Not too big (Moruya 3)

Moruya’s not a big festival, but it’s intimate and relaxed and a lovely weekend at the coast for the performers and aficionados. It’s a holiday atmosphere: cheap, friendly, easy-going, shorts on stage, and the weather’s generous so mornings are on the beach rather than in the bars. But the music’s good, too. There’s a range of bands from the students at the Jazz School, sometimes formed for one performance at Moruya. The names usually give those away. But there’s also the teachers and their slick and virtuosic performances, a range of amateur or semi-professional players, and a spattering of the popular (less demanding, but better paid and more entertaining) feature artists. I mostly miss those feature bands, but they always draw the big crowds. I love the large ensembles, and the Jazz School always provides the Commercial Band, the Big Band and the Recording Ensemble. All different, and all big and exciting and rich sounding. For me, it was the Recording Ensemble that blew me away this year. They were having a great time (Sebastian McIntosh was in fine and dry form as MC), blowing hard, and playing original charts. Miro leads this band and he asks for, and gets, original charts, and creative input from the students. Congrats due here.

I didn’t catch the whole festival this year, given my relaxed demeanour, the languid temperatures and the pleasant housemates, but here’s my report.

Drummers seemed to be in abundance. Fantastic Woollen Fishing Rod (named for the occasion, I expect) was a quartet of trumpet, alto and two drummers. It was an odd mix, but a nice experiment. Andrew Fedorovitch (alto) played with Shane Spellman (trumpet) and John Wilton and Jono Lake (2 x drums). The Recording Ensemble was also doubling up on drummers (and more) but more on that later.

The Melds appeared after a great outing on ArtSound in recent weeks. They featured 3 drummers, and finished with a drum feature with synth guitar accompaniment. The band seems pretty fluid, as the membership was different from the ArtSound outing. Shouldn’t be a problem, as it’s largely free, sustained, layered improvisations on fairly simple themes, but very compelling. I was amused to overhear at one stage this snippet from the stage: “Don’t stop now. See what happens”. And, of course, it did develop and it was compelling. It was a nice bit of adventurism. The Melds were led by Matt Sykes (drums), with Matt Lustri (synth guitar), Chris Pound (bass), Andy Campbell (guitar), Jo Lloyd (alto), Reuben Lewis (trumpet), Hugh Deacon (drums), John Wildon (drums) and Valdis Thomann (trombone).

Dub Dub Goose is equally capable, but very different, being a dub/reggae outfit led by Nick Combe. Nick’s impressed me over recent years with compositions for the Recording Ensemble. Apparently he has a penchant for reggae, and the opportunity to perform it with capable players. This was another big outfit that probably expanded on the day. Reggae (or dub?) is an attractive style, and indulgently stupefying. I enjoyed the start with tunes by Ernest Raglan, but I found it a stretch by the end of the set. They mercifully finished with something different which I liked and found refreshing, a 7/4 with lush orchestration. But it was well done, and my response says more about my preferences than the music. Nick Combe (tenor) led Reuben Lewis (trumpet), Sophie Chapman (trombone), Matt Sykes (drums), Matt Lustri (guitar), Chris Pound (bass), Austin Benjamin/Bucket (piano), James LeFevre (tenor), Alistair Clarke (trombone), Valdis Thomann (trombone) and Alex Raupach (trumpet).

The Lethals are a hot, funky, loud outfit led by hot, funky Leigh “Lethal” Miller (bass) with Neils Rosendahl (tenor), Aron Lyon (guitar) and Sam Young (drums). They were a big hit. I heard them twice. Obviously the darker evening hours suited the flamboyant performance, but he morning gig was good, too. These guys are supremely professional. No-one overplayed. There were lots of notes, but they fitted without being forced. There was Weather Report and Jaco (Teen town) and Soulive, and some originals, so the heads were challenging, but the essence of the band was tight, hard blowing, and they did it with panache. Niels always impresses, and Aron was fluidity and fast, smooth runs and loops and echo and the rest. Great fun, loud, engaging and popular. A blowout and terrible to follow!

Sally Greenaway toned things down with a lovely, arranged set and a capable band. Sally is renowned as a prize-winning composer, so we can expect new and original compositions when she plays. But these are not blowing tunes; they are emotionally satisfying numbers with apt and developed stylistic approaches. Tunes included an arrangement of Smile in 5/4, a funky Stefon Harris tune, a Vince Jones ballad, and several originals. Her band’s good too. The Sally Greenaway Project included Sally (piano), Raf Jurgen (bass), Ed Rodrigues (drums), Niels Rosendahl (tenor), Valdis Thomann (trombone) and Marie LeBrun (vocals).

What’s in a name?

On the week of a double murder in Canberra, the Lethals broadcast live from the Artsound studios for a Friday Night Live session. But I don’t imagine the name is related to this, or a run of crime-related deaths that Canberra has seen over recent months. Rather, I think the name is a punny reference to the leader’s name, Leigh Miller, so it could have been Leigh-thals in place of Lethals. In fact, the night was more concerned with start than end of life. But more on that later.

I heard just a little of the broadcast on the radio, being busy with other matters, but what I heard were several funky, groove-based tunes in different styles, but consistently satisfying. There were originals. Beginnings was penned by Leigh and was funky and gave everyone a chance to blow and warm up. A long number by Sam towards the end of the night hinted at the Bitches Brew era of jazz rock. A non-original was from Soulive. Soulive is a bass-less trio of organ, guitar and drums. The simple, descending lines on bass were evidence of the organ bass, but the unexpectedly hip melody put the tunes clearly in the jazz idiom.

The grooves supported frequent and inventive soloing. Leigh sometimes reminded me of that great rock bassist, Jack Bruce, with what seemed to me to be a similar soloistic conception, although he had a far more modern tone of deep bass and prominent highs rather than JB’s fat, middy Gibson sound. Leigh can play some hot licks and blistering runs and works the scales effectively and likes to colour his sound with echo and effects. It’s a little off-putting to think that he came to ANU to play classical bass and only recently entered the jazz stream. Niels is back from London and a pleasure to hear. Mature, considered, skilled and just plain musical. His melody playing is simple and true to the tunes, and his solos are clear and entrancing statements. Many soloists impress with busy-ness, but I found myself observing Niels’ long pauses and hanging out for his next line. I’m not saying this was simple playing: there are fast passages and obvious dissonances, but they arrive as clear developments of a solo statement and are not out of place. I’d noticed this with Niels at White Eagle a few years back, but he seems to have further refined this path. Lovely stuff. Aron seemed to be in his element. This was lithe playing, rich with echo and related effects (phasing or flanging or whatever). Strong solos, and I noticed some whiffs of early McLaughlin comping which just confirmed the Bitches Brew reference. I mentioned it to Aron and he just said he’d been playing that tune for years and it just felt right like that. Sam is a stalwart of this groove-based style of music with his watchful eyes and ears and steady reliability. You often hear him in this context around town. I missed any solos on the night, but then I didn’t catch most of the concert.

This is a new incarnation for the Lethals. They had their first night at Hippo just two days earlier. But the real start of life reference was to Aron and his wife who were expecting their second child any day. There was relief in his voice when Leigh mentioned this while introducing the last tune: the phone hadn’t rung and they’d got to the end of the broadcast with a guitarist. So the Lethals actually presented a much more positive life experience than the name suggests. Catch them at their next gig at Moruya, but expect Aron to be looking a little tired.

The Lethals are Leigh Miller (bass), Niels Rosendahl (tenor sax), Aron Lyon (guitar) and Sam Young (drums).

Lethal outing

Perhaps summer is the time for blues/funky styles, out-and-out blowing, pentatonics, danceable grooves and the like. It sounds just the thing for warm nights. If so, then last night’s set by The Lethals at Hippo’s was on the money.

The Lethals is Leigh Miller’s band. Leigh has impressed me over recent years with hot, funky electric bass playing in the ANUSM Commercial band and at Moruya over recent years. I was surprised to learn that he has only just entered the Jazz School, and that he was previously a classical bass student. Quite a change. Leigh’s a powerful and funky player for someone out of the classical tradition. But then classical is a good source of chops, and he displays them. He also displays a penchant for effects, and a readiness to experiment. I only caught one set, but that included an extended solo bass piece with a bass drum sounding on the beat accompanied by heavily echoed bass playing chords, harmonics, string bends, wah and more. The other tunes were more simple blows and pentatonic melodies. Scofield’s A go go and Jaco’s Teentown (admittedly a pretty raunchy melody, and a punchy groove) and two originals, one by Leigh and another by Leigh with Damien Slingsby (a capable pianist and one-time Jazz School student).

The solos were satisfying all round. Carl and Ben blew us all away as they always do with good solo development, interesting ideas and occasional meanderings outside, and the balance was good so we could hear all the ideas. Sam slogged away with solid and heavy drumming which matched the style, and played a nice solo where he held the heavy beat but interpersed it with some rhythmically contorted fills. The bass had that soft and toppy modern sound which suits slap. It seemed to get lost in unison lines with the guitar, but it worked a treat on solos. It was interesting comparing this sound to Steve Hunter’s very punchy, hard, middy sound when he played Teentown with Carl only a week or so before. I also enjoyed the overall band sound on the night. It was not too loud for the venue (Hippo’s is not an easy acoustic space), and clear and well balanced. The audience was not large, but at least that meant less background noise, so it had a benefit. I only caught the first set but much enjoyed.

The Lethals were Leigh Miller (bass), Carl Morgan (guitar), Ben Foster (keyboards) and Sam Young (drums).