Taking care of business

It's not a common event for me, but we got to a 50th anniversary celebration for a business we know and it was in a salubrious location, at Zinc in Federation Square, opposite Flinders St Station and beside the Yarra in Melbourne, and the food and drink was laid on and some entertainment and some speeches and we chatted with an interesting Italian couple. But for the purposes of Canberra Jazz let me tell you of the entertainment: a duo, called SaxOnCello, obviously sax (alto) and cello with recorded backing. They dressed for the occasion, performed a lively presence, played fairly sparingly but effectively against their recorded accompaniment, all purchased and legal rather than self-developed. And a singer appeared to perform We are family, perhaps associated with the duo or maybe not. It was loud and effective and involving as parties should be. The women were attractively presented and the bloke had a hat and presence. This is all the nature of commercial performance and they did it with panache and presence and volume and persistence. I've caught a few bands around Federation Square and this is the nature of the local commercial scene. Interesting and involving and well done.

SaxOnCello are Ashley James (alto) and Lily Thornton (cello). They performed at Zinc in Federation Square, Melbourne.

Colours

We always get to the National Gallery of Victoria when we are in Melbourne. This visit was no different. We'd heard of the Bonnard exhibition but it was not all; there was a Rembrandt exhibition, too. Wow. But we just got to the Bonnard. The Rembrandt was mainly from the NGV collections, they told us, so his four NGV paintings plus etchings. Interesting but. The Bonnard had works with owning institutions from out of town, NGA and AGNSW but also National Gallery of Art Washington DC and a string from Musee d'Orsay. So this was the big one. It took us through his friends, studies, artistic changes and long presence of his partner, model and later wife, Marthe de Meligny, AKA Marthe Bonnard. Interesting to see the involvement of photography and movies, of his colours and movement, of his sense of perspective (all tables and dinners and card games viewed from high viewpoints) and his interest in photography. There were also diversions into film with Alfred Jarry Ubu Roi and endless pics of various types of Marthe. It must be somewhat stressful to be always on display for an artist, but at least most was painted over time rather than immediate and photographed. I came to associate with his sense of colour and softness and movement in place of edges and lines and definition and appreciate his domestic and natural world but I'm not sure I fully appreciate his importance. That's for some more study. In the meantime, I continue to prefer other eras.

Pierre Bonnard : Designed by India Mahdavi was at the National Gallery of Victoria.

Out, Level 10

Perhaps a first, a start with solo vocals with Australian bush vocalisations, then drums, soft with mallets and percussion, sticks drawn over skins.  Then vocals changing to grunts and animal sounds.  I remember Ren Walters now, as guitar sounds, drums getting busier, more intense, still mallets, percussion more varied cymbals struck, moody with alto stabs of square intervals, then into flourishes, and bowed cymbal drones, relaxing now, gongs, light cymbals, quieter, still, repeating notes at intervals, sax more pensive, then drums turning to sticks, sharper still, busy, all drums if damped with cloths, guitar sitting back, listening, then all listen on and off, that voice, rabid again with tones of ... what?  Dunno, but busy.  Guitar hints at staccato scales, then slow chords, flattened extensions.  Then open space with those consistent, insistent drums, cymbals edged, suddenly all dirty, simple, loud, slow, that guitar again.  And so it goes on.  Experimental.  Free.  Not always atonal but often enough, but there's ears here, space, animation, variation, quiet or delirium, then that voice again.  And so it continues.  Thinking, glad I didn't bring Megan to this one!  First set was a single improv, then a second set with a break and a shortie.  Interestingly, comprehensible vocals appeared toward the end "I said to Joy / what is your name / since where today / Joy answered me / my name is death delayed / so I made her stay".  Heavy with meaning not just music.  I was overwhelmed by some of the playing.  Drums were overwhelmingly delicate despite intensity (long practice!) and voice was all over with tones and pitch and alacrity (a passage of Japan-like tones in odd scalar 8th note runs floored me) and sax was tenor and alto and soprano and I think sopranino and I loved how standard voicings and intervals and phrasings would appear, although complex and altered, amongst intense flourishes of colour and guitar was sparse then singled noted then colour chorded, only appearing more prominently with volume pedal towards then end (these are good listeners) and percussion added colour but also purpose, as Dur-é spoke to us of the Voice referendum to introduce set 2.  Not a show for the faint-hearted, but intense and authentic and personal.  Hard but enjoyed.

GAIP (General Assembly of Interested Parties) were Dur-é Dara (percussion), Jenny Ruth Barnes (voice), Scott McConnachie (soprano, alto, tenor, sopranino), Ren Walters (guitar) with visiting (Berlin) expatriate Samuel Hall (drums, percussion).  They performed for the Melbourne Jazz Cooperative at Jazzlab.

Transports

It wasn't particularly jazzy, just an afternoon pub gig across the road from Flinders Street Station in the Transport Public Bar, all modern and open with birds flying through louvres, but the band was seriously satisfying.  A trio of singer, guitar and percussion, advertised as jazz and playing some funky jazz takes on standards, but also a string of R&B/soul songs.  And they carried if off so well.  Georga (soft -g-) Byrne was the main singer and she was fluid and expressive and a lively, jovial host too (I was still awaiting the request Nutbush... when we had to leave). She was supported with occasional harmonies and a few solo vocal songs by percussionist Luke who otherwise played a digital cajon and shakers: effective percussion and a very decent and apt voice.  And new father Mikey Chan was on guitar.  Megan was wondering about the bass lines at one stage and I confidently said they were thumb picked, just to be a little dumbfounded later.  They were thumb-picked, but more complex than I'd imagined.  He dropped E and A strings one octave and played with Joe Pass influences.  The effectiveness of his chordal playing, sharp, punctuated, precise, defined the tunes with huge solidity so eight or so bars of solo sat unimpeded and easily grooving.  This was mightily solid grooves from such a combination.  And the tunes fitted, from Ain't no sunshine and Summertime and Dock of the bay, all funky and grooved, through Fleetwood Mac and Stevie Wonder and Amy W's Valerie and some obscurities (at least for me) like The Weeknd.  Even Beautiful love got a funky take.  So, I liked this trio, great music, lively day, decent beers and some very funky grooves that had a few up dancing and my foot tapping.  BTW, apparently Mikey is musical director for soul singer Kaiit: a good rec.

Georga Byrne (vocals) led her trio with Luke (percussion, vocals) and Mikey Chan (guitar) at the Transport Public Bar in Federation Square, Melbourne.

Today, so it seems

I remember passing the Maton factory then visiting a historical artist colony in Melbourne and roaming about the buildings and coming on a coffin in a chapel (creepy) then ... a room full of people and cameras for the making of a film.  It was perhaps the late-70s.  Good story and its etched in my brain.  So we were off to the Heidi Gallery and I thought it would be that place but no.  Heidi was the home of John and Sunday Reid and a centre for some artists of their era but nothing like the place I remembered.  That was stone (or mud brick?) Monsalvat, also out of Melbourne and somewhat in the same general vicinity, but not a weatherboard residence with no later modernist concrete structure.  And a lovely garden.  So how was Heidi Gallery?  Modernist.  There was an exhibition of works by English female colleague of Henry Moore and doing similar things, Barbara Hepworth.  Mostly stones with holes and perhaps rafts of wires, but also at least one figure.  Then upstairs to paintings of Moira McKenna interspersed with Albert Tucker.  I mostly ignore the Untitled(s) from any artist (if they can't suggest their intent, why should I bother?) but there were some with interesting themes.  AT with St Anthony tormented in the desert and MMcK with a pair of Eine Kleine Nachtmusik and another set in the same location, and yet another with the same upswept-hair woman reappearing.  Then another space with living artists.  One which stunned was a pair of gory photographs of bleeding skin, one cut for each Aboriginal death in custody.  Another featuring holes: cut into photos or burnt into paper or stamped into a big (1.5m?) silver-metal seed pod.  My guess it's a sibling of the huge holed ball outside the Art Gallery of South Australia (and the work promised for outside the NGA?).  These holey items were paired with a 1975 Paris Biennale event, filmed as Conical intersect (see YouTube) where a cone was cut into a C17th townhouse complex due for destruction for the building of the Pompidou Centre.  Then on through the gardens, to the house and some more works.  Thus contemporary arts at Heidi Modern Art Gallery.

Barbara Hepworth and others were on display at the Heidi Gallery of Modern Art in Melbourne.

PS.  Monsalvat was the location for a string of films/series including several in the late-70s.

Dress

I am no fashion plate but I had a tailor father and I've come to admire good dress so we visited the National Gallery of Victoria for an exhibition of the work of Alexander McQueen and I was entranced. I enjoyed it immensely. He was obviously a madly talented person given he was head of a Paris fashion house two years after completing his training in England. Also openly gay and with mental health problems, short lived (died aged 41 in 2010), outspoken on politics, well read in history, inspired by diverse cultures, channelling classical through to modern arts. This was an interesting person and probably driven. We saw his works next to his inspirations in Greek and Roman statues, mediaeval religious paintings, Spanish and Indian prints, Scottish history, even disco events. All works inspired by and evidencing his wide and intriguing interests, and hugely varied. I was inspired and thrilled: one daggy male amongst many more informed dressers. I could have been embarrassed but rather I was intrigued and overwhelmed with the mix of skills and beauty and art, not to mention humour, of it all. I still hold a hangover hippy distrust of dress but it's mixed with awe and respect for the art so I remain a little confused. But I loved this exhibition and was in awe of his craft. Lovely stuff.

Myth Magic Muse is an exhibition of the work of Alexander McQueen at the National Gallery of Victoria until 16 April.

Picasso safe on wall

There’s recently been a series on ABC about the Picasso at the NGV stolen then recovered in 1986. Apparently the case was never solved and it’s the most expensive unsolved art theft ever. (or maybe not, think of the Elgin Marbles and a string of museum pieces throughout Europe). I was in Melbourne and I always go the NGV anyway to fill time so I got to see it. Strange, as are many Picassos. My taste is earlier. Perhaps due to age or more likely my time in Italy. I’ve written of the NGV visits before so nothing here other than a few pics for the memory.

Misc Melb

Firstly, I just arrived and who was playing in Bourke Street Mall than Wylie J Miller, slap funk looping bassist and singer and quite a decent entertainer. Of course we talked bass, again, his bass being an Alembic 5-string, Stanley Clarke model. He showed me the Victor Wooten signature on the back of head. Wow. This has character. I also noticed a very decent gig bag, fully needed. Great fun, funky slapping and effective loops. Always a pleasure, Wylie. I’d noticed the Alembic; he told me most people notice the coloured strings. I understand! And a discovery at Federation Square later that day. The girl statue is a match for the NYC Fearless Girl by Kristen Visbal, the one who who stands up to the charging Finance bull. I hadn’t noticed it before. Nice to see the connection across the oceans. Wikipedia advises the Fed Square statue appeared for International Women’s Day 8 March 2019 and will stay for 4 years.

Wylie J Miller (bass) played in Bourke Street Mall.  The Fearless Girl statue is in Fed Square.

Blasts from the past

We are in Melbourne and normally that may not be too highly recommended given this OMICRON outbreak, but head-for-head Canberra has similar numbers now, so maybe it’s OK. It’s certainly good for vaccinations because I got my booster the afternoon I arrived and waited just a few minutes and it was walking distance and it was the Exhibition building so that was an event in itself. It’s big and of the period and the location of the first sitting of the Commonwealth Parliament so historical. Next to it is Museum of Melbourne and I spied a blockbuster exhibition from London that had just for another week or so to run so: Treasures of the Natural World form the Natural History Museum. Now I expected a string of fossils, worthy but perhaps not exciting, but this was fabulous. It wonderfully crossed specimens with history and personalities and science and, given the period, when the red of the British empire covered all the maps and mostly wealthy amateurs discovered amazing things following the Enlightenment, it was a blast. Evolution, Geology, dinosaurs, even Piltdown. Original specimens collected by big names, Darwin, Wallace, Sloane (not Soane although his house museum in London is a gem too), Waterhouse (with Adelaide connections), Anning. Now London probably has shelves of specimens from all these people, but to see a small selection and explore the relationships is a blast. Here are some pics. But it closes very soon. Next stop, London with much more on display.

The Museum of Melbourne hosted the blockbuster exhibition, Treasures of the Natural World, from the Natural History Museum, London.

Belinda’s choices

We’re in Melbourne and my online trawl of the jazz clubs showed Niels Rosendahl was playing at Paris Cat. Niels' a friend of CJ and singing would be popular so we chose this gig, Belinda Parsons Beetet. In the end, Niels wasn’t playing but it was a great choice. I could tell from the first bars, with a groove set and then a wash of trom-tenor and three glorious female voices in perfect harmony and always that insistent beat. We’d struck a winner. That was jazz in that broad sense, of training and skills and precision applied to all manner of contemporary music. I recalled ‘60s/70s R&B or soul given those harmonies and grooves and horns, but there was pop and jazz feels and odd times and unison lines and solos, of course, even if one was likened by a mate to Pink Floyd. And the original tunes, virtually all written and arranged by Belinda (only one using her husband’s harmonies) with touching themes, of lost lovers and departed friends. I bought the album so lyrics will be an interest. So there was humanity here. And then I started hearing names for the Melbourne scene for faces I didn’t easily recognise. First up, Fem Belling and Nina Ferro. No wonder the harmonies were sweet! Then that fabulous bass. Philip Rex. Ah, yes, I knew that face after all. From a fellow bassist, I was floored, but hardly unexpected. And that drummer. Ryan Menezes was tack sharp, steady but driving, fluid but also powerful in repetition. A masterclass. An early solo just confirmed that. Delicious. No keys, but funky chordal guitar with solos that milked reverb and loops and the like, that Pink Floyd effect, and very insinuating. And those two horns, Jordan and Ron, sweet and arranged, filling spaces and echoing emotions and then telling true solos, although it was their ensemble work that got to me. Than back to Belinda herself. She was in her element, pleasing and personal but also profound at times. A firm voice, sometimes letting go into the clouds as in soul divas, spelling arranged lines with horns or singing a ballad with a smaller band and a big heart. This wasn’t the album launch, but almost. The tracks were pretty much in order but the relaxation was evident and spoken of. They were celebrating the return from Melbourne lockdowns, too. This was in the fabric-hung lower room at Paris cat, with jazz images on the ceiling. The audience was intimate (for this read small) and the atmosphere was relaxed, and I think of the chops and training on stage and the immense pleasure of it all and the commitment needed for the art. Let’s put the numbers down to a preceding thunderstorm. Numbers were small but in no way was the music. It was capable and original and purposeful, as music should be. Have a listen and maybe download a copy. Belinda Parsons Beetet is on Bandcamp and the other streaming sites. Loved it.

Belinda Parsons (vocals, compositions / arrangements) led her Beetet at Paris Cat. They performed tracks from her album Choices we make. Beetet were Belinda with Nina Ferro and Fem Belling (background vocals), Jordan Murray (trombone), Rob Romero (tenor), Gillian Gregory (guitar), Philip Rex (bass) and Ryan Menezes (drums).

Shopping

It’s not a museum or a concert but I was out shopping in Melbourne. I’m not a great shopper but this was enjoyable and the goods were second hand. First up was BC Galleries, a shop selling antiquities from Egypt, Athens, Rome, through middle East and Far East and into the Pacific. My particular fondness is for the European but that’s my background. I can also long for a Netsuke or Hindu divinity. Then Armadale Antiques, a classy and impressive collection of antiques for sale, plenty of china and figurines and pretty or playful indulgences. Well, not shopping but rather window shopping, because I didn’t buy anything. But the visits were fascinating. Genuine old, meaning from 4KBCE and the like through to lovely Lalique and more recent comelies. We have some decent museums in Canberra but these shops are not matched that I know of. But then, I remember an antiquities shop outside the British Library which was a cut above again. It’s a pleasure to dream.

BC Galleries (antiquities) and Armadale Antique Centre are in Melbourne.

Bigs

For some reason I was thinking of Smalls through this show. Smalls is a jazz bar in NYC that has a daily video feed. I watch it every so often and I’ve been there. The upstairs bar at Paris Cat was similarly smallish, brick clad and industrial, so some similarity. And the band that was playing had mostly gone to record these very songs in NYC with a few local luminaries sitting in. I doubt they needed it other than for the name recognition. This band was stunning. It was a sextet brought together by saxist/leader/composer Rob Burke with 3 rhythm and three front line and their first gig together in a Covid year. Mostly the tunes were twisted heads opening to free soloing. I struggled to find chords for the first half, if perhaps I could hear them more obviously with later tunes and the Albert Ayler which I remember as twisted rhythm changes with plenty of chromatics. Plenty of chromatics throughout with some devastating solos from Phil Rex and Paul Grabowski and basic-kit power-drive from James McLean on drums. The front line of sax, trumpet and trom passed solos, but not expectedly if perhaps planned. Some great outings there too, and wondrous interfaces with all the back line, and often enough harmonies with the other horns. I wonder if the front line was less chromatic than the rhythm section in solos, but not sure, and more playing on melody and sequences. Whatever, the regular switch of solos through players was not at all obvious and the ideas were rampant and that bass just dumbfounding in its intensity and unrelentingness. My POV, of course, as a bassist, but Phil was overwhelming and the rhythm section was inspiring. And that front line, they were no slouches. So why the thought of Smalls? It was a similar structure of a night and a similar presence that occurred to me. The way they all perused the music to remind themselves before opening and the comments “Do you remember that? / Nope” and the side chatter with some near audience. Perhaps a similar tune structure for open improvisations, too. But this lost nothing to Smalls. This was just a stunner and as good as I can imagine. And that bass.

Rob Burke (tenor, soprano, compositions) led his sextet at Paris Cat, Melbourne, comprising Paul Williamson (trumpet), Jordan Murray (trombone), Paul Grabowski (piano), Phil Rex (bass) and James McLean (drums).

Postal

Now this is a bit of local colour. I met Phaedra and Dave at NGV when they were doing some performance art for the Triennial. They were performing a mirror activity, but were largely ignored as people milled about and looked at much more static art on walls. We chatted and they invited us to their single launch a few days later, and voila. Local colour in Fitzroy at InCube8r gallery. This was synth-pop, simple rhythms, straight changes and 1-3-5 arpeggios. As this should be and very catchy. Add extravagant make-up, staunch Dave with dancing Phaedra, a suite of bouncy pop tunes telling of Covid experiences, kisses and returns to work and such-like, and some spoken word to ensconce it all. With lights and even smoke. Intimate, fun, impish. We enjoyed it lots; my feet bounced along. What’s pop got to do with it? Given that MN describe themselves as Post-genre, probably very little.

Madame Nightingale performed at InCube8r at Fitzroy. MN are Phaedra Gunn (vocals) and Dave O’Toole (keys).

New scene

 

Well, it was a new scene and one I’m not familiar with: punk, metal and the like. I heard music from across the road from the Victoria Markets. The pub was a run down deco pub called the Public Bar, AKA Last Chance Rock'n'Roll Bar, surrounded with scaffolding, but it seemed to have an entrance. So it did. Inside was small with not too many people, a pool table, a bar, stamped metal walls and band stickers, Star Trek on TV and a noisy trio. I liked this one. No bass; just vocals, guitar, drums. Two kick pedals of course, so driving, some interesting chordal movements and endless commitment and a sometime pogo singer with a wry smile and raspy lyrics that got lost without comprehension. All as I expected and lively and loud and the beer was good. The style was metal/grindcore. The sort of afternoon I could take while my ears allowed. This pub stages free bands each Sat/Sun, perhaps 3 per afternoon. There must be lots of metal outfits around. Like many of these scenes, they are friendlier than they look at first. I chatted with vocalist Frank after and that was a pleasure. Also met a fellow bassist (we are not uncommon although not wanting in Frank’s band) from Forklift Assassins. They had played there the week before. I caught a female bassist/singer and her trio before I left realising it was a little loud for these drained ears. I didn't catch their name.  Frank’s band was Tongue Scum, with Frank (vocals), Den (guitar) and Ben (drums). I didn’t get the other names, but I did get a decent beer. A good find all round.

Tongue Scum played at the Public Bar, north Melbourne. Forklift Assassins had played there the previous week.

Filmz

Film is not my favourite art form. Nonetheless, I went to one, Nomadland. It seemed fairly obvious if touching. We’ve read of such inequality and desperation in the US before (Nickel and dimed : undercover in low-wage America / Barbara Ehrenreich). We’ve hoped it wouldn’t happen here but of course it is in train right now. I just wondered what it says about modern film art that a fairly known theme would get such plaudits. Maybe with Covid, it’s time. Just my musings. But more relevant to this site, we also visited the ACMI, the Australian Centre for the Moving Image, a museum of “screen culture”. Mostly it was about techniques and technical developments: how the first moving pictures were made, some snippets, how movies are now made, film and TV and games, technical roles (costumes and storyboarding and props and special effects and more). Some thing on the role of moving images in politics (interesting) including a spot on SS4C (School Strike for Climate; next demo due 21 May). Something else on private film matters, as film/video became cheaper and home movies became common. Not the most interesting museum for me but for some or many, their favourite artform.  BTW, the pic is Don Bank's early synth used for film work, perhaps Dr Who? 

The Australian Centre for the Moving Image (ACMI) is in Fed Square, Melbourne.

Always the gallery

Any visit to Melbourne for me includes the National Gallery of Victoria. It’s a fave. This time, for the Triennial but also just to revisit old friends, the three Rembrandts and the early Italian and German religious works and some favourite Pre-Raphaellites. We mainly checked out the Triennial and that was impressive: some modern indigenous art in cerulians and aquamarines and the like using oils and acrylics; a video of a possible future post-climate city of 10 billion people; some incredibly high-resolution oozing video that played with our sense of framing and depth; some huge woolly cubby-house toys that a mum just made have made for her kids (and that you just longed to jump into); that busy C18th/19th European room (would love to know its name) featured with intense and sharp lighting and sound; photos of religious sites with the homeless. More, too, of course. It was school holidays and busy like Bourke street in the Gallery. These people are seriously cultured! And walk the streets and experience high rise that works, gargantuan sizes with historical bluestone features. Melbourne seems to have worked itself out. No wander this place is so prized. It was a rushed visit and so busy, but I got to see a few faves and some intriguing art to chase up later. Maybe.

The National Gallery of Victoria was busy with its Triennial and more.