Jacam and Paul

Jacam Manricks with Paul Grabowsky, Alex Boneham and Andrew Gander. It was the ultimate gig of the Canberra Jazz Project for 2013. Ultimate in several ways: an intellectual treat with virtuosic chops. There’s a spot of Paul Grabowski’s album, Tales of time and space, where, at the end of the blaster, Tailfin, Branford Marsalis exclaims “Great Caesar’s ghost”. That’s what this gig felt like. This was a stunner and the skills were top class; worthy of wooing them anywhere. Jacam, with his lithe, fluid compositions that sit so nicely and the perfect chops with the flowing streams of notes, mostly smooth, strained on call, always lucid in intent and punctuation. This time with Paul Grabowsky, endlessly inventive and a fine foil to Jacam. I wondered if sometimes this overflowing creativity clashed, but to be overwhelmed with skills like this is something I’ll suffer. Alex, as always, strong and supportive and with a sweet solo of 10ths and 13ths and the like, relatively undemonstrative but neatly intoned and careful and studied. Andrew Gander’s tumpy toms and kick, tuned low and throbbing (I’ve noticed this recently with other drummers and I guess it’s a new fad around Sydney or maybe wider) with neat upper cymbals register. I melted from some perfect 4-bar leadin fills in the final tune, Thread, which was premiered in this format. I mostly recognised Jacam’s tunes from his 3 CDs. Ondina (borrowed from a flute etude); Forbidden nuts & fruit, a slow punctuated 4/4 leading into a bass solos and then that busy interplay of piano and sax; Cry from Cloud 9; Mood swing with Alex bravely reading devilish syncopations; Cloud 9 in 5/4. These are interesting compositions: easily syncopated, fitting for Jacam’s melliflous tones and varied chordal movements, undemonstratively virtuoisic. Jacam’s technique is almost too perfect: rapidly repeating phrases that sit so unforced and dissolve into whatever that follows. He’s the son of two classical orchestral musicians, so I guess it’s that technique that shows. Paul hit me in much the same way. I noticed one spot where he was not expecting the solo but switched it on at will, all structured and inventive from the first note. Masterful stuff. This is just Canberra, but this could be anywhere. Memorable.

Jacam Manricks (alto) lead a quartet with Paul Grabowsky (piano), Alex Boneham (bass) and Andrew Gander (drums).

Out of South Africa

Mark Ginsburg imposes a gentle, respectful ambience and his music is the same. I asked Geoff his impressions and he mentioned melody. I’d been thinking the same thing. This was musicianship respectful of composition. The tunes determined the playing, not the other way around. Nothing seemed superfluous. Mark himself had a beautifully rounded tone of both tenor and soprano sax. You could luxuriate in tone alone, but there was also just lovely melody and solos that spelt out more melody. This is lyricism. His band felt the same: quiet, purposeful. That’s not to say there were no burners. I could hear Coltrane in Outside in, which Mark wrote after a McCoy Tyner concert. Later in the night, he offered the choice of introspection or a burner and seemed to want to play the quieter tune. In the end, he played both and they both were luscious. His background is South African and Jewish. They are obvious influences. He spoke of growing up in Cape Town, of apartheid, of blacks playing in the wings with white musicians because it was illegal for them to play on the same stage together. He played South African standards and Abdullah Ibrahim / Dollar Brand. And his masters thesis was on influences of Jewish cantorial singing on jazz improvisation. So I heard the influences in melody, not harmony or rhythm (despite African drums) or colour. The others sat nicely with this. Greg Coffin comped with chords and filled niches with lively right hand fills. I heard e-piano sound and a melodic sense from the Corea songbook. His soloing was post-bop left hand chording, right hand sax-like lines, with that nice turn of melody but also with a readiness to dissolve the bars and lose the one. He was partnered in this by Andrew Gander who pushed the excitement level with busy snapping snare and chunky little rolls. I noticed both of them, at one time or other, leading away from the beat. Not lost, though. It’s exciting as long as you hold your nerve and your mind in check to sit back to the groove. They did, several times. The bass is important here. It’s like an inversion, so when others loosen up, the bass holds true and straight. When it’s happening, it feels like the quote “Things fall apart; the centre cannot hold”, but Karl Dunnicliff’s centre held. He was consistently strong and implicit, stating the tunes, holding a line. This is not to say uninteresting; it’s necessary and strong. When all was more together, with more time and space and less bewilderment, he took some relatively undemonstrative but expressive solos, especially as they warmed to the second half.

There aren’t too many venues for interesting modern jazz bands, and there are lots of bands, so this outfit doesn’t play often. It was obvious how they settled to be sharper and more together in the second half. It’s something only frequency of playing together can achieve. The result is happy musicians and audience after a gig and this was one. Such a respectful presence with lyrical music and avid playing. Great stuff.

Mark Ginsburg (tenor, soprano saxes) led a quartet at the Gods with Greg Coffin (piano), Karl Dunnicliff (bass) and Andrew Gander (drums).

Ben's boys back

Ben Winkelman returned to Hippo last night with new sidemen, a new CD and new tunes, many with a new Spanish twist. The energetic piano trio style was still there. So were some devilishly difficult rhythms. I compared notes with someone from the jazz school in the break. We were trying to count the time signature and identify the bar breaks, but he was having as much difficulty as me. The counts were unusual, continually changing, and there were unexpected hits by various band members at odd times. The range of styles was also there, with stride and marches and tangos and Euro film music and swing and more merging throughout the night. I wasn’t surprised to hear Michel Camilo, Chick Corea, even Jelly Roll Morton in the music, but I was taken aback by Arthur Lyman and Tchaikovsky. The soloing variously matched the tune, or provided modern rewrites for the mainstream or traditional styles. There was a restrained explosiveness at times, and solos which held, searchingly, behind the beat. There was a new Spanish element – not a surprise given the new CD is called Spanish tinge. So it was Corea I was hearing in there, but a more dissonant version and not so exorbitantly fluent. That’s not to say this wasn’t fluent - it sure was! Ben seems to drop into styles at a whim. Big chordal solos, playing out, trad arpeggios, orchestral complexity, warped timing, it was all there. Given that I also heard that Tchaikovsky at the end of one tune, I assume there’s classical training in there too.

But this was a team, and the rhythm players also excelled. They shared solos on pretty much every tune, held challenging rhythms and often enough departed hugely from the rhythm yet it all held together. Sam held these complex rhythms with continual improvisation, played some very interesting contrasting melodic work (these were interesting compositions) and soloed with panache and lots of high register thumb positions. Andrew was blissful with a constantly rich interplay over the tunes, and blaringly intense soloing despite a deceptive lightness of touch.

I was interested but not surprised by the popularity of these diverse styles. There was a constant hubbub at Hippo’s, not just hardcore listeners. But I noticed when two chatting women in front of me suddenly started gyrating when Ben started up in a Jelly Roll style. And as any entertainer knows, once they start moving, you’re on a winner, so Michel Camilo and even that Arthur Lyman with class went down a treat. So it was a wonderfully intelligent and interesting night.

Ben Winkelman Trio were Ben Winkelman (piano), Sam Anning (bass) and Andrew Gander (drums).

Ben Winkelman's website