Farewell Cam

It was Australia Day and maybe we shouldn't have been at a band having a good time, on a hot day, being Indigenous aware as we are. There's politics here, just ask cantankerous, reactionary ole Barnaby J, but Cam Smith was having his last gig with Brass Knuckle Brass Band before he returned to his place of origin, Qld, and I wanted to say goodbye. It was at Smiths, outside, hot, shaded for some, decently loud, delightfully cosmopolitan, tats or business shirts, all manner, and beers, coffees and a general jovial good will. It's a pleasantly diverse collection that gathers at Smiths (thanks to Nigel and Beth for such a nice venue) and a joyous and welcoming atmosphere and the band was nothing less than chugging and noisily inviting. Good and tight; perfect for dancing; drums and percussion; charts for harmonies of horns; that lovely lumbering and enveloping sousaphone bass and all so nicely played. Some march tunes with New Orleans references, some two feels and pop tunes arranged for the band. I recognised the pop as Careless whisper (with help), Sweet dreams, Sexual healing. That was just the first set. How much fun is this, rollicking and joyous, musically capable and an irresistible invitation to dance. Was Trump right about art being just for entertainment? He was wrong about that (there's lots he's not right about) but sometimes it can be for fun and this was and it was a great outing. I guess the BNBB will continue, but farewell Cam, thanks for so much local music and, thinking back, for your help with a few festivals. Congrats also to Xavier Kim for the piano interlude before the gig.

Brass Knuckle Brass Band played a farewell gig for Cameron Smith (trumpet). If I have all the names, right, the rest of the band is Tim Bowyer (trumpet), Michael Bailey and Josh Hart (trombones), David Abkiewicz (sousaphone), Nathan Sciberras (baritone sax), Josh Buckler (tenor sax), Steve Fitzgerald (drums) and Damon Counahan (percussion). Xavier Kim (piano) preceded.

What? Not hot?

Who says Canberra is not hot? The weather’s been record-breaking and there’s a smoke haze outside in the morning as I write this. I caught Cam and Courtney’s Brass Knuckle Brass Band last night and they were steaming from the first notes of the first tune.
I was surprised at just how comfy and ready they were for those first notes. It’s a good sign and I could feel the eagerness around the dance floor. These are all experienced and trained players and they’ve been playing around, including a recent little tour to Melbourne. It shows. This is lively, easy, solid music that’s funky and insinuating and danceable. It was infectious because the band was having a genuinely good time. And it was refreshing in tone, with its horns and pillowy sousa bass and sharp drums and vocals from Courtney and even Cam at times. I stayed for most, but retreated at the end of the set to rest my ears. But it’s a meat-market in Civic on the weekend with the women-who-can’t-walk and the daggie blokes and the accidental disco mix on the street. I prefer the relaxed cauldron of exotic and sober at the Phoenix despite the crush and noise. I expected to hear two other bands, Americans and Brisbanites, doing something related, but I was called back to our street with its own excitement and heat. I arrived to find police and fire brigades and a house lost to fire. This has been a week of heat. Friends out of Yass fearing bushfires; a lost house in our street; the carnal heat of a Canberra summer night. It all feels like an end-of-time experience, but of course it isn’t. Even climate change isn’t threatening an end-of-time; just of civilisation as we know it.

Brass Knuckle Brass Band were Courtney Stark (vocals), Cameron Smith (trumpet, vocals),Tim Bowyer (trumpet), Michael Bailey (trombone), Sophie Chapman (trombone), David Abkiewicz (sousaphone), Nick Combe (baritone sax) and Robert Nesci (drums).

Kaoss?

Shoeb Ahmad and his digital processing was the common feature at a challenging concert I attended yesterday. Spartak played the first set with two numbers. Austin Buckett presented a work originally written for a string quartet as the second.

This was a larger, 5-piece Spartak. I’ve written here of Spartak as a duo. The essence of drums/percussion and processed instrumental sounds was still there, but this was bigger and more exploratory. The first tune was indicative of the approach and structure. Evan started by setting percussion rhythms. Tim introduced a simple melodic line on trumpet, repeating with some small variations. Andrew played mostly harmony notes. He once inserted a snippet of modern jazz (lovely) but returned to simpler harmony notes, which are a better base for Schoeb’s digital manipulations. These digital sounds formed an intense and all-encompassing background for snippets of notes and varied percussion until Tim restated his simple melody and the tune ended. Guitarist Morgan was also there with few notes but extended effects. I couldn’t identify his part, although Shoeb was obviously clear on his space. It’s music that has its own logic and art and it demands intense contemplation. I find it rewarding although the passers-by at the Street seemed a bit non-plussed. I found the clarity and strength of the trumpet was perfect to cut through the environmental noiseworks and also as a base for these manipulations. I also noticed the tunes grew and fell away (obvious enough) and interestingly it was the human sounds that made growth and the digital sounds that accompanied the decay. Not sure I can read any more into this than that the digital followed the instruments, but maybe it’s a comment on our human progress? Growth as a search for harmony, tonality, melody, structure; digital as mechanical, intervened, under human control but not human. The second piece first had me amused with shades of scifi: R2D2 and, more profoundly, Forbidden Planet. Again, the trumpet set intervals and the alto found harmonies, and the electronics bent and repeated these sounds and fed them back amongst a clatter of rhythm. These are not easy sounds, but they are satisfying.

The second set was Austin Buckett leading a performance of his piece, Stuttershine. It was originally written for a string quartet but performed here by piano, cello, viola and violin with digital manipulations. It started sparse, with rubato notes passed between piano and strings and built to end with a constant arpeggio-like single-note passage on piano that seemed to restate the sparse melodic movements of the first part. Over this was again the digital processing of strings by Shoeb. I really enjoyed the un-manufactured sounds of acoustic stringed instruments as well as the ringing acoustic piano tones. The digital reformulations seemed a bit intrusive to me although the concept of a reworked environment was good. Perhaps this was just a little too loud or edgy for the gentle stings. I found it satisfying work of composition and of performance, somewhat related to Spartak, perhaps as the distant more-upright cousin?

How great is it that we have such music here? Congratulations and thanks from CJ. BTW, my title, Kaoss, makes reference Shoeb’s principal interface for these digital manipulations, Korg’s Kaoss Pad dynamic effect processor. Shoeb was using the mini-KP with laptop and numerous other digital dongles. Spartak was Evan Dorrian (drums), Shoeb Ahmad (digital manipulations), Tim Bowyer (trumpet), Andrew Fedorovich (alto sax), Morgan McKellar (guitar, delay). Austin Buckett (piano, composer) led a quintet comprising James Larsen (cello), Xina Hawkins (viola), Elyane de Fontenay (violin) and Shoeb Ahmad (digital manipulations) playing his piece, Stuttershine.

Once in a blue moon

It’s rare that I will attend a big public event to hear a party band, but I did last night and the band was Who’s ya Daddy. It was truly a rare night, that of a blue moon that fell on New Year’s Eve at the start of a new decade. A blue moon is the second full moon falling in any one month (in the most common definition). It happens because the lunar month is shorter than most calendar months (the synodic month, timed from new moon to new moon, is just over 29.5 days). But a new moon to mark the New Year’s Eve of a new decade is not common. Neither is my party banding, although I usually enjoy it.

Who’s ya Daddy? is an odd name and I’m still pondering it. But the members are well-trained Jazz School graduates playing for the corporate scene, and so they are good. I heard one set, and it was literally a barrage of non-stop danceable pop from early R&B through a good dose of Michael Jackson to hip hop. One long medley of endless snippets of tunes: perhaps 30 or more in their 45-minute set. What a lot of work! All arranged and charted and tightly played. Solid, heavy stadium drumming from Hugh (drummers must love big PAs and so do I); unpretentious but reliable grooves from Phill on bass; busy and involved performance from Damien on guitar with occasional keyboards and harmony vocals. There was a tight, full-ranged horn section up front of Tim, Niels and Richard on trumpet, tenor and baritone sax and even some bari features, which I liked. And Della up front on stratospheric Michael Jackson vocals or smoother soul or very convincing rap. The PA was pumping, the band was jiving and the audience was dancing and counting down to the new year. I was thinking how horn players never feel the groove quite like the rhythm section. Bassists must get it: Phill did and was obviously enjoying himself. Good, clean fun (it was a dry event) and a memorable celestial event on a cool evening. Much enjoyed, and recommended for your next corporate event.

Who’s ya Daddy? is a Canberra corporate band playing party music with a twist: much more than your average covers band. Anthony “Della” Dellamarta on vocals and keyboards; Damien “Axle” Foley on guitar, vocals and keyboards; Phill Jenkins on bass; Hugh Deacon on drums; Richard Burns on baritone sax; Niels Rosendahl on tenor sax; Tim Bowyer on trumpet.