Theatre and the Church

Rhythm Syndicate did a concert of two halves: the first a series of songs from musical theatre and film; the second various carols and Christmas songs.  I enjoyed the second but was thrilled by the first.  I guess theatre has to sell itself more than religions with millennia of history, although they can do it pretty well too.  Mary did you know was a modern and feminist tune with religious themes and Silver bells and O holy night and the like are classics.  The theatricals had the pretty Memory or the touching Moon River or the rollicking Everything's coming up roses.  I was particularly taken by the harmonies from a group of ~18 arrayed as SSATB.  The parts weren't perfectly clear, perhaps given the gutsy volume in the space, but they were lovely and the sopranos rang out above as they do and Harrison's piano was reliable.  Sarah Louise was up front as conductor and added another level of excitement by prodding emotional energy and associated dynamics from various parts at various times.  A lovely, stirring end-of-year gig from Rhythm Syndicate.

Rhythm Syndicate performed at Wesley under Sarah Louise Owens (director) with accompanist Harrison Whalan (piano).

Doin' the rounds

Suddenly I am recording choirs and this time it was massively different again.  This was Rhythm Syndicate, an SATB jazz-cum-pop choir singing their Christmas event at Wesley., so with some jazz tinged traditional hymns.  I'm not usually an Elton John fan, but I must say I was taken by two of his pieces, I'm still standing and Your song.  Maybe because for once I tried to take in the lyrics.  Pop is like that and it's why it's popular, I reckon.  It speaks to people about things that matter personally, or at least it can.  Otherwise, some older standards, Moonglow and a doo-wap take on Blue Moon, and Fire and rain, another soft-pop classic.  Then the Christmas tunes.  Amongst others was an arrangement of Away in a manger by Sally Greenaway and a quite chromatic and substitutional take on the first Noel by arranger Rhonda Polay.  That really impressed me.  And Somewhere in my memory, which is apparently lauded from Home alone but not one I knew, and a boisterous and lung-loss take on O Holy Night, such a glorious tune done with gusto and big sounds.  RS are an SATB choir of 12 women (one singing tenor, I think) and 9 men under Sarah Louise Owens with piano accompaniment from Harrison Whalen.  About as far as you scan get from Kompactus' contemporary classical and Oriana's Rach Vespers.  Doin' the choral rounds, I guess.  Jazz and pop structures with dynamics, sweetness, joy and occasional raucousness.

Rhythm Syndicate performed at Wesley under Sarah Louise Owens (musical director) accompanist with  Harrison Whalan (piano).

Return to Chrissie

Just back and I'm returned to Wesley lunchtime concerts which I record weekly.  It's almost Christmas so the year is almost up, but also we hear Christmas theme.  This day under the noise of considerable rain and thunder, but still a great pleasure.  This was Rhythm Syndicate, our local jazz choir, singing a series of jazz and popular arrangements and a few yuletide numbers.  There were songs by Sting and Elton John as well as old swingers like Sunny side of the street.  The Christmas tunes were mostly modern arrangements, including a nice one by Sally Greenaway of Away in a manger.  I remain pretty traditional in my seasonal preferences.  I think my favourite was O Holy night for the glorious trad. melody but maybe that's just the comfort of tradition.  And so lovely to hear those SATB harmonies with swing grooves and the piano of ANUSOM student Harrison Whalan under Sarah Louise Owens.  An entertaining return to Christmas and the local music scene.

Rhythm Syndicate performed at Wesley under Sarah Louise Owens (director)  with accompanist Harrison Whalan (piano).

This is CJBlog post no. 2,750.

Jazz comes to Wesley

It was an unusual concert at Wesley. This was music of the jazz era sung by a jazz choir with piano accompaniment. I just don't expect rhythmic rhapsodies at Wesley, but there they were. They were short a few sopranos who had come down with colds, but this was a lovely satisfying thing anyway. I was entranced from the top with a fascinating and neatly constructed intermingling medley called Rhapsody in rhythm, featuring Crazy rhythm, Fascinating rhythm, I got rhythm and Rhapsody in blue, not just as a simple run of tunes, but nicely overlaid and interspersed. That was some great arrangement. This one was not by a band member, but others were. Musical director Camilo Gonzales writes and arranges and provided one tune, a version of Cry me a river. And Mike Dooley, piano accompaniment, writes prolifically and featured three songs from a gospel CD he has written and RS is recording. So, quite a range, here: from jazz era to Carole King and Cry me a river which was performed by many but which I first encountered by Joe Cocker, of all singers. There was life and pleasure in this group, some great arrangements and harmonies and nice, tricky rhythms and some excellent accompaniment from Mike, not least some insinuating and perfectly timed ostinatos and a few little opportunities for solos. So a great pleasure with some foot-tapping tunes.


Rhythm Syndicate performed at Wesley under Camilo Gonzales (musical director, conductor) with accompaniment by Mike Dooley (piano).

Finally Merimbula 3

I caught one of two sets of the ANU Big Band under John Mackey. Big it is: 30 performers including eight singers. As you’d expect, it was lively and well turned out. I felt comfy from the first vibrant chords of a Bill Liston chart, and it was a roller coaster ride from there. Woody Herman played on bass clarinet and clarinet; a vocal choir performing Easy to love; a Bach cello suite performed on 6-string e-bass by Jack Schwenke. The Music School now joins students from jazz and classical backgrounds, so we get an idiosyncratic performance. Strange, yes, but also interesting.

Mark VI included several players I was to perform with in my own band, so I had to catch them. They are led by trumpeter Mark Durieu, performing hardbop and the like: David Sanborn, Scotch & soda, Sugar. It’s entertaining music and hardly profound, but I’m sure it doesn’t claim to be. These are good musos: good readers, good soloists, correct and capable. You can see the Army Band connections in the reading and accuracy and occasionally in the haircuts. I particularly enjoyed Noddy’s drive, Baba’s fluent solos and Barney’s easy reading. Barney had to do the set on double after he’d left his guitar strap in the car, but I didn’t notice anything lacking. Mark VI were Mark Durieu (trumpet), Rouslan (Baba) Babajanov (sax), Douglas Hill (piano), Richard Manning (guitar), Scott Temby (guitar – not sure he was playing this set), Barney (Benjamin) Briggs (bass) and Derrick (Noddy) Brassington (drums).

Don’t tell Megan, but I went to a jazz service. Well, actually an ecumenical gospel service, as I was informed by someone leaving a local Anglican church. It was in the Catholic church, an unfortunate ‘60s A-frame construction with a priest who mentioned Parsifal and his preferences for other than jazz. He railed against ideology and at one point even questioned Papal modernism. I can respect tradition, but I felt a chill breeze of Pellucid conservatism about this man. The readings were Psalms 158-160, all praise to the Lord. Some lines from the “responsive prayer” sounded like piffle to my ears: “Let us raise to the limits of time / And behold Your eternity / Let us run to the edges of space / And gaze into Your immensity”. I prefer words like “Blessed are the peacemakers”. I often hear music in churches these days; they can be some of the best spaces for music. This was jazz and gospel singing. Rhythm Syndicate was choir; Pippa Wilson was singer with a decent, mature, traddie band. The songs were Swing down chariot (what is it about chariots in gospel music?), Amazing Grace, God bless the child (lovely!); I believe (credulous pap to my ears); Leonard Cohen’s Hallelujah (deeply uncertain and earthy and a paen for our times); He ain’t heavy, he’s my brother (unfortunate); Put your hand in the hand (lively) and When the Saints go marching in (inevitable). I enjoyed this. I sang along and searched for harmonies, no doubt annoying the couple in front of me, but it was fun and it loosened the vocal chords.

Jazz band with choir?

I saw a Facebook status comment saying someone was watching jazz with a choir. The friend throught that was pretty strange. It was us! Jazz Republic was playing with the Rhythm Syndicate choir. It was a gig for the C100 Musical Offering, at the Brassey Hotel. Our pianist, Mike, is the accompanist for RS and he drew us in to read charts for a few tunes. It was an interestingly mixed gig. RS sang with Mike for some songs, with JR for about 10 others, and JR played several short sets in between. RS sang standards and rock & roll and early jazz, but also Sting’s Field of gold, with some more complex harmonies. I particularly enjoyed The nearness of you, given it’s such a lovely ballad, and a cute song of innocent film seduction called Baby it’s cold [outside] (girl plans to leave, boy warns of snow and cold, mmm). On the contrary, our JR sets were hot with fast takes on a string of tunes, especially a take on My finest hour at breakneck speed, but also a few funky numbers, Chameleon, of course, and Wayne Shorter’s Adam’s apple. This was fun and good practice in chart reading and hits. A very enjoyable outing at the Brassey. BTW, the first Sunday each month is Big Band afternoon at the Brassey. Good to keep in mind.

Rhythm Syndicate was accompanied by Jazz Republic at the Brassey Hotel. RS is led by Shilong Ye (musical director, conductor) and accompanied by Mike Dooley (piano). JR are Mike Dooley with Richard Manderson (saxes), Eric Pozza (bass) and Brenton Holmes (drums).