A century of jazz women

I'd booked this one on our side o town for an easy park for Mum and me.  We arrived to find a delightful casual but attractive bar with a generous outdoor space out back and what seemed like 1800s storehouses.  The wine bar was Ern Malley's with a copy of the classic painting and a claimed establishment date of 1943.  Sounds about right; another hoax?  But a lovely spot, dark and decorated.  This fringe show was Offbeat with the Molly Silvy quintet celebrating decades of female jazz singers from 1920-2020.  We arrived to chat with Molly's grandmother at the door then guitar and drums at the bar.  The band comprised students, ~second year of jazz degrees at the Con, Molly on vocals with guitar, tenor, bass and drums. Molly introduced various singers and interestingly, styles and techniques, and not just the obvious and not exactly each decade.  Ella and Esperanza (Spalding) were mentioned in the description.  Neither ended up on the program, but we did get some classics, some interpretations, a few female composers and daring choices, in all a fascinating outing.  No more blues / Carmen McCrae; These foolish things / Billie Holliday; Green Dolphin Street / Sarah Vaughan; all with intros and chatter of vocal ranges, twang, belt and cry, jazz vocal techniques.  And some more obscure finds: Bernie's tune / Tierney Sutton; Lawns / Carla Bley as influenced by Kristen Berardi; Colours of my dreams / Judy Bailey arranged with borrowings from Olivia Chindamo.  Then an encore which they didn't have ready, but an excellent choice: Centerpiece / Lambert, Hendricks and Ross.  It's still going round in my head.  Some nice, capable, informed, young playing.  Molly did an inviting job as the central expositor and I particularly noted Daniel on very fluent bass and Johnny on a responsive, subtle, aptly dissonant tenor.  The audio balance wasn't perfect but the respect and ongoing studiousness was clear and propitious.  A very promising next generation.  But it was not just the music and the fabulous bar setting and mild evening.  We met and chatted as one does at a jazz gig and happened to sit with a committee member of the Southern Jazz Club.  So small world; small venue.  And to end, I was not alone in praising bassist Daniel's recent haircut that looked all the world like early Paul McCartney: nothing better for a bassist!  Lovely night and well done by the  band.

Molly Silby (vocals) led her quintet with Johnny Turner (tenor), Hugo Evans (guitar), Daniel Cavallaro (bass) and Micah Capin (drums) at the Ern Malley Bar for the Adelaide Festival Fringe.

Works on walls

I had some time to kill but it was in the morning.  Pre-noon is not a time for concerts or theatre but it is for art on walls.  I chose two exhibitions that sounded interesting and were likely parkable.  First up was The Mill, a place of 70+ artist studios plus gallery, theatre space, a recording studio.  Welcomed by a friendly staffer and intrigued by a few displays and looks into at least one impressive studio.  Juliane Brandt's was the studio with deliciously detailed small sculpted heads with occasional bodies.  Hasta la raiz (to the roots) was a photographic exhibition by Carmen Alcado, Spanish migrant of ~4 years, with various complex images referring to her roots, the implications of the migrant experience for family and personal history.  Nadia Rasulova merges impressions of handwoven Uzbek ikat with the colours and movement of Australian and Central Asian landscapes.  Christian Best display was 36 of a planned 1,000 photos of friends, acquaintances, housemates and  more, to create a story of community and friendship around the world.  Then off to another galley, the Pepper Street Arts Centre, this supported by Burnside Council, near the old Penfolds winery, up Magill Road, in an intriguing area of old cottages, presumably serving the earlier, then much more extensive winery.  The exhibition as Waste to Wonder, "an exhibition of artwork with a recycled and upcycled theme" by ~40 local artist working in textile, sculpture, mixed media, more.  Some delightful, some jovial, many quirky, inviting, even exciting.

Carmen Alcado, Nadia Rasulova and Christian Best exhibited at The Mill.  Amongst many, Juliane Brandt held a studio at The Mill.  Various artist displayed at the Pepper Street Arts Centre.

Chelsea NYC

I'm in Adelaide and it's for family not for festival but I collected a string of related promotional publications and I was stunned.  I shouldn't have been.  I'd seen last year's and it was of a similar size, but it still overwhelms.  1,500+ shows from 8,000+ performers at 500+ venues.  And there's the Festival itself too, even if no Writers' fest this year after a stunning and newsworthy misjudgment.  A friend had seen an 8-hour drama performance a the festival called Gatz (with breaks!!) from NYC about an office where the Great Gatsby story happens around a reader. She spoke well of that.  I just looked for a few odd Fringe shows to give me some exposure and that I could fit with family matters.  The first was See me at the Chelsea Hotel, ~90mins of songs by once residents at the famed artist hotel in NYC and telling some stories around the tunes.  All performed by an a capella vocal trio, two females, one male, and a folkish duo of male and female with guitars and ukelele.  The duo was Tin Can Alley; the trio was Heaven Knows Acapella.  TCA were more raw, louder, even reaching to Hendrix on dirty strat and then Bob Marley-fied.  Fun.  HKA was sweeter, more precise rather than jovially raucous, wonderfully accurate in harmonies and voices.  I did like that.  Sometimes the five played together; sometimes each group played individually or one sat in with the other: the mix could be informal.  But the story was intriguing and spoke of a prime artistic location and famed names.  Names going back to Mark Twain, Dylan Thomas and through a string of others, some mentioned here, some not.  Dylan, Mapplethorpe, Hendrix, Joni Mitchell, Nico, Arthur C Clarke and Stanley Kubrick, Mapplethorpe and Warhol.  We heard songs and/or stories from many of these as well as The Band, The Ramones, Janis Joplin, Patti Smith, Tom Waits, all associated with this hotel. There's much more (Corea, Spungen / Sid Vicious, Carole King) that didn't appear on the day.  Suffice to say this was worthy of a listen and inviting to a further read (Inside thee dream palace / Sherill Tippins was suggested).

Tin Can Alley and Heaven Knows Acapella performed Meet us at the Chelsea Hotel for the Adelaide Fringe Festival.  TCA comprised Jacquy Stoddart (vocals, ukelele) and Cliff Stoddart (vocals, guitar).  HKA comprised Jayne Hewitson, Meredith Mardun and Christopher Koop (vocals, variously guitar and melodion).