (bass, vocals) and Josh Duiker (drums, vocals).

Out

We’re away for a family birthday for a few days, based in Beechworth but tripping around too.  We come here often enough and we can be pretty staid but our visitors have us busier and exploring more.  First to mention is local town Myrtleford.  Not at all the period piece that Beechworth is, but lively and touristy with some op shops, a pass-time we enjoy.  The highlight was a quirky shop called Red Ramia Trading.  The website describes it thus: “an enormous globe-trotter’s emporium of furniture, pottery, homewares, rugs, exotic fabrics, kimonos, architectural & garden design features from marble statues to teakwood pavilions. Take a trip through Japan, Morocco and India as you wander through a mixture of hand picked antiques, artisan crafted good and recycled items.”  Pretty correct and pretty fascinating.  Like giant bears playing jazz instruments that once must have welcomed to a club or event.  One had a genuine double bass, not too aged or admirable but somewhat playable.  I found a string of guitars and e-basses on one wall, not too collectible, and one student violin borrowing a famed name.  Quite fascinating if not throw-away op shop cheap with some items into the $000s.  Then next day, back in Beechworth, the monthly Quercus market and community get-together.  The wind was chilly but the sun warm and lots of dogs and a few acquaintances and others to chat to.  Our indulgence was frittele (Italian doughnuts) but there was much else.  And some entertainment from Eva and Irena. Eva, the main guitarist, and Irena, the singer with a decent apt voice, for Noah Kennedy Everywhere everything and more.  Thanks for introducing me to NK.  Nice local entertainment.  Thus is the way of these smaller town events.

Eva (guitar) and Irena (vocals, guitar) performed at the Beechworth Market.  Red Ramia Trading is in local town Myrtleford.

B2&M

Even in the massive space of Llewellyn Hall, I was surprised by how satisfying was the volume of a classical trio, even with that diminutive instrument, the fortepiano, at its heart.  This was Musica Viva and it's not a common visit but I enjoyed this immensely, even if not particularly critically.  I mostly just took it in as the pleasure it can so easily satisfy.  This was Beethoven and Mozart, mostly Beethoven (4 vs 2) although the concert was entitled Mozart's clarinet.  Perhaps because the concert was set when the clarinet was new and Mozart and then young Beethoven wrote for it.  It started with a basset horn which is a precursor to the clarinet that we know but looks nothing like it, at least in this incarnation, bent and with an odd box before the horn.  Then Beethoven variations, Mozart Kegelstatt trio, interval, Beethoven aria and more variations, Mozart piano sonata K.545 and a Beethoven piano trio. Megan recalled the K.545 as something every pianist learns and it was very recognisable even to me.  I mostly just sat and enjoyed the capable playing and easy composition, but took note of Beethoven's interplay of parts and just the beauty of the solo, quiet fortepiano and the lines moving between cello and clarinet and the fingering on the cello.  That's something I could understand.  Nicola Boud mostly played a "historical clarinet" to Erin Helyard's (historical) fortepiano but Simon Cobcroft's cello seemed modern enough.  Whatever, this was inviting music played with class and perfectly adequate for the large Llewellyn space when you adjusted to it.  Lovely.

Nicola Boud (clarinet, basset horn), Erin Helyard (fortepiano) and Simon Cobcroft (cello) performed Mozart and Beethoven for Musica Viva at Llewellyn Hall.

Direct lineage

Given this concert's Bohemian theme, I would no longer think of Simandl as unconventional but artistic, yes.  Simandl developed the major technique of double bass playing although he now has competition from Rabbath.  But still his technique and book is known by all who take up classical double bass.  Kyle Ramsay-Daniel, known to all the local classical string community, performed a lunchtime Wesley concert with Ella Luhtasaari entitled the Bohemian Double Bass and featuring Franz Simandl with Adolf Misek, Frantisek Cerny and Vojtech Kuchynka.  All from the Austro-Hungarian area and perhaps all having studied in Prague.  Kyle gave a great background to each composer even if I didn't catch it all, but most important, of course, were the compositions.  A scherzo capriccioso form Simandl, melodic and playful and way up the neck as perhaps as all double bass solos do.  Then a three movement sonata from Misek, a beautiful notturno & intermezzo from Cerny and a final canzonetta from Kuchynka.  So mostly light and lyrical with a touch of dance in the rhythms.  It was demanding bass for Kyle and he did it proud (I learned tons from just watching) with effective and responsive piano accompaniment form Ella.  But the greatest claim of all was Kyle's own link to Simandl, having studied in a direct line of a few generation to Simandl himself.  It's not so far back (Simandl 1980-1912) but still wildly exciting to hear.  I guess that places Max McBride one step closer to the great Simandl himself.  And that story of 600 solo recitals by Kuchynka.

Kyle Ramsay-Daniel (bass) was accompanied by Ella Luhtasaari (piano) playing compositions for double bass at Wesley.

Parliament no.48 opens

'Twenty-eight countries, including Australia, the UK and France, are demanding an immediate end to the war in Gaza and for Israel to lift aid restrictions.  The joint statement, signed by Foreign Minister Penny Wong, comes amid growing international concern over the number of deaths at aid sites in the enclave. It criticises what it calls the "inhumane killing" of Palestinians and condemns the "drip feeding of aid".  "We, the signatories listed below, come together with a simple, urgent message: the war in Gaza must end now," the foreign ministers of Britain, Australia, France, Italy, Japan, Canada, Denmark and other countries, and an EU commissioner, said in a joint statement. "We are prepared to take further action to support an immediate ceasefire and a political pathway to security and peace for Israelis, Palestinians and the entire region. ... Israel must comply with its obligations under international humanitarian law." The joint statement also includes a condemnation of Hamas's treatment of hostages held captive since the group's October 7, 2023, attack in Israel.'

Australia, UK, France and other nations call for immediate end to war in Gaza. https://www.abc.net.au/news/2025-07-21/uk-australia-france-joint-statement-end-war-in-gaza/105557108

Delights

In so many ways, this concert by Salut! Baroque was delightful.  It's a throwaway description but worthy and apt in this case.  The music was glorious early baroque music from Telemann and mostly contemporaries and the music often featured lines "stolen" from those contemporaries.  As Picasso said, "Good artists copy; great artists steal".  I thought Miles said that, but so be it.  Certainly Telemann did steal some lines, but it's also the development and more that's relevant and anyway, they get lost amongst his other 3,000 compositions.  Colin Milner appeared as Telemann himself, introducing tunes and some stories of Telemann and singing one piece and generally also being delightful.  Not least in the bird and cat scene.  And John Ma was there as orchestra leader and it was clear to see the respect for his interpretations and leadership amongst the performers.  John is MD for the next Musica da Camera concert and I'm learning tons of the baroque spirit and instrumental interpretation as we speak.  We are lucky to have John and such Euro-experienced musicians in our midst when they quite often return.  And the pieces were short and often essentially danceable, so again delightful, and that's a common aspect of music of this period, the waltzes and bourées and gavottes although often just expressed as Andante or Vivace of Allegro non molto or the like.  It was only one hour, but we heard some great bottom end from bass and cello and that remarkable theorbo, a delightful, quiet harpsichord solo, those lovely strings, 2 violins and a viola, and the winds, two recorders and a flute, often playing off against each other, and Telemann singing of the cat.  And a most unexpected gypsy number to end.  It was just one hour but a work of collection and performance that delighted.  Do I need to say I loved it and got a good few chuckles along the way.

Salut! Baroque performed the music of Telemann and contemporaries at Wesley.  Performers were Sally Melhuish and Alana Blackburn (recorders), Sally Walker (baroque flute), John Ma and Sarah Papadopoulos (baroque violins), Brad Tham (baroque viola), Tim Blomfield (baroque cello), Jude Hill (baroque double bass), George Wills (theorbo, guitar), Monika Kornel (harpsichord) and Colin Milner (historian, vocals) as Georg Philipp Telemann.

Popular B1 of 3B

Beethoven Septet Ebmaj op.20 was somewhat the most popular of his works, so a pillar of BBB admiration.  But he didn't like it.  Too early, too popular, too trivial against his more mature works.  Yeah, but pleasant, as the prorgam says "it masterfully blends classical grace with innovations that hint at Beethoven's own evolving style".  The program was another Wesley Wednesday lunchtime, but bigger than normal played by a seven players of strong competence, of CSO and NCO and perhaps otherwise and seemingly pulled together by my NCO principal bass, Henry South.  He did a great job, expressive and aware although the part wasn't too difficult.
  The seven parts were a string quartet of one violin, viola, cello and bass and a wind section of horn, bassoon and clarinet.  Just a lovely combination that could play and share and pass and alter melodies at will and settle with strong foundations in both sections.  A lovely and intriguing outing and so glad to record it.

Beethoven Septet Ebmaj was performed at Wesley by Michelle Higgs (violin), Lauren Davis (viola), Ben Munro (cello), Henry South (bass), Helena Maher (clarinet), Rebecca Rivera (bassoon) and Dianne Tan (horn).

One for NAIDOC

I was wondering what to do for NAIDOC week and I had the opportunity to attend Big name, no blankets at the Canberra Theatre Centre.  It's the story of the Warumpi Band, their history and music.  I was aware of the Warumpi band by name but not particularly aware of their music or influence, having already entered the domain of jazz by the time they appeared.  And they appeared ages ago, early 1980s.  They comprised 2 brothers and 2 others, so the family story is apt.  They came from NW of Alice Springs , Papunya, within sight of the Warumpi mountain.  They were poor but a white visiting school teacher had a guitar and amp and car and they formed and added a brother-in-law singer.  Starting with rock and roll standards, they graduated to some seriously satisfying originals of real personal and political concern and ended up touring Australia and internationally, even being asked by Dire Straits to support an Australian tour.  They eventually succumbed as members missed the country and finally disbanded in 2000.  R&R is a hard life, especially for poor black rockers.  But this was happy and inspirational theatre and sometimes a bit rock loud but with relatively interesting compositions, 12-bars but more and I noticed some fascinating lengthened lines and unexpected changes and inviting lyrics.  The show was heavy on the music and that's joyous.  The whole theatre was called up and jumping several times and it was just inevitable with the very lithe and mobile singer up front.  Interestingly, there were another 4 musicians behind the band, sometimes playing backing behind spoken passages, sometimes backing the full band in flight up front, and these included two sons of core Warumpist Sam.  A daughter also appeared as all female roles and we met her at drinks after.  The musical has been running for about a year and took 5 years of creation from band memories and it continues to the Alice and beyond for festivals and more.  It's late as I write this, but this is joyous and mostly hopeful picture of our cultural experience as well as a visit to our recent Aboriginal musical history.  "Blackfella, whitefella / It doesn't matter, what your colour / As long as you, are true fella / As long as you, are real fella ... Are you the one that's gonna, stand up and be counted / Are you the one that's gonna be there, when we shout it".  Simple but honest.  Highly recommended.

Big name, no blanket was rock and roll theatre telling the story of the Warumpi Band at Canberra Theatre.  By Andrea James (writer) with Sammy Tjapanangka Butcher (consultant) and Rachael Maza and Anyupa Butcher (co-directors).  And thanks to Canberra Theatre Centre for the tix.

Death thoes?

Oh well, here we go again.  Changes to ANU; changes to the School of Music.  The School took a while to recover from the damage of the last round of changes but it's a lesser being, as I presume it was after the initial move from independence to the ANU.  But there was money then, I guess, because the buildings are impressive.   The latest seems to be to forego the conservatorium model.  There was some of this last time, what with requirements for PhDs for music teachers and the rest.  Some of the best jazz teachers have none of that.  Coltrane had none of that. Thus musicology seemed to be of great interest in the last round.  I'd heard gossip of a renowned teacher and international-class performer soon to leave, then I chatted with another significant staff member who'd taken package.  I guess there are more to be announced over coming weeks and months.  There was an article in the Canberra Times announcing changes to the SOM.  Interestingly, just the night after I'd been chatting to a friend with connections into ANU.  I'd put it down to the managerialism of universities, the reduced government funding, the need for paying students especially foreign students and the effects of COVID for reduced student numbers then the foreign student numbers bounce-back and the politicisation of immigration and foreign student numbers.  My friend spoke more of internal ANU and senior management matters.  FWIW, again as an ex-librarian I will keep a running list of references in Canberra Times and other sources that I find but it looks increasingly serious this time.  From Peter Tregear (ex-head ANUSOM in Canberra Times, 8 July 2025 p.1): 'Teaching people how to play instruments would be replaced by "Indigenous Music in a contemporary context, and Music and Wellbeing", and with an emphasis on the technology and production of contemporary music.'   Cause for considerable concern. 

See my bibliography Save Music in Canberra no.2 2025

Annual outings

Again Jinbo Huang brought his students to Wesley for a concert outing.  I've seen several of these and they are always rewarding, starting as they are with younger, newer players on simpler yet still satisfying pieces, and working up to the major works and perhaps working up in volume.  Certainly volume this day!  The other aspect I noticed this was the arrival of film and game themes.  I've been watching this is classical outings and even played a very successful and popular film theme outing with NCO so I was not at all surprised.  Film and games is a location for much contemporary orchestral and classical instrumental music these days.  I expect the film connections but I'm old enough to be somewhat flummoxed by the games, but so be it.  Things change.  Games are a huge business and composition is part of it.  So the concert started with the theme from Interstellar and finished with some very raucous Game of Thrones music, with Bach and Haydn and Chopin and Schubert and a few lesser names between.  I'll just mention the final two players.  Charles Huang with some delightful Schubert impromptus and Damien Ruan with some very stormy and voluminous Game of Thrones music.  Suffice to say I set my recording levels on Damien's warmup.

Charlie Sanoubane, Arabella Lu, Khloe Chen, Frank Huang, Naomi Feng, William Mon, Charles Huang and Damin Ruan (pianos) from the studio of Jinbo Huang played at Wesley.

Bass and beyond

Pippa Macmillan was coming to play with John and Marie in Apeiron Baroque and I was in.  Pippa is now in Australia but is quite and international, with degrees for the Royal Academy of Music and Juilliard and appointed Professor of baroque double bass at the RSM, that school next to that other Albert Hall, and performing with Tapfelmusik, Florilegium, Austn Brandenburg Orch, Austn Haydn Ens and the rest.  She was playing violone with the gut strings and those gut frets and a big Dragonetti period bow.  But how lithe and quick and unrelenting in her drive.  No slowing down with this rhythm section!  Otherwise, this was a joy of baroque historical overview with a program called Something old, something new.  Thirteen composers, mostly C15th, some C16th and just two contemporaries.  Ariosti and Albinoni and a string of lesser known names, seldom encountered.  All held together with backgrounds and stories from the ever-engaging John Ma, himself of considerable European history, and Marie Searles on harpsichord, again of Euro-connections.  The group would move through tunes, with Matt Greco, again a Euro-aligned and Aussie-busy concertmaster and soprano Susannah Lawergren up front for a series of tunes, not least a fabulous modern work but Michael Bakrncev who was in the audience, and if I remember right, was listening to the world premiere of this composition, a touching song of a mother laying in bed with her new child while her partner rings updates downstairs.  The text was by Cate Kennedy and the work was called Thank You.  Just glorious music.  Otherwise, the modern works were Allemande from the Jorn Borsen Harpsichord sonata and Spring from Dominick Argento Elizabethan songs.  And several Canberra advanced students invited by John and Marie, Brad Tham, Alex Monro and Dante Costa, all well known in local circles.  Just wonderful playing with that stellar bottom end, a varied and intriguing program from the ages and some delightful, welcoming patter.  Another great outing.

Apeiron Baroque performed at Wesley Church.  AB was led by John Ma (violin, MD) and Marie Searles (harpsichord, MD) with Susannah Lawergren (soprano), Matt Greco (violin), Pippa Macmillan (violone), Michael Bakrncev (composer), Dante Costa (flute), Brad Tham (violin) and Alex Munro (viola).

Our annual songs meet

I love my jazz and other gigs but my longed-for favourite each year has to be NCO with CCS.  That's a full orchestra and choir at Llewellyn; 120 or more on stage and some fabulous music.  I've played a string of these including Beethoven, Carl Off, Monty Python (?!), Haydn, Brahms... Playing in such orchestral strength with a capable massed SATB choir is a huge thrill.  This year was perhaps more modern, story-telling, filmic with 2 modern pieces.  First up was the occasionally jovial recounting of the experience of migration to Australia and the surprises and loves of process and outcome created by 2 immigrants, composer Elena Kats-Chernin and librettist Tamara-Anna Cislowska, telling stories from Chinese migration at the time of the gold rush, post-WW2 migrants, Vietnam refugees and more.  The lyrics were lengthy and not always so easy to catch but suffice to recognise an ode to Vegemite and an immigrant's surprise at topless bathing at Bondi.  How Aussie!  The bass could be repetitive, other than for one fiendishly tricky quick movement, so perhaps the voices defined the pleasures, but I languished in the pleasure and good humour of it all.  Then an interval and surprisingly similar approach (repetitive accompaniment, filmic accompaniment, more complex lyrics with inviting melodies) from a one-time member of Soft Machine and now composer of a British Classic FM Hall of Fame no.2 hit.  This was the Kosovo-inspired mass for piece, The Armed Man by Karl Jenkins.   Again inspiring if mostly for the voices, but quite touching and apt for out times.  Suffice to say, this was again a deeply thrilling outing and another for the diary.  And as for the post-concert party and Martin's dip, well, that's another story of joy.

National Capital Orchestra and Canberra Choral Society under Louis Sharpe (conductor, NCO MD) and Dan Walker (CCS MD) performed Human Waves and The Armed Man at Llewellyn with soloists Jillian Halleron (soprano) and Liam Meany (cello) and Bilal Berjaoui (vocals) performing the Call to prayers.  The bottom enders were Henry South, Juliet Flook, Mel Fung, Jeremy Tsuei and Eric Pozza (basses).

The allure of standards

Apparently Geoff had suggested a standards trio and I was not alone in thanking him for it.  Jazzers can become a bit blasé about our American songbook but when it's played with this delicacy and beauty and awareness of the great players that precede us this can be a thing of great beauty, immense subtlety and respect for history.  Thus it was with Hannah James and her return to Canberra with her standards piano trio with Adrian Keevil and Paul Derricott.  Just beautiful melodies played with respect, an array of great solos and a few traded fours.  Oscar Peterson, Mulgrew Miller, Horace Silver, Ray Brown, Tommy Flanagan: what's not to like and to swing to.  And some tunes that can be cheesy but just sat so nicely of the likes of Tea for two or Love for sale or Mean to me or some lesser knowns like NY attitude or It never entered my mind or something a bit funky with Mulgrew Miller Soul-Leo and that lovely transition that I think her offsiders didn't even expect, when Hannah sat on a repeated G on the 4/4 beat of Here's that rainy day that subtly mutated to the 3/4 of Moon river, a heartache favourite of mine, continuing to a solo and melody almost obliviously.  The room was swooning and the playing was delicious and Hannah's solos were understated and instructive.  Just lovely and I'm hanging out to revisit it in the mix.  Thanks, Hannah.

Hannah James (bass) led a piano trio with Adrian Keevil (piano) and Paul Derricott (drums) at Smiths.

Early days

Zachary Li was new to me but he'd started playing piano at 4 and achieved his AMEB Grade 8 at 14 so I shouldn't have been surprised with the effectiveness and commitment from the first notes of the Mozart Sonata that started his concert.  Played from memory, like all the pieces, expressive, firm and confident, quick and loud but also dynamic and nicely balanced hands.  Then followed a JS Bach prelude and fugue and another later form Mendelssohn and an oddly different Pink Nautilus from Michael Kieren Harvey, all handfulls of percussion over the whole 8 octaves and busy and driving and handfuls of arpeggiations.  This was different.  Then a very lovely Samuel Barber with ostinato left hand and a Ballade from Chopin.  Quite a range of styles and all done with musical maturity to my ears.  Then, after thanks and bows, his sister Lillybelle joined him for a four handed encore.  Just stunning and unexpected from such a young performer, a student of Stephanie Neeman.  I wonder are we seeing early days.

Zachary Li (piano) performed at Wesley and encored four-handed with his sister Lillybelle Li (piano).

Tastefully typical

Sally Whitwell is a Canberra resident and it was she who designed a deliciously effective description on her day.  She earlier spoke of being in a rut with choirs and finding this enlivening as a musical interpretation of our true lives: three coffees a day, breakfast, cat, veggies for lunch, emails, housekeeping, visitors for dinner and sleep with a book club thrown in.  A typical day but with wonderfully inventive music, some borrowed, some original.  So we got Michael Nyman Miserere with Three ways to vacuum your house and an indie Oxford comma and a delicious sleep from Eric Whitacre.  And such a capable choir to sing it all, a towering soprano, capable parts and harmonies and a division (interestingly at the vacuuming and later dinner) of the women's voices then the men's.  So cute nad joyful and true stories told with superbly effective choral complexities in all manner of styles, Sally herself and Nyman and Whitacre and lesser names and Indie rockers Vampire weekend and some musical theatre from Beauty and the Beast and one work by OC's emerging composer in residence Aija Draguns, with Sally's piano accompaniment and Dan Walker's direction and a clarinet in there somewhere.  Delicious, delightful and down to earth.

Sally Whitwell (piano, direction) created the program Musica Domestica : a musical diary of a remote worker ... in thirteen chapters and with Aija Draguns wrote some original music for Oriana Chorale under Dan Walker (conductor) and one clarinetist that I can't name.

Joy of the dance

It was a pleasure to take in Musica da Camera with 2 basses from the audience.  This was such an interesting and inviting program and well presented.  The MD was Robert Harris and the title dances and suites and there were plenty of them, nicely bouncy and rhythmic for dance.  But RH is a viola player and the core theme was the presence of this lower sounding instrument, or at least moderately lower sounding for any cello of bassist.  Maybe not so much lower as rich and big and just a fifth below the violins.  And the bottom end filled out with Dorit Herskovits, Robert's wife and fellow long term professional.  But the program was the feature and so inviting.  Two pieces by Telemann, a concerto for two viols and an Ouverture-suite and a Schubert valse.  Then a truly lovely modern Australian piece, River Valley dawn by Emma Greenhill, picturesque in its presence.  Then five raucous and polytonal Greek dances from Nikos Skalkottas and a waltz and a tango from Elena Katz-Chernin and to finish the pizzicato polka from brother Strauss.  And these works had relevance to RH and DH, Dorit having studied with Elena, they having toured the Greek musics, Telemann being a favourite and generally the joy of the dance, too, I guess.  A lovely concert and nicely played. 

Robert Harris (director, viola) led Musica da Camera Canberra in Cook with a repeat at Gundaroo.  Bottom enders were Dorit Herskovits and Kate Murphy (basses).

Reminiscent of improv

An impromptu is a classical piece that's "reminiscent of improvisation".   Today I heard four impromptus on piano.  It's probably not easy to think of an orchestra improvising, but I've described the piano as "an orchestra in a box" but that's probably because I'm a bassist and we play low and mostly single notes.  The multiple fingers and 8 octaves and 88 accessible keys on a piano seem like all and everything to me.  Perhaps guitarists would think differently: they only have 6 strings but they can form chords, play associated bass line and melodies, mostly at the same time.  Today was Mark Jurkiewicz playing four Schubert Impromptus.  The program put it best; I won't even try.   "The first Impromptu in C minor blends elements of sonata, variation, and through-composed structures.  The second impromptu in Eb major is a swift moto perpetuo with a ternary design.  The third impromptu is a flowing and meditative piece in Gb major, charaterized by long melodic lines and unbroken triadic accompaniments.  The fourth and final impromptu, in Ab major, starts in Ab minor and is characterized by cascading arpeggios and a chordal response."  Nicely put even if I prefer British spelling.  Suffice to say that Mark was trained at the Chopin Academy in Warsaw so is close to the sources of such music.  And played from memory with intense presence and interpretation.  Always so good to hear another concert from Mark.

Mark Jurkiewicz (piano) performed Franz Schubert Four impromptus D.899 op.90 at Wesley.

CJ's 20th

It was just a week or so ago when I published CJ's 3,000th blog post.  Today I/we celebrate CJ's 20th birthday.  20 years!  Tons of time and energy and a decent record of my musical journey over those years and how it crossed with Canberra and the Jazz School and travels and my later interests in classical and recording.  I write up most of my musical events and some other public events that I might attend other than some Tilt jazz gigs which are not too common but would be too seriously indulgent.  Sadly, CJ has missed my recent mix/mastering of multitracks from Bevan at Smiths because those home-based duties don't quite fit as an event although they are a fascinating task, a revealing way to attend a gig ("All about the bass") and a nice gift to the performers.  I notice the seriousness of my commentary has declined over time given I've said most things many times, but the effectiveness of the record persists and the list of performers just keeps growing.  I always referred to these posts as reports rather than reviews anyway.  As for records, CJ has 6,787 index entries as I write this, including band names, performers' names, locations outside Canberra and various other items.  And there's Canberra Jazz Group on Facebook which sat a few years after its creation in 2018 then took off as a gig promotion site and today has 2,437 members.  Thus it goes and it goes on.  I can't imagine life (or remember gigs) without it.  I hope you enjoy it as much as I do.

COMA alert

I’m in Adelaide again to visit family. I always check out the jazz around and this particularly interested me: COMA Creative Original Music Adelaide. But then I had visited the venue, the Wheatsheaf Hotel in Thebarton (the Wheaty) so maybe I’d happened on this group. I couldn’t attend this night but all gigs are streamed then released on Bandcamp as audio and YouTube as video so I could catch snippets on the night then follow up with a huge catalogue later. COMA convenes 1st and 3rd monday each month, requires 80% original content and presents 2x40min sets each night. The bands this night were Yung Horns and Similacrum 5. YH was somewhat jazz-influenced indie-pop, a duo of trom/vocals and keys/tpt, nicely melodic and infectious and a decent voice out front. S5 was a quintet and, even with a visiting trumpet, was wonderfully adventurous. The configuration (tpt, tnr, pno, bs, dr) was stock-standard but very unexpectedly they introduced a single 30-min number with a string of themes and melodies and solos all round. Some wonderfully inventive piano, a lovely bass solo, some great interplay in the horns, complex heads and varied feels. I’ve just skipped through the full work but was mightily impressed. This non-profit venue-cum-club has been running these gigs since 2005 and covers fields of jazz, improv, new classical and electronica. COMA even presents a radio show on 5MBS. Fascinating and from what I’ve seen well skilled and quite intriguing.

COMA (Creative Original Music Adelaide) presents gigs at the Wheatsheaf Hotel, Thebarton, on 1st and 3rd Monday of each month. COMA streams and released all performances on YouTube and Bandcamp. The most recent gig was Yung Horns and Similacrum 5. Find more info and links from the COMA website.

http://coma.net.au

Song

I last wrote of this pair at Wesley with great admiration and pleasure, especially for a work telling of a dying soldier's thoughts in WW1.  That concert visited the romantics and the eras before our admittedly very transactional times, to use the current parlance.  This return was equally satisfying for its training and skills in voice and piano but also a return to earlier times.  This was a fascinating investigation into musical takes on Shakespeare's language by Gerald Finzi and Roger Quilter and a group of songs by Vaughan Williams.  The program describes their takes as Shakespeare "rich and rhythmic ... in turns, witty, wistful and profound", Finzi "introspective and melancholic", Quilter "light and charming" and finally Vaughan Williams "reverent and human ... moments of serenity and soaring joy" in takes on music of George Herbert "deeply expressive and spiritual ... quiet intensity".  Thus is artsong, I guess: intelligent and reverent, fabulously skilled and beautifully performed and quite distant from our times to my ears.  Not that we couldn't do with some alternatives just at the moment.

Alasdair Stretch (baritone) was accompanied by Callum Tolhurst-Close (piano) at Wesley.

Degrees of separation

It's said that you are only 6 degrees of separation from anyone.  Maybe.   An old friend had shared a lift with George W Bush in the White House; 1 degree of separation: check.  I played a gig once at Rupert Murdoch's house out of Canberra and RM himself came up to the band, and in the break we spoke to several NY media executives, then Bob Hawke arrived in a helicopter; 1 degree of separation: check.  Micah Heathwood sat in with us at Molly and he was the support act for Kamasi Washington; 1 degree of separation: Check.  We were at that concert.  Micah opened and said it was their first concert in Sydney: at Carriageworks supporting Kamasi Washington.  What a nice place to start!  From the top the sound was dreadful.  Most obvious was a  huge stomach thumping kick that lasted beyond the first minutes.  Had they done a sound check before the gig?  Just 3 players and one singing.  But I could appreciate some oddly structured but well-maintained drum grooves over changing and unusual counts.  With soft and relatively indistinct guitar strums and notes, rich with delay and more, creating colour over the drums.  And keys that laid bass lines that again thumped the stomach or perhaps chordal work, but not distinct like that literally thumping bass.  Perhaps a solo somewhere but again not too clear.  And Micah with some vocals, indecipherable to my ears with my trade mark-tissue earplugs.  I took one out to listen but still no luck.  That stomach thump receded later but I still didn't catch lyrics.  Lyrics interest me.  To me they define song with intellect beyond emotion.  For lyrics,  I can ask Micah or wait for his upcoming recordings.  But despite sound, I was mightily impressed.  Inspired post-punk perhaps; floating jazz colour; contentious rhythm; even a lyric if I could hear it.  Richard mentioned shoe-gaze but there were also jazz chops and knowledge to inform it.  Hope to hear more and great congrats to Micah and Jamie and Max.

Micah Heathwood (drums, vocals) performed with Jamie Rea (keyboards) and Max Sturm (guitar) in support of Kamasi Washington at Carriageworks.

Kamasi 3000

This is CJ Blog post no. 3,000.  Blogspot keeps the count, not me, but it's opportune that a big international touring artist should get this post and also that it's someone who is making jazz as it is.  I like big bands and swing and bop and modern and the rest, but jazz must remain a mutating art to survive and Kamasi is doing that, with rap, with Thundercat and the like.  I'd prefer that the gig was not such a long drive (Carriageworks by the Sydney Central Station) and that it was a little more comfy (standing room only).  But this seems to go with the territory.  The territory was an 8-piece band touring Kamasi's latest album, Fearless movement, which is itself 1h26m long.  Probably the best I got from this was clarity about the music.  His albums are layered, complex, immensely busy and I love that, but live, as an 8-piece band, things were clearer.  Firstly, there was immense drive, energy, an unrelenting nature.  Drums and bass just never mild, all incessant grooves and variations just adding to interest but never weakening forward movement.  Drums obviously double pedal as in metal and bass dirty and distorted and big as and sometimes loudly bowed, even to a bowed solo. Kamasi, especially, played on that with long solos, sometimes dissonant, always yearning, screaming.  Perhaps keys was similar but he was hard to hear other than in one Moog solo.  Then the essential jazz structure was evident: head/melody, perhaps a limited chord structure or just a groove as base for lengthy solos.  DJ Battlecat could add to the rhythmic plays electronically, all turntabling or desk effects, or acoustically on percussion and singer Patrice could offer some words sometimes or perhaps a unison with a melody, reminiscent of overlays of vocals on albums, and I think just one balladic song, but mostly offering visual presence to the groove.  Bass did that too, although he was far more muscular in his movements.  The others mostly perused while not soloing or accompanying.  The front line of three - Kamasi tenor sometimes piano; his father Rickey soprano or flute; Ryan trombone - defined the melodies and that was a lovely sound over the driving grooves.  There was a pleasant vibe from the band, too, from Kamasi's chatter and interested phone videos and pics of the audience to end and Patrice's gentle interpretations in dance.  It felt like good will.  Quite a few around me (me too) were moving to this music.  And that lovely sense of inviting melody that Kamasi plays with in heads before his strident, raucous solos.  His albums are far more obscure, less obviously thus structured given layers of plays and embellishments that don't go live, although there were some recordings on stage, not least to introduce a particularly busy first few bars of his daughter's invention, Asha the first, and quite strangely a rap later in the piece.  We were pretty close to stage so saw well but not too sure of the sound, losing voice and keys mostly.  Maybe it was our location, although there was a central line array for the "dance" floor.  But so be it. And being a modern event we were standing for 3 hours and sadly not really meeting too many of the locals.  I heard a suggestion of an arts crowd with a wide range of ages.  Maybe.  But a great gig and very much enjoyed and not nearly as difficult to attend despite cold and wind and the long drive to Sydney and back.  A very worthy gig for CJ's 3,000th post. 

Kamasi Washington (tenor, piano) led his octet West Cost Get Down with Rickey Washington (soprano, flute), Ryan Porter (trombone), Patrice Quinn (vox), DJ Battlecat (DJ, percussion), Brandon Coleman (keyboards), Miles Mosley (bass) and Tony Austin (drums) at Carriageworks, Sydney.

This is CJBlog post no. 3,000