Late starter

I was relaxed in arriving at the Orange Winter Jazz festival this year.  My first concert was the last few mid-afternoon tunes of Bungarribee.  It's a project of Gary Daley of The catholics fame.  He's collected a quartet of odd combination to play a style of chamber music influenced by jazz and classical and more.  How's this for a format: piano/accordion, various winds, cello and drums.  The names are notable: Gary with Paul Cutlan, Oliver miller and Chloe Kim.  I came in to music soft, meditative and unexpected and bass clarinet solo.  Then to finish they started with free piano-based introduction leading to a gentle and pretty 4/4 with wind melody.  This was in Holy Trinity, a cathedral with considerably live sound, pretty obvious for this performance.  Wish I'd heard more.  Then off to Chloe Kim playing a solo outing in the Uniting Church which I remember as my favourite acoustic from last year.   Chloe had played a concert of 100hours solo drums over 10 days at MONA.  She subsequently selected 28 themes and improvised as a CD.  This was her first live performance of those selected themes, 1 minute allocated to each.  I doubt I've ever attended a solo drums concert but this entranced especially with the themes listed, like Cymbal peak or Dance! or Push and pull or Garbage truck.  It was Garbage truck that first got me.  Chloe had seard a garbage truck outside during her 100 hours and took the constant pulse as an improvisatorial prompt.  You could hear that truck.  Not all the themes were so clear but they were intriguing and honest and presented with connection.  Stunningly good.  

 
Bungarribee comprises Gary Daley (piano, accordion), Paul Cutlan (flutes, saxes, clarinets), Oliver Miller (cello, electronics) and Chloe Kim (drums, percussion).  Chloe Kim (drums, percussion) played a solo gig at the Uniting Church.

OWJF2022-5

And then to finish day 1 I attended two concerts and stayed throughout.  First up was The Vampires.  They are favourites from some time back and no less today even if they started a little wary on the day.  They've changed and interestingly, as drummer and sole original member on the night, Alex, said, there are many Vampires out there.  This time three of four were unavailable, two overseas and one with Covid.  Noel was new to me on bass but apparently he'd filled this role often enough and looked comfortable.  Tom had some warning of his call so seemed pretty prepared.  Tessie had very little, being a last minute Covid cover.  So it was a tentative start but by the end they were blowing with relative comfort and great joy.  The Vampires are like that.  The grooves are steady and lively and even mesmerising and the heads are genuinely attractive melodies with playful twists.  Tom played with effects which gave a studio feel.  I much enjoyed the interplay of Tom and Tessie and their capable listening on collective improvs.  Collective improvs are not too common, being  trad-styled, but I like the sense of danger and throwing caution to the wind and the challenge to players.  I also enjoyed how Noel approached his solos, not so much creating melody or counterpoint, but exploring and emboldening the rhythm.  Nice playing, increasingly settled and that sense of playfulness that I enjoy from The Vampires.

And finally, The catholics.  Note the spelling, of course.   Here's another band that's been around for yonks.  And another band that entertains, playing attractive tunes with virtuosity but keeping the pleasure in the listening.  But I was somewhat surprised by a meditative, pensive band this night, less excitable than I remember.  Just gloriously soft and pensive to start, although they wound up to Wes Montgomery later.  Hilary Geddes was sitting in and her inventiveness and versatility were self-evident.  Sandy was her eternal joyous and virtuosic self as is ever our venerable James on trom.   Fabian and Hamish lay a more rich rhythmic underlay given drums and percussion and it's always pleasant and strange that more don't take this path.  I guess there's more to pay, though.  Gary mostly played accordion but took to the grand piano beside him occasionally.  Lloyd oversaw the group as host and bassist.  There is always joy in a catholics concert and this also had a pensive side.  Lovely.

The Vampires and The catholics played at the inaugural Orange Winter Jazz Festival.  The Vampires comprised Alex Masso (drums), Noel Mason (bass), Tom Avgelikos (trumpet) and Tessie Overmeyer (alto).  The catholics comprised Lloyd Swanton (bass), Sandy Evans (tenor, soprano sax), James Greening (trombone), Gary Daley (piano, accordion),  Hilary Geddes (guitar), Fabian Hevia (percussion) and Hamish Stuart (drums).

Real adults

James Greening and mates came to Canberra and it was obvious the adults were in charge for the night, at least at the Gods. This was Greening from Ear to Ear. All light and jovial but supremely skilled and in command and well prepared. I wrote notes: respectful of tradition, deeply skilled, open, unpretentious, respectful, communicative (everything other Canberra- visiting adult-pretenders are not). But back to the music. The Gods is undergoing renovation, so we were in the Arts Centre foyer. More square, damply reverberant but nicely fat sounding with the audience. The band was close in one corner. This was a 7-piece band with three horns in front and the writing showed, as did the excellent musicianship. These guys are top of their trade and the harmonies were blissful and the grooves sat with precision, unstressed, seemingly so easy, but that's the skill showing. Playing music as it should be played is deceptively easy, but it takes years to master. These guys had it. These are Sydney masters and I was entranced. The first set was James' Tam O'Shanter Tales suite. He wrote the suite while in Tasmania and it's dedicated to the musical influences in his life: his family, Monk, his wife, Jackie Orszaski, with some less obvious insertions, like Parallel lines (a fabulous little big band chart) and Hazara (of more political relevance). I was stunned by the ease of interaction and perfection of the harmonised sound. These were not easy charts, but always played with easily but sweetly. Then the solos. I loved the Hammond tone from Gary and the fabulously twisting percussion from Fabian. James' solos were perfectly formed and Andrew's were a lesson in melodic statement, embellishment and development. I have admired his sax playing for years and I learnt something here on the night. Paul was more abstruse, less a matter of formal development than an emotional journey. Steve Elphick was sitting in for Brett Hirst and set some firm grooves and was nicely considered in his solo. I don't remember Hamish taking a solo, but every bar was rich with variation and connection. Another lesson. The second set was a few tunes from band members. Fabian played guitar on Domingo, simple descending chord changes over a medium tempo 4 with an Euro street vibe imparted by lovely accordion from Gary. Andrew's 22 degree halo featured Fabian's percussion solo that floored me with its delayed beats and falling rhythmic complexity (Latin training required). Then another then Lowdown, again from Andrew, funky with an odd count. There were changes of instruments: Rhodes - Hammond - accordion, or bass clarinet - tenor, or alto - baritone, or trombone - sousaphone - pocket trumpet (that's an odd combination and quite a challenge of sizes) or double - electric bass. All fabulously played, tight as, perfectly harmonised and blended. This was fabulous and about as good as it gets.

Greening from Ear to Ear played at the Gods. GfE2E are James Greening (trombone, sousaphone, pocket trumpet), Andrew Robson (alto, baritone sax), Paul Cutlan (tenor sax, bass clarinet), Gary Daley (accordion, organ, piano), Steve Elphick (bass), Fabian Hevia (percussion, guitar) and Hamish Stuart (drums).