Suite life

A suite is a big view and not very common in jazz, but Stu Hunter does them. The migration is the third that he's composed and recorded and the first that I've heard on tour. We were lucky enough to catch the final night here in Canberra, after performances as far afield as Perth and as illustrious as the MIJF. The final night mostly has the best awareness of the music and the most delirious pleasure in playing and that's what it seemed to me this night. Not least aided by the Canberra connections, through frequent gigs or teaching or studying at our School of Music in its illustrious past. I assume there's also family here for some of them. I could only admire and wallow in the deep, often minimalist grooves, the sometimes raucous horn parts, the heavy rhythms or detailed drums or essential, busy, feathery e-bass, or Stu's directorial piano segments or Tina's blues-infested voice that stepped through lyrics in three component songs of nine tune/movements. I couldn't catch all the words and these would be essential for the theme; reading them after from the CD cover I'm still not hugely more confident in my interpretation. The migration seems a broad story of life, a "celebration, conversation, a comment and a wish ... my own life process put to music ... questions instead of answers ... movement of ideas and beliefs ... and growth and sharing of culture and ideas". That's a broad palette for the theme. The music was broad too, as well as virtuosic (although no surprise on the virtuosity given the lineup). Bass was core to the work. It started with a wah bass solo then a driving dirty bass with overlying yearning horn themes. Then a heavy groove with Afrobeat horns; a short pensive section; the theme laid out with voice on Twelve stages of freedom. Requiem for belief was a written four part horn tune (including tuba) with drums accompaniment (think Nino Rota). There was a piece outlining flowing water then a piano-heavy ballad speaking of love; an ecstatic blues/funk song with words of moonshine but themed of the joys of life lived. Finally a klezmer-like ending called Land of Gypsies, instrumental and outgoing and open to the world. Nice to see the migration was ultimately well-received by the composer. It was certainly well-received by the audience. I hugely enjoyed the grooves, head-nodding for long passages (there's a lot of music here to dance to), the horns were great, the rhythm section was wondrous, especially Cameron Undy (local origin, now Sydney), very busy on a uniquely lithe bass (short scale Fender Musicmaster with split pickup?), and Simon's insistent drumming, Tina's voice was intimately bluesy and powerful with heavy vibrato. And Julien's bass clarinet, amusingly sometimes sounding of didj, Matt's much restrained solo lines breaking into flurries, James' playful virtuosity on tuba and everything else he touches, Phil's calmly explosive precision, Carl's occasional guitar (I remember just one larger solo this night, mostly lost in the mix to my ears) that can plumb real musical depths, Declan's insistent rhythms that established more than one tune, and Stu's guidance and oversight from the piano stool and sharp solos and penetrating comping. 80 minutes that entranced and involved and passed with ease. In the wake of the like of Mingus and Carla Bley, Stu Hanter has produced his third large format compostion and it was a wonderful, engaging success.

Stu Hunter (piano, composer) led the band in performing his suite, The migration, at the Street Theatre. The band was Stu with Phil Slater (trumpet), Matt Keegan (saxes, clarinet), Julien Wilson (saxes, clarinet), James Greening (trombone, pocket trumpet, tuba), Carl Dewhurst (guitar), Cameron Undy (bass), Simon Barker (drums, percussion), Declan Kelly (percussion, drums), Tina Harrod (vocals).

Openers 2

Hip Flask is led by Roger Manins and is presented as barbeque music that will go down well with the neighbours as well as the jazzers. It’s true. I loved this outing. All grooves and blues and wonderful playing. It’s an odd combination with nice weight-weight but light-toned Hammond organ and Leslie sharing keyboard space with truncated, dissonance-rich, Monk-inspired quirkiness on piano, driving straight-ahead drumming, fabulously fat and clever tenor, soft but deep and endemic swing from bass and a leavening of stage humour. One tune starts with a wooden flute that’s bought on the day and played in the key of the new instrument. Apparently Stu could only find a plastic descant recorder in Wang, so this was it, wrapping peeled on stage and song key set. Surprisingly, Roger did a decent solo on the thing but lamented at the end “It’s horrible, this thing. Wang, can’t you do better?” He prefers wood. There were new tunes, choppy organ grooves, odd contrasting times. I failed to understand one count; I thought the organ was playing 3 and the rest 4, but that doesn’t sound nearly complex enough for this oddity. There were agile and contorted heads and simple bluesy repeats. There were some stellar solos. I particularly enjoyed the bizarre piano (I write bizarre with great respect!) and Roger’s firm lines, but I reeled from Brendan’s extended outing, soft but strong, long and ever intriguing. It’s not always you can say that of a bass solo but he’s such a master of swing. There was deep ‘70s funk and swapped fours between organ and piano (strange that one, what keyboard contrasts), and a most amazingly beautiful ballad, The beauty in their eyes, with haunting sax over raindrop piano accompaniment, then openly-spelt bass harmonies that were stunning. My foot tapped throughout but my brain synapsed too. Both clever and earthy and open to all. Great stuff.

Then off to the Blues tent for a very different experience. More people, more beer, more dancing, much much much more volume, less grey hair. Perhaps this is the real place for the barbeque and the neighbours (if not for the ears). I’d gone for some authentic, black American blues guitar from Joe Louis Walker. Blues is all much of a muchness and I feel it’s all been played before, but this was obvious quality. It’s not easy to do a style with authenticity and authority and this had both. Great presence, sharp blues solos, thumping drive, basic bass, expressive keys and busy drums. Plenty of dancers up front, plenty of beers, a modicum of cops and the breathalyser on the street outside. And that thapping punch in the stomach from every bass drum kick. Good and social and fun but deadly for the aural anatomy. It wasn’t quite so deafening out of the line of fire of the PA, but I didn’t last too long.

Finally, the Pinsent Hotel, jamming-home of the festival. It’s Friday and not the busy night and the trad end of the scene was in residence. I caught a few tunes from the Syncopators. Again, more entertaining and irreverent than the modern stuff at the major theatres. These were decent players but my interests lie elsewhere, and, wary of breathalysers, I stayed for only one beer.

Hip Flask are led by Roger Manins (tenor sax, recorder) with Stu Hunter (organ), Adam Ponting (piano), Brendan Clarke (bass) and Toby Hall (drums). Joe Louis Walker (guitar, vocals) played the blues with Phillip Young (keys, sax), Lenny Bradford (bass, vocals), Anthony Cage (drums). The Syncopators are Pater Gaudion (trumpet, vocals), Chris Lydowyck (trombone), Richard Miller (clarinet, sax) with Steve Grant (piano), Peter Baylor (guitar), James Clark (bass) and Andrew Swann (drums).

Not yet arboreal

What can you say about the Arboretum? It will be wonderful in 20 years, providing we have enough water in this post-climate-change world to keep the trees alive. I can only hope we do, but fear otherwise. But despite the bare grounds and infrequent plantings, it was a good afternoon with bands on the Open Day. Windy, mainly due to a lack of tree breaks. (But now I am being naughty!). The Lethals were playing as I arrived: Leigh “Lethal” Miller (bass) with Hugh Deacon (drums) and Matt Lustri (guitar). It sounded boomy from a distance, but it stopped by the time I got anywhere near the stage, so nothing to report.

But I was there for Katie Noonan, famed classically trained singer, and front person for george and Paul Grabowski and now a Beatles cover album. Highly trained, able to sing from the highest balcony. This was Katie and she did not disappoint. She was basically singing pop for this incarnation: grooves, a few repeated chords without complex extensions, straight drums holding it together. But the voice was magical in its quality and expressiveness and range; the grooves were strong and of complexity; the guitar was effected and echoed and often clangingly dissonant with chordal solos that decried jazz lines; Stu Hunter’s keyboard bass lines were richly polyrhythmic and almost uncountable at times. Yeah, it was pop, but at such a level of sophistication that I was embraced. This lithe voice (she joked of Kate Bush fantasies) that pirouetted over the often unreadable and always dramatic understory, with lyrics of love and loss and the profundities of the personal. There were tunes from george, and tunes from a new album they are preparing. All originals; all with lust for life and a parallel despair. Apparently Katie is a greenie, recently moving to the bush with her family. More prosaically, Stu is Weston boy, and the band had eaten breakfast locally with Mum and Dad that morning. This was essentially pop, but done with some purpose and profundity that it was a work of art. Lovely, touching music. Perhaps too much boofy bass and volume, but what can you expect of a hired PA?

Katie Noonan (vocals, keyboards) played with Stu Hunter (keyboards, keyboard bass), Captain Cameron Dale (guitar) and Declan Kelly (drums) appearing as the Captains.

I just caught a few tunes from Blamey Street Big Band before I left. This is a local outfit led by Ian McLean. They play the mainstream repertoire of BB tunes: All of me, Boogie woogie bugle boy, Do you know what it means to miss New Orleans, and the like. Rachel Thorne was out front for the tunes I heard, and she was strong and capable. The band itself warmed to the task, and was playing straight but pretty reliably as I left. They are a common sight around town: CSCC, festivals, other gigs. Catch them for a mainstream hoot. A big, traditional big band in the style of Glen Miller and Basie and Ellington. Hard to maintain, but a great local resource.

The Blamey Street Big Band was led by Ian McLean with Rachel Thorne on vocals.

Post-Bakelite mainstream

The cool sound of the Hammond B-3 and that strange and very pre-digital Leslie speaker took the Hippo audience back to that hard-swinging era of go-ahead, mainstream jazz somewhere around the 50s/60s. The line-up of organist (playing the bass line with his left hand), guitar and drums just confirmed the reference to Jimmy Smith, who introduced this sound in the mid-50s, playing with Wes Montgomery, Kenny Burrell and the like. The sound is post-Bakelite, mainstream, pre-modern. In it, I hear influences of swing bands and bop, and no recognition of the tumults of cool and free that were exploding at the time. No problems there. It’s pleasant and entertaining, and none too deep: suitable for those post-war 50s couples, so recently released from the harsh demands of wartime, to settle into a materially comfortable era (and also forget the Bomb). When well played, it’s joyous, carefree, tuneful, even coquettish, and a great pleasure.

This local incarnation was billed the Mike Price Trio with Stu Hunter. Mike is the head of the jazz school, and a guitarist well suited to this style. His Gibson tone is woody; his playing is mostly tonal, although occasionally chromatic, and always fast and flowing, and with some chordal playing, not just in accompaniment. I also noticed the way he implied the melody in his solos: that’s nice to hear in a front line soloist. Col on drums is another of the Jazz School faculty. This pair has played together for many years in a residency at the Kurrajong Hotel (a local and free gem) with Eric Ajaye and their relationship shows with responsiveness from Col and easy passing of solos to and from drums. Col frequently arrives with basic kits. This time, he brought just snare, hi-hats and two cymbals. Early in the night, he played with brushes and hands and with the snare off. Only later, did the sticks (and mallets) appear and the snare was switched in. It’s idiosyncratic, but he wrings some nice, changing rhythmic expressions from this minimal kit. It’s amazing just how many tonalities are available just by hitting a few things, and the limited palette probably forces Col to work on this aspect of his playing. Stu was the younger colt, dressed in big city jazz style, and armed with an array of equipment. He mainly played Nord keyboard with the right hand and bass lines on a Virus synthesiser with his left, as well as several effects units, amps and that Leslie cabinet I mentioned above. This is all a modern recreation of the classic Hammond/Leslie. (This gear is heavy! If you’d seen players struggling to lift the authentic combination onto a stage, you’d readily accept the digital substitute). Not that I noticed a loss of sound quality. He explained the software emulation of the lower Leslie cabinet, and the basses on the Virus synth. All interesting, and perfectly authentic sounding, at least in performance. His performance was also authentic. Nice, understated basslines, with a surprisingly true acoustic sound, deep and soft with a little edge; post-bop right hand solo lines with those distinct changing tonalities of the Hammond or effected piano sounds. All around, the swing was tight and the effect was jumpy and joyous.

There were several standards on show. My favourite was Benny Golson’s masterpiece, Whisper not, but I also seem to remember You don’t know what love is, Have you met Miss Jones, In a sentimental mood and Just friends. There was a shuffle and a few others I didn’t recognise. It was all very thrown together on the night, but authentic and effective none the less. Decent jazz players can do that, of course.

This was a lovely re-creation of an era, swinging playing and quite joyful. Nice one from Mike Price (guitar), Stu Hunter (keyboards, esp. organ and keyboard bass) and Col Hoorweg (drums).