What Honours does for you

I didn't know Tate Sheridan had played sax. He'd played through the classical grades as a kid then turned to piano and played through those classical grades, then to Honours which he has just completed. I'm sorry I missed his recent recital but I caught him playing solo for the U3A Jazz Appreciation Group and with any luck will catch him at his CD launch next week. This was intimate, sometimes chatty, nicely open sounding so his playing was clear. He played an electric piano, so the clarity and life of the acoustic was not there, but Tate took the opportunity to use various tones, Rhodes, perhaps organ, funky bass for various tunes. He played 7 tunes. First up was a take on Honeysuckle Rose, introduced with a moody impressionism, then into stride and through time-relevant lines and some more modern dissonance and rhythmic variations. I love this contemporary style that visits the traditions with respect but also treats them with contemporary sensibilities. Jazz has its historical sweep after a century. An individual may prefer one era over another but it's all worthy and I personally like some catholicism. Then through a series of originals. Run don't walk is a composition related to Tate's honours thesis on Cuban left hand piano and it explored all manner of approaches: lh ostinato; rh single note comping; rh improv; a more even rh/lh style that had classical balance; syncopated lh bass line; perhaps more. Tate praised the pride, patriotism, energy and passion of Cuban musicians. Energy is obviously a concern; he mentioned it several times later. Then a short ballad of 8 bars and #11 harmonies that suggests a B-section but stays short and beautiful. Tate talks of writing words for this, saying lyric writing is a compositional technique that assists with phrasing. I didn't know that Oscar Peterson writes lyrics for most of his tunes, even though no-one knows them. Nebraska 1978 was different; a funky number with Rhodes tone, perhaps organ lh, written with Calum Builder for their duo CD. Tate talked more about pianists, Keith Jarrett, Art Tatum, blind pianists, handspans (Art Tatum and Oscar Peterson can/could easily span 11ths; most can just manage 10ths), Blind Tom, Gene Harris ("great energy; really important"), lessons. A final lively but exploratory Billie's bounce. During the visit, there was a quote of Miles saying that "jazz is the thinking man's music" although Tate was at pains not to denigrate the skills and capabilities of classical musicians. Talk of music as a language, for communication, like spoken words: "You have no script when you wake up in the morning" as a parallel to improvisation. Talk of solo piano as "daunting", more demanding than playing in an ensemble. Talk of his teachers and varieties of perspectives, and mention of some of our impressive local pianists. These visits are a chance to talk to practicing musicians and to hear them unadorned, transparently present. A terrific experience.

Tate Sheridan (piano) chatted and performed a set for the U3A Jazz Appreciation Group.

A welcome home

Back to the habits of Canberra. This one is the U3A Jazz Appreciation Group. Most meetings are listening sessions led by members but they include occasional small concerts. This one had a set by Tom Fell and Lachlan Coventry. Tom and Lachlan have frequented this page often enough, but this was a more intimate and exposed performance than usual. Just two players in a small and quiet room with ~20 listeners just after morning tea. They played standards: Alone together, Out of nowhere, Body & soul, a slow burning blues, Softly, Blue bossa and an encore on Have you met Miss Jones. This is stock standard local jamming repertoire but how nice it was! Tom with his big tenor tone playing neat and exploratory from the Lenny Tristano school: West Coast cool, less blues wails, seeking newness by avoiding habits in every line. Tom mentioned Warne Marsh as a recent influence. He also played baritone sax on Softly. Lachlan laying down chordal comps and bass lines then dropping into totally exposed solos with no backing. He mentioned Tal Farlow as influencing some of his voicings. They concurred on a common interest in the blues as the essential foundation of American music. There were questions from audience and much enjoyment. This was total pleasure and, especially given the intimacy and exposure, quite inspiring. Lovely, unpretentious but much prepared playing from two of our local professionals.

Tom Fell (tenor, baritone saxes) played with Lachlan Coventry (guitar) for the U3A Jazz Appreciation Society.

Brindabella

Here's my latest musical indulgence. I've joined a local amateur orchestra as one of three double bassists. I have much to learn about bowing, reading, dynamics and the rest, but I'm three practices in and I'm having a great time. We are working on the program for the next performance, but sadly, I will be out of town. When it's going well, I drool over the second movement of Beethoven's Second Symphony which is so simple but so beautiful. A Delibe has some lovely dance movements; a Gilbert & Sullivan medley is just immense fun; Ketelbey and Anderson are simple and the tango is a nice change in bowing; the Saint-Saens March Militaire is a good, lively read. The hardest work is a series of variations on Hadyn by Brahms. I love the plucky pizz of the main melody, some hard syncopations and rolling semi-quavers in a few variations and the ballooning intensity of the 5-bar ostinato passage in the final variation. As for differences from jazz, I find it's more analytically relaxed (no need to create the tune as you're playing it: the dots are already there on the page), even if technical things like reading and bowing and intonation are a challenge. But I'm new to it and I guess we are nowhere near playing the hardest repertoire. The Brindabella Orchestra is associated with U3A but is also open to other ages. The pic shows the orchestra down on numbers, perhaps due to school holidays and a cold spell.

Canberra's Classics

I spent several years in Europe and especially Rome and it was the source of my interest in the ancient world, so when I heard of a course of 4x2-hour sessions at the ANU Classics Museum, I rang immediately to book. I had to join U3A to do it, but that just opened a range of fascinating opportunities, including the Jazz Appreciation Group and some others you’ll hear of soon enough. I’ve now attended 2 sessions, hearing of coins, technologies, statues and portraiture, writing and the arts. We’ve dated coins and held spearheads and felt ancient glazes and examined slouching statues. We’ve learnt something of the history of the museum and gathered some context for the arrival of some items. The next sessions are on life in Rome and Athens. The Rome session takes advantage of a model of the city that’s at centre of the Museum. It’s a small version of a much grander model in EUR, but a pleasure for me to locate existing streets and marvel at the small hills (do these minor mounds make 7 hills?). Via del Corso looks unchanged after 2000 years. Teatro di Marcello and the wonderfully preserved Temple of Hercules Victor and the Pantheon still sit there, as do the Colosseum, the Palatine, the Forum and the Diocletian baths. And Ben-Hur’s (now shortened) Circo Massimo. This all excites me but no secret there. We’d see it all as a bit short on human rights, despite the Roman Republic and the Athenian democracy, given the slaves and no feminism. But it’s fascinating and glorious and very different from our life yet with many inevitable human similarities. Truly fascinating. The ANU Classics Museum is free and open during business hours in the AD Hope building. It’s no match for a decent museum in Rome, of course, but it’s still a local treasure.

U3A runs a course of four sessions over 4 weeks on classical Rome and Athens and introducing the collections of the ANU Classics Museum.