It was with some excitement that I caught this gig. Aziza had performed at the Melbourne International Jazz Festival and were bypassing Canberra, as they do, but not Adelaide and I happened to be in town. Great! Dave Holland, Chris Potter, Lionel Loueke, Eric Harland! I'd seen them all before but not in this precise format, and let's face it, I am a bassist so Dave Holland with his 3 albums with Miles and more is significant. And Chris Potter is a blast. And they were playing at Her Majesty's, renovated over recent years but I hadn't visited since the '70s. I remember Her Maj visits for Jan Akerman and Focus, Stan Getz, my third time seeing the musical Hair (after London and Sydney), probably more. In those days the original third tier of seating, the Gods, had been removed. Now it's restored, the sound and lighting is great, the feel is comfy. Given limited space, the foyers are now smaller and the bars and loos are oddly removed, but OK, but the feel inside the performance space is surprisingly intimate. Just four guys on stage, and me located above the stalls and under the overhanging Gods, but it was good and even felt quite intimate. So how was the band? I both was filled with admiration and somewhat unexcited. The playing was great and the tunes were supremely complex with unison passages abounding, all odd times and difficult counts. In some ways they were just so good you didn't feel the difficulty. Chris Potter is just a master, twisting lines but never losing the effect or the emotion, ever solid and reliable, despite mammoth outings on tenor and bass clarinet. There were plenty of solo-solos by all, too, perhaps mostly for each composer's tune. So Dave Holland introduced a few, Lionel Loueke perhaps another 2, Eric Harland and CP too. Dave Holland was surprisingly steady and ordered, but that's his style. Again, nut stunning outings but effective and supportive, dotted rhythms, perhaps not one walk other than as a little fill, but ever varied in lines, interesting scalar note choices varying pitch and colours but only limited time in the thumb positions. But again, always solid and reliable. Great tone, too, little bottom end, plenty of middle, always clear and present. Apparently Spirocore and Underwood and more (from Google AI): interestingly historic. Lionel Loueke was intriguing with voice and guitar, quite unusual to my ear in soloing and wonderfully leading in chordal accompaniment. I was most pleased earlier on with some exploratory chords to which Chris responded wonderfully effectively. But his tone seemed somewhat ill-defined to me, perhaps given my location. I didn't follow Eric Harland too closely, but then heard some sparse intrusive metallic hits from the right side of the PA that reminded me to listen. Delicious, responsive, talkative playing and several lovely solos over ostinatos (which I like). I read John Shand (Sydney Morning Herald, 30 Oct 2026, p.17) today reviewing the Sydney gig and he spoke of double snares, double hi-hats and double floor toms sitting on the floor and of an "everchanging nature of his kit". And of "collaborative genius". Interestingly, I heard from some local musos in the know that he'd been using cymbals from a local Adelaide maker. Just confirmation. We heard the names of most or all tunes and the composer, all members composing something of the ~8 tunes on the night, to play a 1hr45m set: obviously well timed given the end spot on 9.30pm. I looked up Aziza later on Spotify and they seem to have just one album with just these tunes so presumably they were touring this album. I look forward to revisiting the clever and competent writing and performance, although it's never like the live outing. It's strange how such immensely capable musicians can leave you just excited but not so much overwhelmed. I think because they are just so, so good and maybe also that I am leaning to voice and lyrics and despite Lionel Loueke's voice, I doubt there were lyrics to chase up. Maybe there are; I will investigate. But that Chris Potter plays another devastating line just becomes an expectation and that Dave Holland plays those everchanging, unpretentious and totally fitting bass parts is just what you come to expect. Strange that!
Aziza performed at Her Majesty's Theatre, Adelaide. Aziza comprises Dave Holland (bass), Chris Potter (tenor, bass clarinet), Lionel Loueke (guitar, vocals) and Eric Harland (drums).
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