It was a pensive sound that was wafting through Woden Town Square as I emerged from shoppers’ paradise into fresh air and reality. Jazz had finally supplanted the buzzing rockers. Mick Elderfield was playing tenor under the bridge next to the Soul Bar. The bridge is an apt location for a solo tenorist: for the wonderfully rich and echoing sound under the massed concrete, but also for the reference to Sonny Rollins’ Bridge. I listened a while. That sound was so big and smooth, and the slow but sturdy statement of the underlying harmony was satisfying. I wondered if the lunchtime crowd, mostly brought up on fast pop or staid country lines over 3 chords, would think of this complexity. Would they hear the more intricate harmony? Would they hang around long enough to recognise a standard? Really, I shouldn’t expect so little: this was a well-educated public service crowd at lunch, and they probably listen to Miles and classics at home. Like me. They were probably rushing back to work for a meeting. But it was lovely weather and that sound was so nice. I commented to Mick and he confided he was playing a Selmer Mark VI, so there was good reason for the sound. I noticed tarnished metal and fresh-looking pads, so this was a cared-for vintage instrument.
Much of our public life now happens in commercial private spaces sporting agreeable charities and piped music and well-presented people and informed by eminent business sense. It’s all safe, ordered, efficient and comfortable, but it’s soulless. It was lovely to emerge into the rag-tag of public life in a public space and hear such sweet and thoughtful sounds. Thanks to Mick Elderfield who busked Selmer tenor under the bridge at Woden Town Square.
It’s a quiet time for jazz, but the sounds of Christmas are out with the warm weather, shoppers and buskers. Mick Elderfield is back in town for a few days and I caught him at his spot collecting the public servants as they walk up to the Woden mall. His sparse, exploratory notes with big battered Selmer tone are a signature. He’s mostly ignored by the passing crowd, but I’m sure the sound of commitment to a profound craft subtly insinuates itself into harried citizens. It’s not all that’s new on this walk. Canberra’s newest work of public art (or work of public outrage for many complainants) is now in place after several weeks of installation: Culture fragment by David Jensz. I like it, certainly more than Woden’s classically simple teardrop. This is heavy copper piping, woven into a fabric square with tattered edges and tentacles trailing to the ground. I’m amused how it’s studiously ignored by the passers-by, except by one interested guy who I saw questioning the artist and assemblers one morning. I’m also amused by the backdrop of blank walls and graffiti tags. I just hope it’s not nicked for the value of its content, but it should be safe given the copper elbows are filled with cement grout.
This day was warm and sunny and I finished my idyll with a few girls playing violin and recorder and singing carols. Christmas is a relaxed time, especially in lucky, sunny Australia. I can feel the year unwinding now. Merry Christmas from Eric.
