Where samba's from

[Ignore all this discussion on samba: Gary was speaking of Salsa - see his post below. My apologies, but a great concert none-the-less / Ed.]. Gary France gave one answer: from a tune on Cal Tjader's album called Soul Sauce, thus Samba. Wikipedia locates it in NYC in the 1960s and mentions Johnny Pacheco, Celia Cruz, Ray Barretto, Rubén Blades, Eddie Palmieri and others, but not Cal Tjader. My trivia session the other day said Brazil and I knew that was wrong. Whatever, it's fabulous music that moves the body and soul and sounds a million and Gary led a CD release concert dedicated to Cal Tjader the other night at the ANU Pop-Up Bar. The band is called Vibellicious and it is delicious, on the CD and live. This was his Canberra version with Perth visitor Daniel Susjnar and our best locals, John and Miro, Hugh and Brendan and Sinuhé. The CD is mostly Gary with Daniel's Perth band but features one track with this Canberra collection. The grooves were to die for, the solos were inventive and modern, the feel was luscious and infectious. That mix of percussion is sensuous: deep complexity made from mixed syncopations. The regularity is also insinuating, like Hugh's montuno or Brendan's solo passage that was just a busy but angular bass clave. But then there were solos that thrilled with variation, again Hugh with right hand rhythms and left hand melodies and floating chords or Brendan's rapturous blow. And the front liners, John and Miro, snapping melodies and responses and passing solo passages or just laying down ecstatic runs and leader Gary comping with two or four mallets on vibes behind or soloing out front with immense authority. Then a percussion solo with swaps from drums to congas, snapping, chatting, and that sense to time and accent from Daniel's splash cymbal. All delightful for some joyful music. Perhaps too loud over that PA and sometimes not too clear and the piano wasn't great, but what a great night! A blow out.

Vibellicious was led by Gary France (vibes) with Daniel Susnjar (drums), Sinuhé Pacheco (congas), Brendan Clarke (bass), Hugh Barrett (piano), John Mackey (tenor) and Miroslav Bukovsky (trumpet).

Various twentieth centuries

Vista Needle is a new project of Steve Barry and Daniel Susnjar with Tom Botting on bass and they are touring the Eastern states. The spiel talks of influences of Paul Hindemith and Federico Mompou so I was a bit surprised to hear them warm up, before the gig, with a supremely delicate take on a sentimental standard, When I fall in love. But what pleasure. Then the first tune of the night was another standard, Everything I love. Both played with piano trio delicacy, great awareness and subtlety and flexibility by Tom, wonderful inventiveness by Steve, enjoying the sound of notes, then playing a flurry or colouring with all manner of chordal or scalar fills, and Daniel present but quiet and playing time and, at times, playing with time. I was thinking this is more Bill Evans than Hindemith. But the concert was mainly originals and some takes on the early 2th century composers. Early on, a Hindemith fugue that was a minimal, single chord, groove with a dotted crochet feel. It sat with slight variation, more promising than delivering after the clarity of a few standards. There were two pieces by Catalan Mompou (not known to me), both from his Musica Colada (=Silent music). No.3 was given a Monk treatment with various time signatures. No.15 was more flowing, haunting dissonant melody. But VN is also a vehicle for originals. Steve provided three. One with that common title, Untitled, started quietly in three with finger percussion from Daniel, then developed to a strong middle with deep syncopation and determined solo from Tom and a gloriously modern-styled piano solo. I'm thinking this is bliss. Then Steve's At the moment (Organic melody no.1), which was much more open, time indeterminate, free-styled. Daniel provided a tune with dedication to several renowned Catalans (Mompou, Dali and Gaudi were mentioned), more a pensive mid-tempo jazz tune. Another great bass solo and Daniel's first of two drum solos. I heard both his solos as intelligent dissection of time within a neatly overarching development to climax. Then a final tune by Steve, great solos all round, testing syncopations and unison lines, driving in 4 but heavily subdivided. So, really inventive and capable playing all around and some really effective originals and those explorations of Hindemith and Mompou. A fascinating and deeply satisfying concert.

Vista Needle is a project of Steve Barry (piano) and Daniel Susnjar (drums) with Tom Botting (bass). They played at the Band Room at ANU.

Out of the West

It was cold outside, and it must have kept most punters away. Too bad, because the Tom O’Halloran Trio were hot – complex playing, lots of fast unison lines, interesting solo passages but supported with the fluidity of a band of equals who bounce freely off eachother. The members of the trio have been dispersed recently (Tom in Sydney, Peter in Perth and I think Daniel was in Hawaii) but they had the feeling of musicians who know eachother well. Their history includes a few CDs and lots of playing together in Perth. The tour must have refreshed their musical relationships, and it was impressive.

This is a modern piano trio, so there’s lots of space for each member to perform. Style-wise, I heard 1960s Corea several times, but there was a fabulously exciting and authentic latin dedicated to Gonzalo Rubalcaba and some piano mates were hearing a range of influences. The first tunes felt calm and undemonstrative in their steadiness and ease of performance, but there was still an underlying liveliness and intensity. By the time of the latin at the end of the night, the masterful control and musical freedom was still there, but the band was hotter, the volume was louder, the interactions were more intense and sharper. But it was always the intense interaction and the group performance. Also impressive was the composition. The tunes were presumably all originals. There were a few simpler chordal structures, but more common were the devilishly difficult unison lines from piano and bass, and the complex ostinatos behind drum solos that must have been written. And no charts on show, so the tunes were all well assimilated.

Tom was easy and inventive in his improvisations, ranging widely, sometimes toying with the keys with scalar runs, sometimes playing the most complex of extended chords, but responsive and malleable in his statements. I noticed how he watched the others, obviously comfortable without needing to watch the keyboard. Peter was accurate in intonation and sharp with melody lines right into the thumb positions. I noticed some beautifully formed classic handshapes on the fingerboard (bass players stretch the index finger up from the other fingers which are perpendicular to the fingerboard, although jazz players are more lax than classical). There were some excellent solos with lines that were considered and not too fast. Daniel was busy, supporting but also highlighting or contrasting with sharp snaps or soft cymbals and rich dynamics. He also showed a readiness to play across and through the beats: I was stunned by some sustained polyrhythms. His solos seemed to become more common later in the night, culminating with a beauty on the final latin tune with snare off for a timbale effect. The small audience may have been a bit dispiriting and Tom was easy-going although not particularly talkative, but there was good cheer in the band, and they was happy to chat in the breaks. So, it was serious playing and a seriously impressive performance, but a casual event. It was a beauty; too bad if you missed it. Tom O’Halloran (piano) played with Peter Jeavons (bass) and Daniel Susnjar (drums).