Hot and cold (Moruya 1)

A cold front came in on Friday afternoon. Short sleeves and t-shirts were in abundance and lots of musos were chilled out. Then Sunday morning was hot and the Canberra inlanders disappeared to the beach for a spot of sand and sunstroke. Changeable weather perhaps, but inside was pleasant, and the music was hot, or at least warm, so the weather havoc was easily forgotten.

There were a few name bands at Moruya, but this is really an outing for the Jazz School, and somewhat like a family get-together. Especially given that, for some, it was the final fling for the year, or even for the degree. So there was chatter and commitment throughout.

As for the featured acts, Mike Hallam is a regular and he was back, but perhaps the most notable name was Catherine Hunter. She’s an ex-Canberran and Jazz School graduate who’s made a name for herself in Sydney. In her band were two Hauptmans (Zoe on bass, and James on drums) who have a similar history, so this just continued the Jazz School theme. And there were the Jazz School faculty, who are names in their own right: Eric Ajaye, John Mackey, Miroslav Bukovsky, James Greening, Col Hoorweg.

As always, the Jazz School’s large ensembles were there. For some, it was the last performance in the current line-up. These bands are reformed annually with auditions early in the new year. The Recording Ensemble is playing Wangaratta, but the Commercial and Big Band were perhaps doing their last performances. I missed the Big Band, but the Commercial played a great last set to see off several of the front line from their studies.

I heard lots of music, but also missed lots, because of conflicts, especially as I played 6 sets over the weekend, and 5 on Saturday, which was the major day of the festival, but here are some of my recollections.

How could you not be interested in a band called Erogenous Tones? ET are a piano trio with several stalwarts of the Jazz students: Ben Foster (piano), Hannah James (bass), Ed Rodrigues (drums). Ben’s a lovely player, with a rich, calm approach, and very satisfying chordal work and long, richly textured solo lines. Hannah is playing better than ever, with a sweet tone and thoughtful, true solos. Ed is always busy but subtle, and richly interpretive. These are students who play together frequently rather than a standing band. The set included some known standards (Miles’ Solar and Nardis, How deep is the ocean, even C-Jam blues), but also some lesser known ones (at least for me: Elsa as played by Bill Evans and Lullaby of the leaves) and some originals. This was the first band I caught and it set a high standard. Congrats for an excellent set, and congrats to Ed for a very appealing name!

Ivory Hunter is Daniel Hunter’s outfit for presenting original music. IH is Daniel Hunter (guitar), Yen Nguyen (drums), Kane Watters (bass). The program includes Ben Foster, so maybe this is not the normal, full band. This was largely guitar-instrumental, in a US West Coast style, perhaps reminiscent of Pat Metheny with an Eagles influence? The Eagles? There seemed to be a country twang, with fully strummed chords merged with sophisticated, effected guitar lines. Nice to hear some original music. It seems to have been a theme recently, with several people talking to me of making new music. It’s a good development. On this theme, Miroslav Bukovsky highlighted that pieces don’t need to be permanent. They can be experiments that work or not, but it’s important to originate. He’s a good example, having recently written a piece called Tilba for Carl Morgan’s home town. The message seems to be: just do it, and if you don’t like it, just do another.

Red Barron was comprised of some of the next generation of students, along with some older stalwarts. RB were Matt Sykes (drums), Matt Lustri (guitar), Chris Pound (bass), James LeFevre (sax), Jonno Apps (trumpet). They played a psychedelic style: soundscapes, heavy and successful guitar effects, mesmerically rhythmic. It seems like the ‘60s are fashionable again, for this was music with references to that era, and two of the three musicians even sported afro haircuts. (Obviously it’s a time to revisit, with Iraq as our new Vietnam). Again, this was original music and it was impressively played. Chris is obviously a new bassist to note. I praised him with the Recording Ensemble recently. He was equally impressive here, and also got the gig with John Mackey on Saturday night. Matt S impressed me with several good compositions, including one that James Greening played at a concert at the Gods a few months back, as well as a great feeling for overlaying complex rhythms with subtly moving colours. Matt L was reliable and believable with pedals. Jazz players go light on effects; they can corrupt otherwise good solos. But Matt’s use was apposite and effective. Nice work. James and Jonno are strong, mature players and added complexity to the ‘60s theme.

Moruya 2

White Eagle on target again

White Eagle is always an anticipated outing. Usually, it’s a local band and an import. Both are interesting, often in vastly different ways. But they are always interesting. So, before I proceed, let me make a plug for WE. Don’t let the music die. Support White Eagle. It was not a big turnout last night. WE needs audience. Be there.

The local band for this latest event was one I’ve been awaiting, the Sally Greenaway Septet. It’s made up of very capable Jazz School graduates, but it was not this so much that interested me. What was interesting was the potential for original, richly orchestrated music, rather than hot blowing. We got quite a bit of blowing, too, but the sounds of a largish front line was the attraction. I was thinking of bands like Carla Bley’s or Dave Brubeck’s Octet. This is a band with multiple composers and comprises 7 players including a decent front line. Promising! We got Sally Greenaway and Jenna Cave, composers who impressed last year with their “Take it in colour” CD. Added to this were an original composition by Rob Lee and some covers of Stefon Harris, a favourite of Sally's.

On the night, the Septet comprised: Sally Greenaway (piano), Phill Jenkins (bass), Ben Braithwaite (drums), Jono Apps (trumpet, flugelhorn), Jenna Cave (alto, soprano sax), Alistair Clarke and Rob Lee (trombones). As you’d expect, the sound was frequently luscious. The clear, bell-like brass tones were bliss, most notably when the troms played with the softer flugel. The sounds were highlighted particularly on Sally’s compostion, Take a break, which featured the four horns twisting conterpoint lines with no rhythm backing. The tunes were mostly modern styles, but a final number used cut-time and sounded of early jazz. In all, 5 of 7 tunes were originals.

Solos were played all around. I was especially taken by Jonno, who just seems to improve his soloing with each performance that I hear. Both the troms did highly capable solos, but I must highlight Alistair’s playing on the night. He replaced Valdis Thoman at short notice, but you wouldn’t have known it. His reading was exceptional, and his solos lively and true. There were impressive solos from Sally and Phill, and I especially liked Ben's effort with unison backing.

The import for the night was Arrow out of Sydney. They seemed to be missing one member (vibes) but the remaining players performed brilliantly. I understood why when I noted the names, well known in the JazzGroove scene. Unusually, Arrow is led by a drummer. But this is a drummer who composes, so he’s a more musical style of player. His compositions were cryptic in titling, modern and quite melodic in style, and often displayed rhythmic changes or twists which we should expect in a drummer’s charts. Just for the record, the tunes included titles like: The Russian, Obtuse, Solipsism, Big C reprise and the like. Wayland was clearer in its dedication to Sean Wayland, the Sydney pianist now resident in NY.

Arrow was Paul Derricott (drums), Mike Majkowski (bass), Simon Ferenci (trumpet) and Hugh Barrett (Rhodes/piano). Missing on the night was Dale Gorfinkel (vibes). Every player performed with excellence, and the band itself displayed that energy, commitment and passion that I’ll put down to a big city buzz. Whatever, it was hard and inspired from the top. I loved Simon’s long, sinuous and always correct solo lines. Great playing! Paul played with power and grace, pushing the tunes but also playing with considerable but subtle chops. A perfect match for Mike. Mike’s visited Canberra frequently over recent months. He’s always hugely committed and perfectly capable: an excellent rhythmic support, but also a capable soloist. Amusing at times too, as he strums or whacks or drums the bass. It’s not done for humour, of course, and often it forms a perfect, unexpected climax to his solos, but you can’t deny a certain tongue in cheek aspect. Hugh performed well too, variously octave solos or more mainstream, in our out of the harmony. This was occasionally quirky but mostly hard and committed modern jazz with an attractive melodic component. Very nice stuff.

So, another night that hits the mark at White Eagle. Let’s keep it going. Keep music live. Make a date with each White Eagle.

Niels & Greg

It was another excellent night at White Eagle. It’s really turning into a great performance outlet for intriguing, challenging modern jazz forms. This night had two parts. First was the launch of a CD by Niels Rosendahl, one of our most capable recent students and now an international export. And a very different performance in a groove-based, fusion style by Greg Stott’s band.

Niels Rosendahl presented the CD launch. The band was virtually the same as that which appears on the CD: Niels Rosendahl (tenor sax), Michael Azzopardi (piano), Eric Ajaye (bass) and Chris Thwaite (drums), joined on odd tunes by Anna Thompson (violin) and Jono Apps (trumpet). The CD adds Jonno’s brother, Luke Apps (trumpet) on one track. Niels played six tracks from the CD. They were all quality compositions, in a variety of modern acoustic jazz forms, ballad, latin, straightahead post-bop and the like.

Niels’ soloing displays a mature melodic intent these days. Solos seem to grow naturally from the underlying tune, rather than being forced over the top of a chord progression. It’s not surprising that his writing is also strong: melodic, unforced, satisfying. So his playing shows beautiful and fitting melodies with lovely use of intervals; flourishes and fast passages which are not infrequent but never forced; full use of the range and tonality of the instrument. In summary, it was a polished performance with considerable musical depth.

Michael played piano, rather than keyboard, in this context. It was rich and varied and inventive, as we always expect of him. Michael is always harmonically mobile, and his backing harmonies enrich the music no end. Eric is a master, defining and playing with grooves or laying down a fast, rock-solid walk, or soloing with real intimacy and relevance. Chris listens intently and interacts richly with the other players. He seems to set up a rhythmic and percussive sound scape in support of the others, but also solos freely on his own behalf. Anna joined in on two tunes, one where she plays response to Niels’ call. Violin is not a common jazz instrument, but she plays with a jazz sensibility, and it’s hard to avoid reminiscences of Jean-Luc Ponty, especially given her effected tone. Jono joined for a good, solid latin tune, where one or more trumpets was a necessity. It fitted fabulously, created an infectiously danceable salsa beat, and played a good solo to boot.

I bought the CD. First impressions are very positive. I’ve been immediately impressed by the maturity of both the composition and performance, the good sound, and the general competence all round. Apparently, copies will be available from Abels, or you can contact Niels through his MySpace site. BTW, Niels is returns to London in a few days.

The second set of the night was very different. Greg Stott is a jazz graduate, and is involved in the music training at the Jazz School and TAFE. He’s impressed me immensely in the past, so I was looking forward to this show with anticipation.

Greg Stott (guitar) led a band comprising John Mackey (tenor sax), Wayne Kelly (keyboards), Jason Varlet (bass) and Mark Sutton (drums). From the start it was full on, fast, capable and fun. The tunes were challenging. The blowing passages and the underlying rhythms were repetitive, but I find that’s the nature of this style. But the playing was supremely competent and the tunes themselves had interesting and well-played heads. This was a first gig of this combination with this music, so the sharp performance was doubly impressive. The tunes were all originals by Greg, including one very altered version of Ellington’s Caravan which still displayed some well-hidden evidence of its ancestry. I loved the title: Campervan. There was one tune that sounded to me like nothing less than a country-blues waltz (although a very sophisticated version). I heard Metheny melodies and West-Coast sounds in there, too.

The musicianship was of the highest order. Greg plays fast lines which generally seemed diatonic, but with variation and interest, and a sweet, pure Strat sound. John played his normal style of intensive solo, although I thought it was a bit less discordant than usual. Interestingly, when I started hearing some more discordant sounds, it seemed to me the band lifted and interacted more. Jason played fast, solidly and proudly on bass, using the whole panoply of modern electric bass styles (slaps, fingerwork, chords). His sound was great, too. His Warwick bass growled with a fat, middly sound and a clear top end twang. I could understand why Jack Bruce played the Cream comeback with a custom Warwick: it’s very much a modern version of the Gibson e-bass sounds of the sixties. Wayne soloed and backed with his normal panache and ease in groove styles. Mark played his role well, as he always does, although his parts were pretty simple and repetitive, but that's what this music calls for.

So there was great playing all around and it was obvious that it was well received by lots of musos and others on the night. They clearly are wonderfully competent players, do fusion fabulously well and play solid original tunes. Fusion's not my cup of tea but this is well done, so don’t miss an opportunity to hear them.

Niels Rosendahl on MySpace

Greg Stott on MySpace

White Eagle jammers

Here are the four jamming groups for the last White Eagle Jazz session. Don’t miss the next session. These sessions are off to a great start. There were about 30 people at the first event, and about 120 at the second. Some work’s required on the PA, but it’s a great night and interesting food and drink on tap. It opens at 7.30 and starts promptly at 8pm, so get there early for the full show.

Afro Blue. Played by Mike Azzopardi (piano), Carl Morgan (guitar), James Luke (bass), Andrew Swift (drums), Sebastian McIntosh (tenor sax)

Nostalgia in Times Square, Oleo. Played by Julian Banks (tenor sax), Daniel Hunter (guitar), Wayne Kelly (piano), Andrew Swift (drums), Brendan Clarke (bass)

Things ain’t what they used to be. Played by Hannah James (bass), Jono Apps (trumpet), Al Clarke (trombone), James LeFevre (tenor sax), Ben Foster (piano), Dave Rodriguez (guitar), Sam Young (drums)

My romance. Played by Hugh Deacon (drums), Madeleine Hawke (vocals), Stu McKnown (bass), Sebastian McIntosh (tenor sax), Andy Campbell (guitar)