There’s a regular migration to Hippo after the ANU Band Room gigs and I joined in this time. Andy Campbell was back from Sydney to play with Mark Sutton and a visiting Sydney bassist, Dave Groves. In the end, Matt Handel sat in on tenor sax. This is a chatty and clinking cocktail bar with clacking high heels so the jazz is partly ignored but also energetic and imposing. I only recognised Body and soul. If they were reading Andy’s originals, then I was impressed by the reading and the writing. I was there to catch Dave’s bass playing, and it was impressive. Good solid grooves with Mark but most interesting were his solos that were voiced in a sax-like idiom: fast and nicely fluid with call and response melodies and sequences and easy playing up into thumb positions. The others were no slouches of course. I was impressed by Andy’s increasingly identifiable musical personality, Matt is always a pleasure (even if I think I still prefer his alto) and Mark is just an established local master. Very nice and energetic playing all round. But as I write this, I’m thinking of the changes at the ANU School of Music. What did the Jazz school ever do for us? Well … this and more. Andy Campbell (guitar) led a quartet at Hippo with Matt Handel (tenor), Dave Groves (bass) and Mark Sutton (drums).
Showing posts with label Dave Groves. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Dave Groves. Show all posts
07 May 2012
Comping to clinking and clacking
There’s a regular migration to Hippo after the ANU Band Room gigs and I joined in this time. Andy Campbell was back from Sydney to play with Mark Sutton and a visiting Sydney bassist, Dave Groves. In the end, Matt Handel sat in on tenor sax. This is a chatty and clinking cocktail bar with clacking high heels so the jazz is partly ignored but also energetic and imposing. I only recognised Body and soul. If they were reading Andy’s originals, then I was impressed by the reading and the writing. I was there to catch Dave’s bass playing, and it was impressive. Good solid grooves with Mark but most interesting were his solos that were voiced in a sax-like idiom: fast and nicely fluid with call and response melodies and sequences and easy playing up into thumb positions. The others were no slouches of course. I was impressed by Andy’s increasingly identifiable musical personality, Matt is always a pleasure (even if I think I still prefer his alto) and Mark is just an established local master. Very nice and energetic playing all round. But as I write this, I’m thinking of the changes at the ANU School of Music. What did the Jazz school ever do for us? Well … this and more. Andy Campbell (guitar) led a quartet at Hippo with Matt Handel (tenor), Dave Groves (bass) and Mark Sutton (drums).
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