Guitars

Mike Price talked of a band with two Carls, Dewhurst and Morgan, sometime in the past and I've got reports on CJ of various combinations of the 3 guitarists.  Mike was teaching and leading the jazz scool while the Carls were there, although at different times and has got together with them at various times.  It's all part of an ongoing jazz experience.  This gig was another incarnation.  Mike Price and Carl Dewhurst with James Luke and Nick McBride: a formidable combination.  The two guitarists remain diverse in presentation and approach: Mike more smooth, quick, scalar; Carl more dirty, loud, unanticipated.  The tunes were a very modern guitar bunch, from Scofield, Metheny, Stern, related sax Michael Brecker and Horace Silver Lonely woman and the uber-classic Bright size life (originally Metheny with Jaco Pastorius and Bob Moses) and a contrafact (strange word that) on The night has a thousand eyes.  To top it off, a guitar duet on Wichita Lineman: strange in this context but still a beautiful and touching tune and very fitting but different with the two guitars.  So a night of superb guitar artistry with quite different approaches, supported by top brass of the local bass and drums community.  Wonderful and 2,4 foot tapping and just a huge pleasure of many solos throughout over some testing tunes.

Mike Price Guitar summit featured Mike Price and Carl Dewhurst (guitars) with James Luke (bass) and Nick McBride (drums) at Smiths for a Geoff's jazz session.

Many happy returns

I got to the National Press Club especially  for Mike Price, given he was a major member of the local jazz scene a few years back but he's been off in Qld for some time.  In Cairns for 8 years, he told me.  But then I realised Nick was a Canberran who'd returned after years in Macau and Chris had been a decade or so in Cyprus (?) so they are all returnees.  Fascinating.  As was their playing.  The NPC gig is pretty relaxed, but there was plenty of controlled energy in this one.  Mike's clean, swift, chordal styled guitar moving through various dissonances and chromaticisms but also just telling the harmony as it is, or spelling the lovely melody of some standard.  They were standards, played comfortably up-tempo, with solos for all, fours for Nick, often with a tagged ending for a little more guitar solo.  All nice.  Clean, capable, certain jazz, guitarist styled.  Is there bebop here?  It doesn't quite feel it but maybe it just doesn't sound it without a horn.  Certainly the lines and improvs were bop-styled.  Whatever, this was wonderfully capable and expressive.  Chris' bass was a lesson for me, up or across the neck, quick and broken syncopated lines over walks, nice thumb positions playing and a fairly common but effective hand formation that I must revisit.  Nick's drums are the essence of stable, but can explode given half a chance.  Mike was deceptively clean and correct, more tone than improv, revealing for me far more depth and adventurousness with my eyes closed.  The presence was standard jazz club with Mike calling a tune and Chris grabbing for his iReal Pro or similar: casual presence and serious performance (or maybe causal performance with serious preparation).  As I like it.  Travel has done us all good.

Mike Price (guitar) led a trio with Chris Pound (bass) and Nick McBride (drums) at the National Press Club.

Poise

First up at Smiths for a while. This was the Pratt/Price Collective so I knew it would be good but I was unprepared for just how good. Daryl Pratt is renowned and Mike Price was guitar an head of the Jazz School. No slouches. With Brendan Clarke and percussionist Jess Ciampa. I didn't know Jess and no drummer, so odd. So I thought. But this was an evening of latin and Jess was sitting on a cajon with congas and bongos and a string of small instruments and so, so relaxed and precise. As it was all round. Daryl was hugely fluid, perfect time and ease and melodic lines to die for. Mike was quick and lithe and listening back (I recorded) gave such easy and tonal lines, alive with easy quickness. Brendan is just a master of the bass, big toned, perfectly grooving, quick and responsive and well intoned. Jess' accompaniment was the essence of relaxed warm latin lives, sharp, quick with apt fills and elaborations then playful with flows from the bell tree. All so blissful and easy but also sharp and alive. Rhythms to flow with, to dance and mingle and seduce. Earthy and embedded. One tune they had never played, in practice or otherwise, and knowing that, you could pick up some reticence, but still it was good. They used to play together, but that was 18 months back. You wouldn't know it, playing as they did as masters of the craft. They were off to the studio for the next 2 days. What comes out can only be longed for. Fabulous playing, nonchalant poise, insouciant but enticing rhythms of Cuba and the rest. This was latin heaven from original pens.

The Pratt/Price Collective played at Smiths Alternative. The PP Collective comprised Daryl Pratt (vibraphone), Mike Price (guitar), Brendan Clarke (bass) and Jess Ciampa (percussion).

Finally

Finally I get to Tilley's for the Wayne Kelly Trio residency. Wayne, Ben and Mark have been doing this since at least last Christmas and let's hope it continues. It's sometime since I've gone to Tilley's, too. It's renowned (and in some conservative sectors, denigrated) with a history dating back to Whitlam, but it's obviously quite a local institution on the north side. Lots of families for dinner, relaxed, plenty of tables, dark with bright lights shining off glossy russet surfaces, big central stage and real PA system. I remember it in its first incarnation before the extension over the whole corner and the glory time of visiting international acts like Mike Stern, Dave Weckl, Canned Heat, Jose Feliciano, Janis Ian and Kurt Elling as well as the cream of big Aussie names. It's a great venue, but still used for our local heavies, Wayne and co. They were great; playing a calm storm. This night Mike Price sat in. Next week, Wayne's Trio is recording with a string of friends. The volume is not too high; the food and drinks and chat continues but there's also an obvious respect and even the non-jazzers look on with interest. And the balance and space is good for listening, even with the ongoing cafe life. They played standards repertoire but also some winner originals. Ben was playing a storm. They say one way to get husband and wife talking is to start a bass solo. No need here, these were worth the listen. Wayne's authoritative at all times; Mark, too. Mike was out front, shredding clear jazzer lines. My choice was hard: cassoulet or beef and porter pie. How's that for life on the north side? Great.

Wayne Kelly (piano), Ben O'Loghlin (bass) and Mark Sutton (drums) play each Saturday night at Tilley's. Mike Price (guitar) sat in for several tunes.

One for the band

It was the same band, just without a singer (other than Rachael who sang one song). This was the teachers at the School of Music, the local aristocracy of jazz, and they were playing their compositions and a few favourites and it was great. Mike, Miro, Wayne, Mark and new bassist Alec were playing a storm. Right from the start, the tunes were friends. There were two from the Wanderlust stable: Delicatessence and Bronte Cafe, both immensely attractive and infectious. Miro also offered another, Happy world, a new composition seeking a happier place than the current distressing daily news. [I can understand: it's strange how friends and acquaintances volunteer a feeling of despondency these days, but that's for another blog]. I thought of his Peace please; it's another Miro masterpiece that speaks to our common humanity. Then Mike with several of his originals: Standard time and Young guns (he joked of renaming this to Old diggers, given the nature of the tune and that the young guns are now playing Radiohead and the like, rather than the jazz changes), and a lengthy exploration called Contessa Sabra Dalziel (?). Wayne offered a catchy hard bopper called Optimism. Rachael sat in during the second set with a take on the Billie Holliday's heartbreaking ballad, Crazy he calls me ("Like the wind that shakes the bough / He moves me with a smile / The difficult I'll do right now / The impossible will take a little while"). Mike also offered a favourite standard, I'll remember April, and Kenny Wheeler's Kind folk and a blues he'd transcribed that he called Emily's blues. The playing was first-rate. Wayne excited with his broad concepts; Mike's guitar was sharp and genuine and often thrilling in solos; Mark just held it all together and Alec was certain and obviously enjoying the outing. Nice to see some broad smiles and rhythm section mobility on Wanderlust grooves and more. Miro was purposeful and strong and gloriously melodious. Especially during Rachael's ballad, I noticed some wonderful fills but also how Wayne and Mike and Miro didn't step on toes, presumably from time together, but also from just plain class. One friend hadn't come the night before - he steers clear of vocals - but I thoroughly enjoyed them both. Two excellent nights from the best locals.
Mike Price (guitar), Miroslav Bukovsky (trumpet, flugelhorn), Wayne Kelly (piano), Alec Hunter (bass) and Mark Sutton (drums) performed in the Band Room for the ANU School of Music Winter Jazz Week. Rachael Thoms (vocals) sat in for one number.

If you go

Trish Delaney-Brown was a founding member of a great Canberra - and School of Music - product: the Idea of North. They are a wonderful vocal quartet that I've heard many times on radio but seldom live. They visit often; the hip response is "my bad". This gig was Trish playing for the School's Winter Jazz Week. Trish was singing by herself out front, backed by faculty and friends. The tunes were jazz and popular, standards, latins, ballads, a few originals. Nothing unusual but beautifully done, and collected with a sense of entertainment as well as art. This is the mark of a working musician. My favourite things is from Sound of music so ridiculously well known. So is Hey babe ain't I good to you. But they weren't all like that. Out of this world was a swinger and So what if I don't was slowly swung and Better than anything was 3/4 but with a fast melody and swift triplets and dotted quarter notes over the three beats of the bar, bop-styled. Senor blues was a latin blues with life and The Frog was 32-bar AABA with latin feel and Impressions changes (if I got this right). But a few slower numbers mostly took my attention. Blue in green from Kind of Blues was played as a duo with Trish and Mike; Jobim's Dindi was a thing of floating beauty; best was a glorious take on a delicious but tormented ballad, If you go, as arranged for Shirley Horn. So, these were interesting tunes and some were lesser known; straight-ahead, lively music, not too daring, but so wonderfully played and swung with much drive. Miro's soloing on this straighter material was a revelation, on flugelhorn or trumpet, phrasing modally, moving through scalar degrees and anticipating and leaving phrases hanging. Mike's guitar was sharp and unaffected and simply expressive. Wayne ventured into dissonance most freely. Alec took just one solo, this one on double bass, with clear phrasing and beautiful tone. Mark was in good cheer, inviting Trish on stage at the start with a classic intro, settling then driving the rhythm with incredible solidity throughout, taking just a few solos that sat with aplomb. I guess Trish is alto. I was taken aback when she dropped to a low note with such perfect tone and technique, by classy articulation on fast passages and by some mobile scat. Such technical competence must be a requirement for a vocal quartet like Idea of North so I was mightily impressed but not surprised. But beyond technique, there was personality and purpose. This was a wonderful, hard swinging, nicely arranged and sometimes beauteous concert. Great stuff.

Trish Delaney-Brown (vocals) performed at the ANU School of Music Winter Jazz Week with Miroslav Bukovsky (trumpet, flugelhorn), Mike Price (guitar), Wayne Kelly (piano), Alec Hunter (bass) and Mark Sutton (drums).

Young guns

They were some decent musos. I was expecting a band with Mike Price, but we got a series of young players, mostly in the first year course at ANU, and they were good. They ran through a series of jazz tunes and standards. They got the lines and complexities. Several drummers and guitarists, one bass and one sax. I knew Calum from previous gigs and he played really well. I enjoyed all the guitarists, and interestingly, preferred different guitarists on different tunes. They featured on the styles that they obviously preferred, or maybe practiced. Bass was impressive with some very melodic solos and drums were solid. It all bodes well for the future. Not sure I got all the names right, though. I didn't stay for the jam session, but this part was worth the visit.

Mike Price (guitar) gathered a series of young players and sat in for some tunes. Players included Calum Builder (alto), Stephen Read (guitar), Pat Quin-Quirke (guitar), Tyson Jones (guitar), Brendan Keller-Tuberg (bass), Hayden Fritzlaff (drums), Kaitlin Ashley-Thomas (drums). Perhaps others.

Chops assumed

I like plucked solos on nylon string guitars. They are fast, flashy, exciting, with that dull thud with edge. Classical guitars use nylon strings and they claim a range of tones with fingerpicking. But this is different, not classical. It's a thrilling sound, with its references to Spain and flamenco. This was like that. Richly embroidered with rhythms form three guitars, often fingerpicking with ring and pinkies, along with picks and strums. I also like it when several people play the same instrument together. Their approaches and concepts are easy to hear. This was Mike Price, Greg Stott and Stuart King playing as Hermoso Sonido and they were obviously different in tone and soloistic styles.

I also like it when chops are assumed and the tunes take centre stage. I don't notice it too often and it's not always too obvious. I noticed it during a rich pop tune from Elvis Costello, Favourite hour. The solos were great, the interplay was wonderful with three similar instruments never stepping on each other, each taking a part, perhaps unconsciously, passing solos or supporting as a duo. This was so easy and the tune was paramount. Favourite hour was through composed, with great lyrics (but nobody offered to sing) and with unusual changes. They also played a rough transcription from Jan Lorenz, who Mike had seen in Barcelona, and a few originals from Greg and Kenny Wheeler's Kind folk, which I've heard before from Mike. I only heard the second set, having come from the Australian Haydn Ensemble, but they'd played some Chick Corea, one of which was the lively Open your eyes you can fly from the first, from the first incarnation of Return To Forever with Airto and Flora Purim and Joe Farrell and Stan Clarke. I got two things from this gig. Firstly, how well they played together. This was a lesson in three similar instruments not getting in each others' way. I realised when Mike was soloing, Stuart was strumming and Greg was filling with notes from chords. Very neat. And how three very good players on the same instruments can display such markedly different approaches.

This was a wonderfully involving concert with a settled quietness about it all. Thrilling in solos and skills and communicative in chatter and presence. Not loud, not forced, but driving and unified. Clearly three local masters at their craft. Hermoso Sonido are Mike Price, Greg Stott and Stuart King (nylon strung guitars).

That glorious acoustic twang

Megan and I dropped into the National Press Club for Friday evening jazz and a pre-dinner drink. Mike Price was playing, but this was more delicate than usual: a guitar trio of Mike with Greg Stott and Stuart King. Megan asked me at one stage if it was jazz. Who knows? There’s so much crossover these days. The guitars were nylon strung so the sound was crisp and earthy and acoustic: classical guitars… or John McLaughlin. Greg was miked and the others were using pickups into their amps. They played a few lively standards, but also several tunes that were more harmonically complex and balladic. It’s interesting to hear the different approaches to solos and comping and the different tones of each player, as well as admire the obvious reading skills. Luckily it wasn’t a busy night at the NPC because, even with a small audience, this detailed and intimate music was getting lost. It was a bit jazz-raw, as you’d expect, improvised and with a fairly undecided playlist. This would be a problem in a concert hall with classical players, but they were playing a bar and these are jazz trained, so playing somewhat off-the-cuff is second nature and part of the thrill. And these are capable players. So, one drink and one set was all we caught, but it was delightfully acoustic sounding and capably loose. Perhaps a stretch for the venue, but none-the-less it was worthy music well played.

Mike Price, Stuart King and Greg Stott (guitars) played as a trio at the National Press Club.

Occasional muster

It’s been infrequent, recently, this meeting of old friends. The ANU Faculty staged a reunion for Geoff Page’s Jazz at the Gods series. It wasn’t all of the faculty, but most of the core group. I haven’t heard John for a while. He and other remaining staff are madly busy with restructuring the music school. I can only wish them all well. The blurb suggests there’s a new and exciting approach on offer and all praise if that occurs. I can only see it as a hard road, but we’ll see over coming years. In the meantime, the effects on Canberra culture are clear to see.
But back to the concert. I’ve heard Miro more recently, up close, and written of that. James G was down from Sydney, making a memorable entry after being held up in Sydney traffic: the peripatetic jazz life. Plus Mike on his crisp, unsullied guitar. And James L and Mark, two of the busiest players around. I needn’t write much about these people or these tunes. I’ve heard and written of them many times here. Geoff Page mentioned this group was the core of the jazz renaissance over the last decade or so in Canberra. It’s deeply threatened now, of course, but maybe that’s how jazz is these days. How often to we hear that jazz is dead? It’s Easter so you think resurrection. Jazz seem to be continually resurrecting. Or another way to put it may be that real art never dies. There are always aficionados and steadfasts and tragics. This was heavy breathing on the stage even if the oxygen’s thin on Canberra’s jazz peaks these days.

BTW, the tunes were Footprints, Invitation, Alone together and You don’t know what love is (set 1), and Tenor madness, Body & soul, All the things you are, On Green Dolphin Street and Solar (set 2). All mid-century blowing standards. I was touched by Miro’s head on Body & soul and John’s sparse solo. It’s easy to forget amongst the fireworks that John can be so lyrical. I bopped with Mike’s Alone together, and thrilled with James G’s playful and pitch perfect solos. We all admired James L’s bowed solo on You don’t know what love is and some lively and lengthy solos, especially in the second set, and I was mightily impressed as I closely watched Mark’s strong but delicate stick play on Tenor madness. The opportunity to hear these guys is getting less frequent. Take it while you can. These were old friends, both tunes and players, but goodies.

The ANU Faculty Reunion featured John Mackey (tenor), James Greening (trombone), Miroslav Bukovsky (trumpet, flugelhorn), Mike Price (guitar), James Luke (bass) and Mark Sutton (drums).

Milesian

The ANU Faculty under Mike Price performed over the weekend for ABCFM’s Sunday Live series. They played Miles. Not all or only Miles, but some renowned tunes from the First and Second Great Quintets and some originals that were influenced by the music of Miles. The Canberra Sunday Live series is quite varied but jazz is out of the experience of some attendees. Before the concert, host John … asked the audience to check out where the exits were in case of fire. Was he expecting burning licks, I wondered. Then as I left, I found it amusing to overhear regulars commenting that “some have classical training” but they had enjoyed it well enough so good on them.

There’s some awe in performing live from Llewellyn to the nation, and I guess the world over the Net. First up, the band looked quite serious and played fairly restrained solos, but they soon relaxed and muted smiles started appearing. The first tune was hard-bopper Nardis, played at a very moderate pace and surprisingly effective like that. Then Contessa S, an original led by Mike, a meditative guitar trio tune coming out of a visit to Barcelona. I was realising the acoustics were not good. The horns were loud, sometimes huge; the drums and guitar were distant and the bass was only just present. I listened to the performance later from the website, and it sounded great: Eric’s bass was full toned and Mike’s guitar comping appeared and added immense colour to the accompaniment. Llewellyn is not generous to jazz or amplified music. Then two tracks from the Second Great Quartet, from 1965, the band with the “elastic definitions of tonality”. Wayne Shorter’s Iris was melancholy or perhaps wistful; Ron Carter’s Eighty One was a threatening rock groove presence with sudden, snapping resolutions. Miro has told me he was greatly influenced by Miles in his days, and I felt a real comfort in his solo on this tune. I thought Eric’s bass solo was strangely bluesy, but it worked against a march-like figure from Mark on drums. Then MDE, an original from Miro dedicated to Miles with dreamy first and third parts separated by a funky middle: both styles were nicely reminiscent of Miles from the jazz-rock era. Two nice throwbacks to pre-fusion Miles followed. Whoops is a melody by John over Coltrane’s Giant Steps changes. This was foot-tapping hard swing over those challenging, cycling chords. It was a vehicle for what I thought was John’s most unbridled solo on the day. John’s unbridled solos are always a pleasure. Then an up-tempo take on All Blues to end. A big concert hall is not how I most like to hear jazz: it really is an intimate form for clubs and late nights, but this was still a pleasure. It was more restrained but very professional and informed and a short touch on the importance of Miles.

Mike Price (guitar) led the ANU School of Music Faculty Ensemble with John Mackey (tenor sax), Miroslav Bukovsky (trumpet), Eric Ajaye (bass) and Mark Sutton (drums) at Llewellyn Hall for ABCFM’s Sunday Live.

Passing in the night

Megan and I went out for a Friday night drink at the National Press Club and Mike Price and crew were playing. This is fortuitous! I’ll be hearing them at Llewellyn Hall when they broadcast nationally to ABCFM on Sunday. Here’s a preliminary pic although the same band won’t be playing for the broadcast (I’ve seen two lineups online so not sure who to expect). Mike was enjoying a return to acoustic with a trio comprising bass and two acoustic guitars. I couldn’t hear Greg too clearly, although I did catch some fast lines and a few sheets of notes in his solos. Mike’s guitar was sharp and cutting and easy to pick up, and his playing was eminently melodic and purposeful. Lovely! Eric was his fluent self, too, with some busy solos and easy going but steady grooves. All standards: Ellington, Jobim and the like. What a nice interlude. It’s a relaxed and fairly noisy venue on Friday evenings with the musos in a dark corner, but a decent local haunt for an after-work drink with some very capable jazz. Mike Price (guitar) played with Greg Stott (guitar) and Eric Ajaye (bass).

Lucked out

Fridays are fine at the National Press Club, with free jazz at the highest local level, but we lucked out this evening. Mike Price was leading a quartet with visiting bassist Brendan Clarke and local stalwarts Wayne Kelly and Col Hoorweg. Brendan has a soft, gut tone, but pushes with an unrelenting swing and solos with real panache. I arrived during a bass solo and was taken from the first notes. But I also noticed Mike’s guitar, with satisfying melodic invention in the crisp style of George Benson when he played jazz, sweetly uncomplicated tone, clear melodic statements, moving through the beat with easy lyricism. Very nice. I also noticed some lovely and unexpected single note counterpoint against Wayne’s solos, which firstly had me wondering if this was bass until I realised this was higher and clearer and Brendan was otherwise engaged. Wayne’s accompaniment was syncopated chords of moving pitch that didn’t impose on the solos but enriched their movements, and frequent solo lines that moved in parallel through chordal degrees. Brendan was a rock, and Col embellished with fills that felt comfortable and settled in the groove. I recognised several tunes but can only name Have you met Miss Jones. Mike told me the second set would get into originals, so I guess I’m also commenting on those. If so, they were nicely written, unforced tunes that presented well. This is the band that will play on the opening night of the Capital Jazz Project, so to catch them warming up at the NPC was an unexpected delight. Lovely, straightahead jazz in the mainstream tradition with restrained energy and comfortable invention. Much enjoyed.

Mike Price (guitar) led a quartet with Wayne Kelly (piano), Brendan Clarke (bass) and Col Hoorweg (drums) at the National Press Club.

Pilgrimages (Moruya 2010)

It must have been a weekend for pilgrimages. Obviously, the big one was for Mary McKillop at the Vatican, but for me it was my annual jaunt to the Moruya Jazz Festival. It’s usually a bright, sunny, warm outing, but this one started with unseasonably wet and cold weather. By the end, it was pleasant despite a gentle but cool breeze in the Monarch Beer Garden. The usual contingent from the ANU Jazz School was there, as well as lots of names that appear most years. (It’s not just a pilgrimage for me, it seems).

Eric Ajaye noted that this was the tenth straight year that the Commercial Ensemble played at Moruya. They were hot and one of the festival stars for me, but then I like the harmonies of a larger ensemble. It was a different band this year with Liam Budge out front with his youthful vigour and visage (and male voice) and searching approach to singing the melody, and the addition of percussion from Namchoon Kim, (who has studied in Cuba, no less) enlivened the tonality. Percussion is not a common instrument at the Jazz School. Eric Ajaye noted that many bands he’d played with in the US had percussion, and certainly it adds a patina to the sound and complexity to the rhythm that greatly enhances many musical outings, and it sat well with a funky outfit like the Commercials. They do a nice cover of Steely Dan’s Ricky don’t lose that number with constant changes of style, rock, swing in the B section. That was interesting. But my favourite was a deliciously intoned ballad which they played at the first performance only. The horn-line intonation was spot on, so this just sang, and amongst the other lively numbers, it was a big contrast. Beautiful.

The stars of the show (at least for the followers of more modern styles) are always the faculty of the jazz school. This year it was Mike Price, Eric Ajaye and Col Hoorweg performing as the longstanding Mike Price Trio. They performed fabulously smooth and rich treatments of a few standards. How interesting were these renditions: a listening audience in a dedicated but casual venue makes a big difference. They played two sets, and both were well attended and closely followed. I was particularly taken by Eric’s strong and determined fingerboard work and I’m perplexed at the moment by that stroking right hand action, but then I’m a bassist new to double. Miro’s band was in the program, but couldn’t make it one the day, so Luke Sweeting performed Miro’s sets with Eric Ajaye and Aidan Lowe, and with some students occasionally sitting in. I caught just a few tunes, but the uncanny ability of Luke to stray from the straight line was inspirational.

Another band that impressed and entertained was the little big band funk/reggae outfit called Mahooud. Lots of laughter and display and obvious joy on stage, and it was infectious for the audience. Rachel Lole led the band from the mic stand, interestingly with another female singer, Sophia Christoper. Six horns out front, and a strong rhythm section I particularly noticed Caleb Wearne, e-bassist (also appearing in another outfit on acoustic) who set down some eminently funky and solid rhythms on Cissy Strut and the like and guitarist Victor Rufus. There were screams of delight when funk turned to reggae at one stage, but the feature was the final polka-cum-klezma paean to drink, with indulgent lyrics and punctuated playing and starts and stops and Eurofolk changes of tempo. The band was loving it and so was the audience. This was a winner.

Otherwise, there was a font of interesting stuff. DJ Gosper with her entertaining professionalism, great voice and relaxed swing. Jan Preston with hard core boogie-woogie blues. Matt Thompson with his very cool accompaniment. Dirk, Graham and Lachlan presented their normal smooth, mellifluous sax-based performance as As Famous as the Moon. Liam Budge in his own band with emo presence and busily inventive vocals, and always a great collection of fellow travellers around him. Not sure with whom, but I remember guitarist Joe Panucci letting go with some extraverted, screaming, sweeping solos. The Recording Ensemble were more introspective and minimalist this year. The Ax Long Quintet presented some early Miles-cool playing. I was quite fascinated by some developing but intriguing soloing by Tom Fawcett. Peter Henderson’s Turner’s antidote was there as usual, playing Tom Scott and similar '70s funk. They obviously enjoy this outing. Kooky Fandango were playing their lighter funk style, sharp and practised, and with Cam Smith’s classically trained trumpet playing some very nice and authentic jazz solos. There was more, of course, some of which I saw, and some I missed, bands and even venues and they are obviously coloured by my mood and interests. After years of attending Moruya, it feels like a family affair with the assortment and affiliations and changes over the years as the kids grow up and leave home. Maybe family picnic fits better than pilgrimage.

And BTW, I was there with a new band, but I have indulged myself elsewhere about that.

More guitar, great

More guitar from Mike, and very much enjoyed. Megan and I caught up with Mike Price playing with the old trio that we knew so well from seven or more years of playing at the Kurrajong: the trio with Eric Ajaye and Col Hoorweg. It’s a lovely outfit playing the standards. Mike does it so well: smooth, detailed, richly improvised, busy but relaxed, accompanied by numerous lyrical solos from Eric and regular swapped fours with Col. It all sounds very staid - playing the standards, guitar trio and the like - but this has depth of knowledge and richness and chordal bravura. Such a lovely outing. These tunes are standards because they are memorable and they are great to improvise against. That’s the reason for the standards, and this is a band that confirms it. I thought I recognised Just friends, and I definitely heard Crazy after all those years and a few blues in various styles and All of me. It sounds obvious and not particularly inspiring, but when played at this level, it’s anything but. I’m late to visit the National Press Club for their Friday sessions, but don’t miss it. Four different bands made up from the ANU jazz faculty, rotating through the month. It’s a chatty and busy environment on a Friday evening, salubrious but with a gritty edge, and despite that, it’s a place of considerable musical satisfaction. Get there. Great stuff. Mike Price (guitar) played with Eric Ajaye (bass) and Col Hoorweg (drums).

Crazy guitarists (proof!)

Mike Price promised us no long sax solos, but then guitarists aren’t innocent creatures. Instead, we got lots of guitar solos and volume, but it was some wonderful and informative playing from a front line of three guitars (jazz Doobies?): Mike with two ex-students, Carl Dewhurst and Carl Morgan. They were supported by Eric Ajaye and Mark Sutton who took some lovely solos at the end, but this was a guitar night and it was educational. Mike and the two Carls took us on a tour of guitar styles from Charlie Christian to current. The names are all quite well known, and even the styles, but hearing them together always clarifies the mind. It was the same with the playing. Hearing these three guitarists together was an ear-opener, making evident the different styles and habits and approaches of each player. So this was a fascinating and satisfying night out.

Firstly, the history. Charlie Christian: born 1916; played with Benny Goodman; died aged 25; first major amplified guitarist, allowing him to switch from rhythm guitar to soloist; played a Gibson 125 (no cutaway) with a single coil pickup; mate of T-Bone Walker, the revolutionary blues guitarist. The Crazies played 7 come 11, a 32-bar tune with cut time A section and swinging bridge. Wes Montgomery: started playing guitar at 19; died aged 46; fluent style using flesh of thumb (no plectrum), block chords and octaves. [I’ll add that he had an early electric bass-playing brother, Monk Montgomery]. The Crazies played a common Wes standard, Full house. George Benson: Wes M protégé who later moved into pop; again octaves, chords, thumb styles; first guitarist to play with Miles; influenced by an early career in R&B and soul. The Crazies played Thunderwalk, a hard-swinging blues with that moves up a semitone on bar 5. Antonio Carlos Jobim: the great bossa composer. The Crazies played the languid Triste. Pat Martino: born 1944 in Philadelphia; influenced by Coltrane; played with chromatics, lots of notes and passion, lower register playing, chord hits; suffered a brain aneurism in 1936, was operated on and lost all memory including how to play the guitar then re-learnt from his old recordings; still playing. The Crazies played 3 bass hit.

History set 2. Steve Swallow: bassist. The Crazies played Falling grace, a complex tune that was apparently his second composition. Not sure how this got in, given Steve S is a bassist, but he does play electric. Kurt Rosenwinkel: god of a new generation of guitarists; born Philadelphia; left studies to tour with drummer Paul Motion. The Crazies played Zhivago in 3/4. Pat Metheny: born 1954 in Kansas; plays with effects, chorus, reverb; melodic playing influenced more by pop than blues; creator of “New Americana” with Bill Frisell. The Crazies played a lovely waltz from the classic album that he recorded at age 21, Bright Side Life. John Scofield: born 1952; blues-funk player who’s passed through several stages; renowned soloist who’s played widely. The Crazies played a gentle, lyrical tune with multiple guitars and no bass or drums, The Beatles, which Mike noted had “certainly nothing to do with the Beatles”. Jim Hall: born 1930; one of the all round great jazz guitarists; a melodic chord player. The Crazies played a driving groove tune with great bass which was originally recorded with Bill Frisell on the album, Dialogs.

Secondly, the guitarists. It’s instructive that you can have a teacher with students but three such different styles. To me, they sound this way: Mike is bluesy, sometimes scalar but relatively arpeggiated. Carl M is flowing, scalar, sweeter and consistently faster than the other two. Carl D is hard, angular, unexpected with diverse intervals and lines searching for resolution, not always fast but sometimes blistering. A fascinating experience to hear them together. What a great night! Education and entertainment and enlightenment. I certainly learnt about the jazz guitar. I’d known of all the historical guitarists, but one just as a name, and even then hadn’t put them together, especially the earlier ones. At one stage Carl D excused the three of them for their guitar passions, but I say give us more. Much enjoyed.

Mike Price (guitar) led the Crazy Guitar Ensemble at the Gods with Carl Dewhurst (guitar), Carl Morgan (guitar), Eric Ajaye (bass) and Mark Sutton (drums).