Canb Jazz Fest 1

Thanks to Nigel and Beth and Bevan for the latest take on a Canberra Jazz festival.  They have the venue, a main stage and several smaller spaces, so this is very likely to be workable and the return next year had already been announced.  Great!  And Day 1 was a friendly, often inspiring outing.  First up was Tom Fell and his quartet which I raved about when I saw them recently.  Tom with Damian Slingsby, Nick McBride and James Luke on bass this time, so a classy and capable outfit playing music from Tom's new CD and at least one standard, Isfahan, with a plea for peace in our times.  Not the only performance that had such a theme appear.  I wrote sweet, correct, understated, adult, but there were some spots where it let go too.  Tom's soprano sax is his expansive, dirty, dissonant instrument: his tenor seems to pop up for more balladic numbers.  Then upstairs for Mic Knight trio, a reformation with offsiders who have now left Canberra for Melbourne given the ructions at ANUSOM, Evan Teece and Oliver Stott.  These were more let-go, unrelenting takes on standards, Almost like being in love, Green Dolphin St, Stella.  I like the unrelenting outlandish playing and but personally melted over James Luke's certainty and clarity with Tom.  Brett Hirst was to offer that later, too.  Then Wanderlust, Miro's fabulous, band of stars with the most delicious originals melodies out, not least Bronte Cafe, once regular star on ABCRN.  I had to leave towards the end.  I managed ~35mins and they had only finished their second tune.  This was Miro with James Greening, John Mackey, Alister Spence, Fabian Hevia and Lachlan Coventry.  Miro said they hadn't played together for 18montsh but you wouldn't know it.  Smooth, inventive, glorious harmonies on delightful melodies, almost casual passing of solos, with Miro looking around in admiration and joy.  It all started with a considerably free piano solo, then into the bass groove and head.  Solos from front line, Miro essential, James playful, John nicely developed but ultimately explosive.  Perhaps piano and maybe bass and drums, then to the head.  Then a joyous chatter and into Bronte Cafe.  It's a wonderfully joyous tune, again Miro and explosive John, but amusingly then James bringing it down with his communicative leading solo.  That really was a wonder, and perhaps then Fabian's solo.  Not sure.  But suffice to say I dreaded that I had to go, but some duties called.  

Tom Fell (soprano, tenor) performed with Damian Slingsby (piano), James Luke (bass) and Nick McBride (drums).  Mic Knight  performed with Evan Teece (bass) and Oliver Stott (drums).  Wanderlust comprised Miro Bukovsky (trumpet, flugelhorn) with James Greening (trombone), John Mackey (tenor), Alister Spence (piano), Lachlan Coventry (bass) and Fabian Hevia (drums).  They performed at the inaugural Canberra Jazz Festival at Smiths. 

Good Friday Alt.

It was fairly quiet in town when we went to Molly, it being Good Friday, I thought.  But we are none too religious a society these days and Molly was alive.  Even buzzing more when Tom Fell's quartet opened with a take on Green Dolphin Street, with Chris Pound playing emphatic chords from the first beats of the A section.  Tom on tenor spelling out the melody then a lovely, inventive solo with a goodly share of dissonance over more driving grooves from Nick McBride and Damien Slingsby.  Tom took a solo that I could only love for its firmness but also fleet inserts and Damien solid and chordal, perhaps less than bop flightiness, and occasional solos from Nick through the night, but always driving, powerful grooves and insistent fills.  Do I need say I was very taken by this.  Then on through In a mellow tone, something sounding Shorterish that Tom later identified as One for BM, a track from his new album, Mantra, and Fee-Fi-Fo-Fum which is by Wayne Shorter and the bouncy Cold Duck time to finish the first set.  In the meantime, we had a few beers, watched the locals, admired the band to the hilt, me remembering Tom from years back and marvelling at his expressive fluency and dissonance of today.  We only stayed for the first set but it was a doozy.  Now to have another listen to  Mantra, Tom's first album, bought and signed for my shelf by Tom.  Chase it up.  It's this same band other than Steve Barry on piano.

Tom Fell (soprano, tenor saxes) led a quartet with Damien Slingsby (piano), Chris Pound (bass) and Nick McBride (drums) at Molly on Good Friday night.

Another Tuesday, venue 2

It's Tuesday night so if venue 1 is Smiths then venue 2 is Molly.  Of course Molly is the unmarked timber door in the lane just behind Smiths and up the stairs on Tuesday night is a string of some of the best local jazz you will hear in this town.  And tonight was a doozie: Tom Fell leading a trio with Chris Pound and Nick McBride.  I came in at the end of the second set but there was a third, and it was a hard biting outing.  Tom was all movement and involvement and a pretty free concept of soloing over the chords with occasional hints at the melody and sometimes relaxedly standing as a head is passed back to him and always fascinating and adventurous.   He was playing a storm as leader and this trio supports it.  Chris was superbly fluent, quick and solid, rather than flighty, wonderfully clear throughout the range and well into thumb positions, and just inventive with his conceptualisations.  I think of Alone together as my song, but he floored me with his take on it.  Nick would solo in fours or more open formats and always sharp and correct and interesting.  These were just standards, but fascinating as modern takes on standards can be, if not always are.  I came in to a sax solo that I recognised from a few melody snippets as Have you met Miss Jones.  Then a break and a return for a final set with Take the A train, a blues, Alone together and another standard.  I've played them all even if I can't recall all the titles.  But this was exciting, busy, outgoing yet inviting, noisy and adventurous.  Just a great band playing standards with joy and chops.  Fabulous.

Tom Fell (tenor) led a trio playing standards with Chris Pound (bass) and Nick McBride (drums) at Molly.

Birthday

This was Geoff's Jazz at Smiths and it was a special celebration, of the wonder of the long-standing band Wanderlust, and also the long-standing trumpeter who brought it together around 35 years ago in Sydney, Miroslav Bukovsky.  Anyone who knows Miro loves him so this was a special event.  And Wanderlust is such a perfect name for the music they play.  The tunes virtually were all by Wanderlust, often by Miro himself, and they were expansive, with only 9 tunes over two sets totalling about 2 hours.   So there was time to explore, another aspect of good travel.  But most obvious were the tunes themselves that spoke of a wide world, one samba in 3, one mambo, one from Burundi, one speaking to South Africa and Nelson Mandela, a final one just called Peace please, which speaks to all time and very much to now.  There was one cover, astonishingly called Wanderlust by Duke Ellington, a far more relaxed, luxuriant tune with nothing like the exploratory quest of this band, but still superbly lovely, as Ellington just is.  The band was superb, of course, understated, easily spoken, intriguing in harmony and melody, and settling into the most immersive grooves.  Which reminds me of a discovery I made listening to Miro's compositions, that trumpeters play melody so beautifully and thus write lovely melodies.  I guess it's related to the harmonic series that's the nature of technique on brass.  If not recorded already (surely it must be!) I reckon there's a PhD in that.  So this was all good nature, a party surrounded by admirers and friends and wonderful good will.  It's a memory for the ages from a band lasting ages.  Dry wit and so much joy.  Happy birthday for Miro's 80th and long may Wanderlust and the wanderlust remain.

Wanderlust performed at Smiths for Geoff's Jazz and Miro's 90th birthday.  Wanderlust are Miroslav Bukovsky (trumpet, flugelhorn), John Mackey (tenor), Alister Spence (piano, keyboards), Jeremy Sawkins (guitar), Fabian Hevia (percussion) and Lachlan Coventry (bass, guitar) with guest Tom Fell (baritone, soprano saxes).  They were joined by Alex Raupach (trumpet) and Richard Johnson (bass clarinet) for some final tunes.

Taking me back 2

Later in the night was guitar time, a dedication to George Benson, guitarist, singer, pop-breakthrough and especially his albums Cookbook and Breezin'.  I heard him yonks back in Adelaide but others mention him visiting Canberra only 7-or-so years ago.  Perhaps the closest thing to the Subterraneans in this was the clear, crisp, uneffected guitars.  Otherwise this was another world.  Standards, fast clips, clarity, walking bass and swinging drum grooves, baritone sax.  Bari sax?  It's a strange combination with clean guitar but George Benson used it and Tom told me the name of the NYC bari player.  I've forgotten his name but I can remember the effectiveness of that deep and satisfying tone, somewhat hard to hear clearly down in those frequencies with plenty of quick solo and melody lines, but it worked a treat.  Jokingly we were welcomed to the pre-gig rehearsal for this is a thrown together session in the jam session tradition, tunes being identified for players to learn then they get together on the night, I guess.  Maybe not for Chris and James because they'd done a similar gig in Melbourne, but there was plenty of concentration on a few faces on stage and big smiles when they carried it off.  And they did.  Fast and faster at times or ballads and even poppy, with GB's unlikely international pop-hit Breezing to finish.  But before that, all guitar solos passed and other instruments called for and fast-as lines, like Ready and able and The Cooker but also some ballads, Will you still be mine, Willow weep for me and some bluesy things, although not too obviously 12-bars, and interesting changing combinations, from quintet down to duo and two different guitar trios and a guitar quartet in between.    This was much more bop than funk so hugely different and more agreeable on the ears, but another fabulously interesting outing with plenty of good will and laughs.  Chris will continue this series with an invitation to another ex-CSM student, Sydneysider Carl Dewhurst, sometime in September.  Keep your eyes peeled.

Chris Johnstone (guitar) called together James Sherlock (guitar, Melbourne), Tom Fell (baritone sax), James Luke (bass) and Nick McBride (drums) to play a tribute to George Benson at Smiths.

End of eight

It's the end of a series.  A series of eight concerts with invited players from interstate, run by Alex Raupach Verity Lane.  I've got to the last three only, but enjoyed them immensely.  Let's hope the series reappears.  It reminds me a days a decade back when musicians and bands toured though Canberra, Syd>Melb or vice versa, with workshops at the ANUSOM.  Good days.  These were great concerts.  This last night was pianist Wilbur Whitta, again one with Canberra connections but also a Masters from the Royal School of Music, just beside the Royal Albert Hall, that Albert Hall in London.  Impressive as was his playing.  He teamed with Chris Pound and Micah Heathwood for the night, and a few tunes to finish with Alex and Tom Fell.  We caught the second set only, with a bopper then a few possible originals, then a longing trumpet tune, and possibly a Miles of late'70s vintage and a finish on a rarer standard, You stepped out of a dream.  I found Wilbur as expansive, lightly phrased but complex, rich in substitutions and dissonances.  Lovely.  Chris again solid and richly toned but exploratory.  Micah busy and driving and forceful.  A worthy end to a challenging series.

Wilbur Whitta (piano) led a trio with Chris Pound (bass) and Micah Heathwood (drums) at Verity Lane.  Alex Raupach (trumpet) and Tom Fell (tenor) sat in for a few tunes. 

Waves on sand

I got to Verity Lane for another of Alex Raupach's 8-evening series, sadly coming to an end soon.  Each show includes a visiting or feature artist with the house band, but this was a doozy.  It was called Waves on Sand, the title of a piece written for this event by Alex, was located in a quiet room out the back and featured 3 visitors, just not 1.  And worthy visitors they were.  Chloe Kim is a renowned drummer in numerous ensembles and student/associate of Simon Barker; a member of one of her bands and also from Sydney, Harley Coleman, came on guitar; Melbourne-based trumpeter Ashley Ballatt, with a string of plays with international renowns, Terri-Lynne Carrington, Linda Oh,  Dave Douglas and Vijay Iyer no less.  The locals were Chris Pound and Tom Fell, both local experts.  Actually, both Chloe and Ashley had history at the ANU at the time of the SOM ructions, so some local presence.   So a promising program.  The concert was a series of tunes, written by all members, including Chris and Tom and Alex, of various styles, even touching one with a country-ish opening for one particularly beautiful ballad, Yellow pink to blue by Sandcastles Chloe/Harley band partner, Hinano Fuisaki.  But most was not like that.  There was glorious, calm, slow, chordal grooves with occasional movements in pitch, signalled by a leader, or frantic free, or totally solo drums or guitar, or drums or guitar solos in context, guitar lightly picked but quick, a most glorious bass tone that both Harley and I were praising Chris for, or glorious sitting three part harmonised notes from tenor, trumpet and bass, moving in small intervals down on instruction, but improvised on harmony, and throughout a gorgeously pure trumpet tone, and Chloe's rhythmic excursions and occasional space.  All with performers physically coming and going for different pieces, and with a quiet and responsive audience.  The listening location fitted and the purpose was well served with some stunning floating, and just occasionally ecstatic, music.  What a pleasure.

Chloe Kim (drums), Harley Coleman (guitar), Ashley Ballatt (trumpet), Tom Fell (tenor, soprano saxes) and Chris Pound (bass) performed at Verity Lane for Alex Raupach's Louis Louis series.

Sound and light out

I just caught a snippet of the long set, but it was intriguing.  This was a SoundOut gig located in the middle of Civic in an ex-hair salon (sounds the part!).  Bright lights and colour outside through the glass; colour projections inside from a series of film projectors of 8mm variety.  Authentic analogue, Interestingly complete with authentic analogue film loops.  Two projectors mostly, sometimes superimposed, otherwise side-by-side.  Seven musicians responding to this, in lines seated at the opposite walls.  The whole was noise, repetition, squeaks and sparks, drone noises and the like.  Two guitarists, trumpet, three winds of various persuasions.  There was an intriguing home-built synth, too, with pitch and modulations controlled by hand movements and a chip to respond to it all; small and mounted on a rough timber stand.  Unique.  This is the nature of SoundOut, that experimentation and noise that makes music with closed eyes for inquisitive audiences.  Sadly, not too many of them.

SoundOut presented Louise Canham (experimental film projection) with the Noise Floor Ensemble comprising George Kay, Jamie Lambert (guitars), Rhys Butler (alto), Richard Johnson (wind instruments), Rory Villegas (trumpet), Tom Fell (saxes) and Brian McNamara (invented electronic instruments) at Antics Hair in Civic.

Ellingtonia, Strayhornia

Once again back at Molly for another Covid gig, this time with three of our local heroes playing music of another pair of heroes, Ellington and Strayhorn. The local heroes were Tom Fell, Wayne Kelly and James Luke. I chatted for some of it, but was floored by some understated then immensely melodic bari sax and a similar melodicity on bass and Wayne's lovely bluesy response. Floored is an apt word. James is so lithe in his playing, but also relaxed and diverse and satisfyingly lyrical. And with a lovely, rounded tone. Tom spelled the tunes so effectively then the solos with clear reference to the originals. I guess there was a good bit of transcription in his history, but if not, a good ear and some solid listening. Wayne plays piano, so chordal, so bunches of notes in his raunchy style that contrasted to some degree, but complemented with ease. These guys know each other well and it shows. This was easy and wonderfully effective. The pics weren't so good, they had turned the stage lights off. Well, it is jazz in a speakeasy. A wonderfully satisfying evening with superb playing and a deep knowledge and respect for the classic tunes they were portraying. Fabulous. Not sure what the musicologists would make of my title, though.

Tom Fell (baritone sax) led a trio with Wayne Kelly (piano) and James Luke (bass) playing the music of Ellington and Strayhorn at Molly.

Magpies

Miro told me it was the sound of magpies that he'd heard just that morning. He'd been jotting down some fairly open musical notation as I came in before the concert, a few lines with melody snippets and chords and some indicative harmonies and colours through associated chords. When the concert started, it was Col on drums in the centre of the space with circular rows of seating around him. He played various percussion for several minutes before tones of trumpet, two tenors and bass clarinet appeared, first sparse but heavily wettened in this very reverberent space at the Drill Hall Gallery. The players were away, behind panels. The moving harmonies interested me. A drone on G then colours of Bb, Eb, F, D, various others, came and went. Over time, the sound moved behind more partitioning and musicians appeared in four corners behind the audience. The slow colour changes had gradually been augmented with flighty, fast runs, Miro's trumpet and John's tenor especially conversing, and the drums had developed into a groove with sticks and mallets. I was interested to note the kit was kick free: snare, tom, hi-hat, cymbals. It all came to a head and dropped back to solo percussion like the start and a final drop of metal plates to finish it all. The whole was improvised but guided over 30-minutes or so: intriguing and involving so the time had passed unnoticed. Structured in some way, but lots of room for freedom. Like the birds it portrayed, I guess. Miro and I talked of the magpies in our gardens. They are characters and this was a fascinating and satisfying recitation.

Miroslav Bukovsky (trumpet, composer) gathered John Mackey (tenor), Tom Fell (tenor), Richard Johnson (bass clarinet) and Col Hoorweg (drums, percussion) for a concert at Drill Hall Gallery to mark the exhibition Active seeing by Liz Coats.

Ripping up the place

I was amused at a comment about deconstructing the place. Someone had taken down a pot plant for better sightlines, then he'd responsibly replaced it at the end of the night. The jazz scene is like this. Likeable people who study complex things that pay little for arts-sake with a relaxed dress sense. Like one player who's in Canberra for his Philosophy PhD at ANU on a topic somewhere in Ethics. It's a quiet time for musos after the rush of Christmas. A few are back home to visit rellies: Aidan Lowe was back from Berlin for a time. Otherwise, it's good times and good beers and some excellent music. Hugh Barrett was filling in for Wayne Kelly; Aidan Lowe for Mark Sutton; Ben O'Loghlin was coordinator, calling in various players for the second, jam set. Ben Marston, Tom Fell, Steve Richards, some others. The tunes for the first set were less the obvious blow numbers - Blue in green, Nica's dream and the like. The jam set was more commonly known tunes, starting with Stella then Blue bossa. I got a go on Alone together then Blue Monk. The playing was excellent all round. Aidan's playing a storm, if lamenting his kit that's sat in a shed the last year (fair enough). Hugh smoothed through various harmony colours with extensions or substitutions or whatever and laid down sweet, unassuming solo lines: all the piano's role and done with great skill. Ben O'L floored me, interesting and varied, right on top of the beat and driving with a firm, full sound. Then the horns, Ben M and Tom, soloing nicely, spelling heads with ease but also harmonising melodies and accompaniments to hint at arrangements. Tom commented it's a great lineup for that (rhythm section plus sax and trumpet), but no surprise there, it's the quntessential bop-modern lineup. The last tune was a raging Rhythm changes: so much for deconstruction, this was ripping up the place in a more positive light. And there were chats and beers as jazz is. Much enjoyed. Thanks to all.

Ben O'Loghlin (bass), Hugh Barrett (piano) and Aidan Lowe (drums) were the support band for the jazz jam at Old Canberra Inn. Tom Fell (sax), Ben Marston (trumpet), Steve Richards (drums), Eric Pozza (bass) and others sat in. The OCI jazz jam is at Old Canberra Inn, every Wednesday, 6.30-9pm, free entry, good beers on tap.

Life enhancement

Ignore the various new-age remedies and go to a Latin gig. This is genuine life enhancement. There's something deeply satisfying about the driving rhythms, the repeating claves, the busy interaction of various percussions, the colourful regularity of the piano comping called montuno, the space for adventuresome improv. I caught ClaveMania at Smiths. ClaveMania with a accent on the -i-. I didn't catch all the tune titles, written in Spanish and spoken as they often were with an accent. My weakness to not recognise the language. The music was virtually all originals, mostly written by pianist Jonathan, but also a few by bassist/singer Elizabeth. I loved all the tune, but my favourites were the songs: voice is something special and has a special immediacy in this music, imploring female with responses from paired males. Deeply satisfying. Strangely, too, Tom Fell on tenor was perhaps the most adventurous I had heard him. The regularity and repetition of the latin grooves suggests less abandon, but Tom let go in ways that I hadn't heard before, throwing blues licks to the wind and slashing with contemporary flourish. Unlikely, but I heard just this. Then Jonathan, soloing with that latin presence, strongly aware of rhythm, rhythm as the key and the underlying purpose, but tuneful throughout. There were also solos from drums and percussion, supremely aware of the beat, embellishing with care. I liked how the longer patterns of percussion and tuned skins moved through the shorter drum bars; how the clave would remain central if contrasted with some other tone and groove. And Elizabeth's bass, recognising the grooves and claves but with a common half-beat anticipation. It's one essence of latin. An unnamed ballad in ABAB form written by Elizabeth was a expected surprise. But mostly back to the lively street life feels, telling stories of streets with chess and more, Callejuela, or a string of other latin styles, known by name but too little by performance, like descargas or salsas or sambas. Even Yidson, an original development and cross between Yiddish folk and Cuban Son. Suffice to say I enjoyed this lots and it's great to have such an authentic latin band, in this case of origin Colombiana, here in Canberra. Great! Looking forward to much more.

ClaveMania was led by Jonathan Cohen (piano) and Elizabeth Obando Paz (bass, vocals) with Tom Fell (tenor), Jamal Salem (drums) and Sinuhé Pacheco (percussion).

PS. A final cheer to the hen's night gathering I crossed paths with after Smiths. Obviously having serious fun. It's a pleasure to photograph a group with such self-aware presence. No names given; none even known.

Enabling the indie song

These guys are all jazz trained but I had no expectation to hear Jazz. That's how things are these days. I like it like that. There's a catholicity in music and especially amongst young trained jazzers and it shows. This was Matilda Abraham with Carl Morgan and, at the last moment, as he was in town from Berlin and his other gig was called off, Aidan Lowe. I also like this like that. Jazz trained performers are, well, trained, so Aidan could get called in to do an indie-pop set with complex written syncopations, some of which he'd have to introduce, and do a perfectly capable job. But this was Matilda's show. They were mainly her originals, in a Triple-J style that I call indie or maybe experimental pop. This was underlying sequenced instrumentation and even harmonies with voice and additional keys and bass or guitar and drums overlaid for the immediacy that make live music live. Matilda's writing is personal, often venting emotions, clear in intent although I didn't catch all the lyrics. One told of annoyance after a bad party; another a feminist line against Abbott as Minister for Women; (aside: Abbott's gone so recently but I can hardly frame the ignorance of slogans and attacks on the weak that he represented - and his complete lack of self-awareness suggested by his recent claims to good government; a dangerous man beyond an idiotic manliness); another feminist song entitled Fill the sink; an intimate love song to a Monk tune (I wonder how singers can so expose themselves through the intimacy of love songs). There were some more complex tunes, some covers - The Bird and the Bee Lifespan of a fly, Nate Wood Ocean floor, Julia Holtor When the sea calls me home (nice line this: "I can't swim, it's lucidity / so clear"). There's both an evenness and honesty in the music that Matilda writes and also in the covers she selects. There were odd times and odd beats and time changes and even a few slowish disco grooves. There was some great playing in accompaniment and just one solo each from Carl and Tom Fell, who sat in for a fat bluesy solo on the final tune. Both solos were beautifully stated, superbly developed and neatly released at the end. Aidan was just stunning to take on just a task at such short notice. And Matilda spoke to us with truth and purpose and some great song-making and an even, clear voice. A poorly tuned piano was a disappointment, but she soldiered through this. I'm enamoured by the moves of well trained jazzers into popular fields, with indie like this the most authentic. This was short songs of the 3 minute variety with intelligence and purpose and deeply attractive beats and some refreshingly twisted melodies. I may stick to RN and BBC for my radio but I loved this live.

Matilda Abraham (voice, piano, compositions) led a trio with Carl Morgan (guitar, bass, keyboard bass) and Aidan Lowe (drums) at the Ainslie Arts Centre for the Confluence jazz series. Tom Fell (tenor) sat in for a solo on the final tune. BTW, Confluence Jazz returns in 2016 monthly from 14 January.

This was fun

This was tons of fun. Wayne Kelly and Tom Fell sat in with Dave and me for another night at Red Hill Primary School. It's a twice-a-year get-together for parents and kids with sausage sizzles. We play on a deck and kids romp around and parents chat and eat. Much more fun than you'd expect. In fact, a worthy indulgence. Wayne set a cracking pace so it was hot from the top. There's lots of power and invention and good cheer in this man. Tom's tone was there with legendary fatness and plenty of tightly developed solos. Dave pulled grooves from his collection (not least a mean New Orleans funk) behind a few songs from Wayne and I found at least one nice new sound from a new multieffectory toy. That brought a very synthy response from Wayne for a later solo (what was it, pitch wheel on clavinet?). Big sounds, lots of driving grooves, ballads not very balladic, plenty of solos, sometimes loose but always mightily energetic. Great gig. Thanks to all. Too busy to get a pic.

Wayne Kelly (piano) and Tom Fell (tenor) played with Dave McDade (drums) and Eric Pozza (bass) at Red Hill Primary School.

The jazz vision

Two days, two performances, two approaches. First was Tom Fell leading a quartet at the Gods with Miroslav Bukovsky and Lachlan Coventry and Mark Sutton playing the music of Gerry Mulligan and his pianoless quartet. This is the jazz vision, together but essentially individual. Improvisation, counterpoint, the centrality of the instrumental. A glorious vision of beauty in pure sonority. Tom and mates did a great job, and it could not have been a little one. The counterpoint lines in the heads were true. I don't think the solos were transcribed but they were in style and aligned with the originals. It's a great act of love and of learning to perform works so closely, especially an album or a set of pieces. Like the originals, this was quietly spoken (well not always, think Jeru) and delicate music. The blending of trumpet with bari sax, or even better, flugelhorn with bari, was delicious. The swing was nicely restrained, in line with the original period. This was a jazz treat and a pleasurable return to the early '50s and the cooling after bop and, I guess, a world war.

Tom Fell (baritone sax) led a quartet with Miroslav Bukovsky (trumpet, flugelhorn), Lachlan Coventry (bass, guitar) and Mark Sutton (drums) playing the music of Gerry Mulligan and his pianoless quartet at the Gods.

Another goal

It was Simon Milman's Goal to Hurl again, this time in the noisier environment of Hippo with his less experimental repertoire. I just looked up my last writeup of G2H at Hippo: the band was the same, and obviously so were several tunes. All written by Simon and developed by this band. Fabulous band; great and varied tunes. Original tunes are such a pleasure after endless Real Book charts (as good as they are) and these were of a style and era that's a favourite of mine. What styles? Swing, groove, ballad, slow groove, calypso, reggae, a Nino Rota amusement (something like a polka 2-feel), something in 6, something intervallic with a slow 2-feel, a fast post-bop reharmonised blues and a slow dotted-feel with country openess to finish. Witty, informed, varied. Always with a strong bass groove, embellished drums, some ecstatic high guitar (one solo took the sound of a single note organ line - astonishing and unexpected but fitting) and Tom's huge, bluesy tone and unforced chromaticism. Totally different from their outing just days before, playing experimental guided improv at Ainslie Arts Centre. Such a great pleasure.

Goal to Hurl are Simon Milman (bass, compositions), Tom Fell (tenor), Matt Lustri (guitar) and Luke Glanville (drums). G2H played at Hippo.

Septology

So said Simon Milman as he introduced the first set of his band Goal to Hurl. Jokingly. This was experimentation that I could easily enjoy: in the jazz tradition, informed chops, skills and intellectual exploration. It might have been a mystery, but we were let in on the secrets so we had some bearings. It's a skill of note. I was mightily impressed, intrigued but dumbfounded. It was not easy to imagine doing this. The first set was a series of 7 (read Septology) x 6-minute explorations guided by the most macro of charts. Stopwatches coordinated to start, then two minutes segments each guided by a simple instruction, then an end. The septology was: Density; Dynamics; Timbre; Articulation; Tempo; Extend-truncate; Duration. Otherwise this was all improvisation and intense listening. A rock beat and jazz swing appeared, some bowing, some more lyrical sax later after less tonal matters, a delightful but very background guitar solo line, bass slides and extended intervals. Nothing much planned but an intriguing and convincing investigation. The second set was also guided at a macro level. Simon called it Combination music, solos and groupings of 2 or 3 instruments, passing through the band, 4 parts again of 6 minutes each comprising 2 minutes solo then 2 minutes duo then 2 minutes trio, then start again with different permutations. More listening; more improv; different guiding framework. Then a small recapitulation as an encore. Again, intriguing and very successful. This is richly jazz-inspired experimental that I can immerse myself in with great pleasure. Loved it.

Goal to Hurl played at the Ainslie Arts Centre for the Confluence series. G2H are led by Simon Milman (bass) with Tom Fell (tenor), Matt Lustri (guitar) and Luke Glanville (drums).