JU crew

Thanks to all who made JU a successful event. A great Committee: Brenton Holmes, Cameron Smith, Courtney Stark and Eric Pozza. A great venue: Bill Arnett from the Folkus Room, now in the extensive Italo-Australian Club. Great sound: Kev Austin and George Pass of Active Clear Sound. Recording and live broadcasting courtesy of Chris Deacon, Lauren Black, Neal Gowen and others at our Arts Partner, ArtSound. And our sponsors and supporters and string of volunteers. Thanks to all.

First of the Gods

Leigh Barker’s Quintet were the first performers in this year’s Jazz Series at the Gods. Leigh and his mates provide a real Canberra ambience at their local gigs. Leigh, the leader and bassist, is a local, as is John Felstead on saxes. But it’s not just the fact of their background, but also the presence of friends and family at his concerts, and the references to the local area, that only a Canberran would understand. Their first CD is called “Off to Moruya”. It’s obviously a reference to the Moruya Jazz Festival, where they regularly play. Apparently, the cover designer was a Melbourne bloke who was intrigued by a grotesqueness in the name, Moruya, so it stuck for the album. Then, there’s the hot swing original tune called Merimbula, another obvious reference to a town and a local jazz festival. But the band is now resident in Melbourne, and apparently is very busy with work there. So in truth this is another homecoming from more successful ex-patriates.

I like this band’s complexity of conception. It’s a real mix. You may hear pre-bop in the rhythm section, cut time on drums, perhaps a gentle swing on bass, along with the sound of French boulevards on the piano accordian, and a bit of modern dissonance on the sax and trumpet. So it’s an intriguing and, to me, unique blend of trad, mainstream and modern styles. And their presentation fits to boot: brown suits, with jackets removed after a few tunes, and rolled up sleeves for the busy end of the night. Leigh even wore braces. Perfect. This is intelligent entertainment. No wonder they have plenty of work.

The night started with Ellington’s The Mooch. (I’m sure they started with this at Hippo’s when I saw them, but it’s a perfect, sleezy tune to set the ambience). There was a tune by Heather Stewart of Melbourne, called Music Room, which featured a cut-time reminscent of European films – cute, humourous and deceptively light music. There were several originals by the band, recalling Moruya and Merimbula, If I had a brain from the Wizard of Oz, and a Nat King Cole favourite called Ruby and the Pearl. They raised a chuckle with a tune called “What this thing called, love?”, and ended with a dedication to Bill Frisell (I think I got this right), which surprised me given the style, called In the country with Bill.

From my modern jazz, soloistic, individualistic point of view, I most liked the solos of the two horns. Eamon played some very satisfying fast lines, and often broke out into dissonance with repeated patterns at chromatic and other intervals. John also frequently dipped into the distorted pool of dissonance, and I liked that. When I previously heard Matt at Hippo’s he played both accordion and piano, and I thought there was more inventiveness on the piano. This time he only played accordion, and the style was not so much jazzy as euro-folk and ambient. I liked this, and it certainly highlighted the uniqueness of the band. Leigh and Al both set capable rhthyms, and did a few nice solos, too.

The Leigh Barker Quintet are Leigh Barker (bass), Al Mcgrath-Kerr (drums), John Felstead (saxes), Eamon McNelis (trumpet), and Matt Boden (piano, accordian)

Leigh’s band plays again at White Eagle on Thurs 14 June, for those who missed this show. ArtSound recorded the concert, so you can also expect to hear the band on radio over coming months. Thanks to Geoff Page for organising the series. The next Gods to visit the Café are Sandy Evans, Toby Hall and Brett Hirst, on 3 July. These are authentic Australian jazz gods, so get there if you can.

The team that brings you White Eagle

Jazz at the White Eagle is turning into a major event. For those who don’t know, it’s a monthly performance and jam session run by several students from the ANU Jazz School. The driving forces are Ed Rodrigues, Hannah James and Phill Jenkins. Respectively, they play drums, bass and bass, so just goes to prove that the rhythm section is the driving force in jazz.

From left, Ed, Hannah and Phill

This is not music for the faint-hearted, but if you like to hear what musos choose to play for themselves or for other musos, this is it. The performance side regularly features musicians out of Sydney or Melbourne or top local bands, sometimes with staff from the Jazz School. The Sydney contingent is frequently out of the Jazzgroove cooperative. Many of the players from out-of-town have Canberra connections, being originally from Canberra and/or having studied at the local Jazz School. Following the featured bands, there’s usually a jam session with local students or graduates.

The event is held at the White Eagle (Polish) Club opposite the O’Connor shops (otherwise the venue for the long-running folk equivalent, Merry Muse). It’s a comfortable venue, with cheap grog and Polish beers available, and uncommon but authentic Polish food. There’s plenty of time between bands for a chat, plenty of seating and Euro-café-style tables and easy parking, so it’s a comfortable and easy-going event.

In addition, most of the sessions are recorded by Chris Deacon with the help of Neal Gowen, both from our local ArtSound FM 92.7, so you’re likely to hear snippets on radio after the event.

Thanks to Ed, Hannah and Phill for their great work.

Just $12 for a great night with drinks at club prices. BTW, there’s a link to White Eagle’s MySpace site at the top right hand of the CJ Home page for future reference.

White eagle's MySpace site