The Fevre at Hippo

By Daniel Wild

As I had to catch the last and “relatively late” bus at 11:25pm I was unable to catch the third set of this gig – the time when a band usually breaks loose and you may even see a few loose dancers rise from the audience.

The first two sets had a mixture of west coast and bebop styles, mostly originals. It is refreshing to hear a trombone as it can really bolster the depth of a small group and hint at a big band sound. Rob Lee’s trombone was restrained and inventive, adding another layer to the heads of tunes and a mellow contrast to Le Fevre’s more cerebral solos. Lee seemed fully in control and created good space and rhythmic freedom while exploring the trombone’s murky registers.

James Le Fevre built up his solos nicely, both in an individual sense, and as the evening progressed. By the second set he was emitting some adventurous squeaks, squeals, anguished wails and grunts reminiscent of Dizzy Gillespie. Evan Dorrian did a good job backing Le Fevre’s syncopated melodies on drums. Most of the first two sets had driving straight-eights beats and Dorrian didn’t get distracted by Le Fevre’s intrepidity, managing some well timed flourishes. His drum solos had taste and tonal interest, with varying attacks and good use of the high-hat and side drums. He might have overused the drum-roll and could think about taking the beat further out during his solos.

The bass was fine with Kane Watters swapping between an electric bass and what appeared to be a five string acoustic bass, although my eyes may have deceived me. The fusion nature of the music wasn’t suited to bass soloing so there weren’t many of these. Also, perhaps the electric bass was a touch too loud – it had a good clear percussive attack though.

Ben Foster was cool and refined on keys, using mostly Hammond organ effects. I wouldn’t have minded an occasional use of piano but that could have destroyed the continuity of the electric ambience. My only wish to hear piano stems from being a bit of a jazz piano purist and wanting to see someone with Ben Foster’s skills show off his chops.

The first piece had a decidedly Herbie Hancock feel with a funky bass and laid back organ flavourings. Later Foster made use of “wah-wah” synth effects, and, as the second set slowed pace, watery electric piano accompanied LeFevre’s musings. The second piece had interesting harmonic content as eastern scales were explored and blended with a jazz sensibility. The Coltrane influence is here: Le Fevre likes to achieve the dry sound, jagged scalar patterns and eastern influences of Coltrane’s later years.

Apart from Hancock, that other doyen of electric jazz, Sun Ra, was also in evidence. One piece began with spacey, pulsating synth effects and the interplay between trombone and sax was well balanced during looser improvisations while maintaining tension.

The audience enjoyed the evening. People of all ages jostled for sitting room while Canberra jazz school students such as drummer Mark Body and trombonist Sophie were in attendance. John Mackey arrived during the second set and watched appreciatively from the bar. James leads his band well – his quintet contains a promising group of growing local musicians.

Pics coming soon

James LeFevre Quintet's website

Open at ArtSound (AS1)

ArtSound ran its annual radiothon over the weekend. This year, the radiothon was dubbed “88 keys to happiness”. 88 keys; sounds familiar. ArtSound was collecting to fund its recent purchase of a new Yamaha grand piano (C6?) for its recording studio. I hear the sound of the Yamaha grand through $15,000 of Neumann mics is superb, so the studio just gets more attractive. Keep it in mind if you are seeking a moderately priced, professional studio with top mics and 48 channel digital tracking, pleasant surroundings and capable engineering. On the day, it was nice to see a solid level of support for the radiothon during the morning. And you can put your name to a piano key if you wish to be remembered.

The radiothon featured an open day at ArtSound’s studios at the Manuka Arts Centre studios on Saturday. There was coffee, grog, snags, politician visits (it being an election campaign), and 5 bands playing live to air from the courtyard amongst switches back to the studio. As always, this was an interesting and very professional day run by the mostly volunteer staff of the station. We are lucky to have such a resource, especially as it’s so knowledgeable and supportive of the jazz scene in Canberra.

I caught three bands of the five: James LeFevre Quintet and Quantum Theory, both from the Jazz School, and Kooky Fandango, made up of amateur players around town.

James LeFevre played a similar set to that at Moruya. Well played, bluesy, entertaining, with a fine collection of players. They play a wonderful arrangement of a piece from Gary Bartz, Eastern Blues. This locates the music: rootsy 70s jazz-funk. Great stuff. It’s a style I love, and one that I reckon is eminently sellable. And the players do it so well. They set up and sustain grooves, but more involving is the way the develop intensity, from quiet and searching to raging solos, then sudden decays to almost subliminal. There’s a drum solo in Eastern Blues which says it all: instruments playing a unison line (common enough) supporting the solo, but arranged so the unison line changes time signatures and intensifies over the solo. The front line of tenor (sometimes baritone) and trom is a nice one, and the rhythm unit of acoustic/electric bass (Kane has a job with frequent changes), Evan’s excellent drums and Ben’s wonderful keyboard fills and choppy funky styles works a treat. A very entertaining and capable band with original arrangements and charts. James LeFevre (tenor, baritone sax) plays with Rob Lee (trombone), Kane Watters (electric, acoustic basses), Ben Foster (keyboard) and Evan Dorrian (drums).

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The beat goes on (Moruya 2)

Moruya 1

James LeFevre followed Red Barron with a down-to-earth jazz set heavily influenced by down South, New Orleans gumbo. Organ, keyboard effects, bluesy riffs and funky rhythms. Lots of fun, and very impressive. Again, there were originals, at least one by Rob on trom. I particularly liked a Gary Bartz tune, Eastern blues. This was salty music; right for getting the audience moving, and well played. James is organising a tour for this band, so good luck and have fun. James was his entertaining self, both for his patter, and has sax playing. He’s one of few who play the baritone sax, which is always good for a touch of humour with its earthy bottom end. Kane played capably on both instruments, but had the unenviable job of frequent changes. Rob is a stalwart, playing heads and soloing with some panache. Ben is a fabulously clean and capable. This gig featured keyboards and organ, uniquely different keyboard skills and he did the job wonderfully. I loved his ring modulated solo later in the night. It was that type of gig. Evan Dorrian is another upcomer. His drumming is strongly driving and richly interesting. He’s another one to watch. The JLeF Quintet was James LeFevre (saxes), Rob Lee (trombone), Ben Foster (keyboards), Evan Dorrian (drums), Kane Watters (acoustic and electric bass).

I just managed a few minutes each for the Catherine Hunter Quintet at the Golf Club and Fionna Tamin’s band. Catherine H was supremely professional but pretty mainstream. Not unexpected for these professional outfits: they need to entertain to eat, after all. I heard the gig at the Air Raid Tavern the next night was great, but I missed that one. I didn't hear much of Fionna’s band, but it included some original tunes by Fionna herself, and capable singing.

I missed the ANU Big Band this weekend, but I did hear the Recording Ensemble twice, and in surprisingly unusual circumstances. They’re playing a treat, in preparation for the Wangaratta Festival and the end of this year’s band. There was a power blackout for one performance (as Australia sinks to third world, resource dependent status), so we had the unusual opportunity to hear the Rec Ens unplugged. The harmonies were sweet, but it lost a good deal of the verve and vigour, with guitar reduced to chank-chank and the bass struggling to be heard above naturally loud horns. When the power came back on, there was an unruly rush to get Carl Morgan on the job, and play this the way it’s meant to be. I reported on a recent Rec Ens performance, and the charts were largely similar, except a new one by Nick Combes called Portrait of the artist as an angry (young) man. It’s a dedication to James Joyce (obviously) and Charles Mingus (obvious enough when you hear it). I heard it twice in two concerts and loved it. An intro bass solo by Bill Williams is followed by a rhythm set up by the baritone sax, then layered over by various horns. All in blues scales reminiscent of Mingus. Lovely stuff. Congrats to Nick; well done.

I also caught the Commercial Band. This was their final performance in this incarnation and perhaps that’s why they played with such verve. I had heard of a great performance the night before that I had missed, but this last one excelled. The intro was an extended (60sec+) cacophony of all instruments, leading into Footprints and Sophie Leslie singing her original lyrics. Hot from the top. Thereafter came Tower of Power funk, power guitar, trumpet and sax solos, a fabulously hot rhythm section from Evan Dorrian, Stu McKnown and Ben Foster (let’s face it guys, a rhythm section like this makes it so easy for the rest of you). Eric Ajaye was lounging in the corner proudly surveying his handwork. The day was warm, the band was hot, and the sun was out. This was bliss. Like all things, it had to end, but the next version of the Comms will have quite a reputation to match after this performance.

I did just catch one traditional big band: Spectrum Showband. This is a long-standing group of amateur players around Canberra, and a great training ensemble. I only heard a tune, so not enough to comment, but they were sweet and capable and I’ve got a pic.

Moruya 3

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