Interlude no.1 Jazz

In the middle of recording CIMF was a jazz recording and despite the immense satisfaction of classical virtuosity, it was a welcome change.  Michael J Brady had invited me to record his trio's visit to the Drill Hall, on tour to promote their recent album.  They'd managed a session in the ArtSound studio and this was also being documented, with video and audio.  Support was our own Ueber Gang led by Liv Uebergang.  I could only praise the name.  First up Liv, proud to be playing a first performance gig after very many bar gigs.  Expansive in her guitar playing sounding richly of effects, perhaps chorus or echo or both maybe more, she led on a series of classic modern jazz tunes and a few originals with offsiders Harrison Whalan and Sean Kirk.  Some nice, extensive solos from Harrison and a few from Sean but also a presence and structure to the band, not least to locate Liv chatting to the crowd.  This was like a performance not a simple gig and it showed.  Then MJB in guitar trio format with Oscar Peterson and Alex Inman-Hislop.  This was original music, neat and adventurous but remaining very welcoming and lyrical, not overly jazzy, but expansive around other styles, indie or folkish melodic, often quiet and meditative then into gentle grooves and unpretentious solos over a freely interpretive rhythmic backing.  Really quite lovely and considered.  So quite a difference but equally a gig of satisfaction.

Michael J Brady (guitar) led a trio with Oscar Peterson (bass) and Alex Inman-Hislop (drums) at the Drill Hall Gallery.  They were supported by Ueber Gang featuring Liv Uebergang (guitar), Harrison Whalan (bass) and Sean Kirk (drums).

Thanks Sean and all

It's an amazing and fabulous thing that jazz players can come together and play decently with no history, or at least no personal history.  The history that serves is the studies and practice and listening that makes for the essence of jazz.  So Dave couldn't do this gig and Sean sat in.  And it was a great gig and very much enjoyed by us and well complemented by listeners as they left and even as encountered on the streets.  That's nice.  Mostly standards, and that's part of that history mentioned above, but also several tunes from James that aren't just walks. Congrats to Sean for his ear.  It happened a few weeks back, too, at Old Canberra Inn, when only I could make it and the sit ins made up 2/3 of the band, namely Ross and Mark.  But this was another entertaining and challenging gig to everyone's entertainment including us.  How I love music like this!  Casual with beer on amp but deadly serious too.  Jazz is something special.

Tilt Alt. were James Woodman (piano), Eric Pozza (bass) and Sean Kirk (drums) at Molly and Ross Buchanan (keys), Eric Pozza (bass) and Mark Levers (drums) at OCI.

A free Tuesday eve

I had a Tuesday evening free and that's jazz night at Molly with a string of small bands and this night was Eric Ajaye with Sean Kirk and Elliot Kozary.  I'd seen both Sean and Elliot but I need a better knowledge of the current crop of jazzers so I was there.  I was fascinated.  Eric introduced the band, the songs, and the players as young playing old, meaning mature.  I could agree.  I was sitting with one bassist and had another at the next table and it was easy enough to fathom Eric's style, his soft tone, generous volume, indulgent slides and deep vibrato.  Throw in his lovely sense of melody and it's a huge pleasure and a core of the band.  We could also discuss his e-bass and parallel amps and solo strings detuned.  But I was not so clear on the other two.  First up, Sean.  It seemed to me he was freely improvising over the rhythm, but the core could come through, too.  Then I noticed his hands, right hand playing snare and left playing a ride cymbal beside the hi-hat.  He explained this as open handed.  I hadn't heard of it but it made perfect sense when he explained he's left handed playing a right handed kit.  Interesting and maybe it lent itself to his style.  Dunno.  Being a bassist I thought of Mononeon but then there's Hendrix of course: worthy associations, even on different instruments.  Then Elliot.  There are no left/right hand pianos but I was intrigued by his sense of tonality, unsure if it was substitutions or extension or maybe fourths.  He spoke of rootless left hand (or two handed) voicings and thus extensions.  And occasional drop 2 chords.  His sparse and delayed melodies suggested Keith Jarrett to me and he confirmed that, but also Bill Evans and Oscar Peterson (very different!) and mentioned Corea and Hancock, of course, so nothing  unexpected.  Thinking back, maybe Bill Evans were more those passages, but there were others more on top of the beat and more simply arpeggiated.   Whatever, this was a satifying bit of playing with quite expressionistic, often slower, takes on standards and a few originals.  Some titles I recognised or caught on introductions like Night and day and Round midnight and Norah Jones Don't know why and Kenny Wheeler.  Worthy stuff indeed.  I enjoyed this immensely and it was a good theory lesson to boot.

Sean Kirk (drums) played with Elliot Kozary (piano) and Eric Ajaye (bass) at Molly.

New wave

My early days of jazz had no women other than singers but times are turning and it's good.  I saw Olivia Uebergang and her trio last night at Molly and it was a student turnout and a Real book read and a great little outing even with some amusing reconsiderations of the playlist.  That's common enough for all.  With Olivia were Sean Kirk and Harrison Whalan, drums and bass.  There were some comfy rhythms, mid- and up-tempo swings and latins and the like from the fake books.  Mostly heads from Olivia but a few from Harrison; several nice intros from Sean; swapped fours (sometimes spilling to 2s and 1s).  All the standard takes.  I really liked Olivia's mix of chordal plays and single notes, in both melodies and solos, and mixing in and out.  Guitar is great for that, the sudden richness of chordal colours amongst the determined single notes.  Nice extensive solos, too, interesting and varied, crisp or coloured.  Harrison, too, took some lengthy solos, often up the neck, more quick and sustained rather than phrased.  His volume was a touch low, but the tone was full with a tingling top end; nice.  Sean was busy and creative on his drums, with lovely fitting syncopations over a satisfyingly rounded kick tone that punched through complex snare and tom improvs.  This was serious business - it showed in his closed eyes and expressive face - and busily effective.  And that discussion on the play list, over the shared music stand, well that was just an amusing performance from a good natured trio.  A nice outing from some fresh players.

Olivia Uebergang (guitar) led her trio with Sean Kirk (drums) and Harrison Whalan (bass) at Molly.