Looking bigger still (Moruya 5)

Large ensembles are big, loud, complex and supremely satisfying. Every jazz nut loves great soloing, but large ensembles are perhaps my favourite. The interaction of parts, the harmonic movements, the diverse tonalities, the rhythmic intricacy, and the unification of all this, which is the composer’s chart.

The ANUSM brings all three of its large ensembles to Moruya. This year, I only caught two: the Commercial Band and the Recording Ensemble. It’s an ongoing game for me to pick a favourite as the bands play each gig, or changes their members or repertoire over time. I loved the hot and sticky Commercials, but the Recording Ensemble got my vote this year. Last year, it was the Commercials. No matter; they’re all fabulous in their own ways.

The Recording Ensemble set had a lovely edge of student humour which partly set it apart. Sebastian McIntosh entertained with droll introductions and Miro was like the proud father at the end congratulating the band for its creativity, but there was seriousness in the original compositions and the performances. It’s clear these guys are friends, and this shows in the music, not just in the repartee. No doubt there’s some competition, but there’s also support for well stated solos and well arranged parts. I remember Nick Combe’s impressive Mingus-influenced composition from last year. This year, Sebastian joked it was the “Nick Combe Show” after the set started with a run of tunes by Nick. He’s impressing as a strong composer/arranger. Somehow, performing on the baritone sax just seems to fit this mold. Other tunes were an arrangement of Monk by Kayla Corlis and Matt Sykes’ original composition, River. I also noticed the doubled-up rhythm section. Two guitarists are common enough, but not two drummers and two bassists. And these instruments (even Chris Pound on electric bass and Hannah James on acoustic bass) often enough played together. It lends another level of complexity, especially to rhythm, and an extended and unusual palette for visceral tunes like River.

The Commercials were fast and exciting and hot and sweaty as they should be. This is fun music and challenging charts, and it had the audience braying for more. There was one original here: the band started with Kayla Corlis’ 8 o’clock traffic (a constant source of amusement for bandmaster Eric Ajaye, who’s experienced traffic in LA as well as our rather less challenging peak hour traffic in Canberra). But mostly these are covers or purchased charts. They did their version of Prince’s Thieves in the temple, Marvin Gaye’s spine-tingling classic, What’s going on, and Jaco’s Chicken as their high-spirited departure tune. Great fun, hot chops, funky and loud, as this style should be.

There was more to the festival than just these bands. I also caught snippets of various other bands, and missed many others. Mike Hallam’s Hot Six and Waiting for Guinness and Syncopators were professional and entertaining and drew the crowds. Spicey Fruit Chutney was folkey and lively and were well received. I just missed or caught just a few bars of old friends Mother’s ruin, and Pierre Kammacher in various outfits and Kooky Fandango. I sadly missed offerings by Lilly Henderson and her dad’s annual funk outing, Turner’s antidote, and Austin Benjamin’s trio playing their own music, and James LeFevre’s latest outfit, and Jo Lloyd’s quintet. Also Moondance, for whom I almost filled in on bass, and who won the audience choice award. I would have liked to have heard All the things you would be if Sigmund Freud’s wife was your mother. With a name like that, it’d have to be suitably experimental. But you can’t catch everything, even at the smallish Moruya Festival, so I take the philosophical approach that I also use when I travel: you should always save something for your return. It’s a much more relaxed way to travel or to attend a festival.

Thanks to the Moruya Festival committee for a pleasant few days, great weather, beautiful local beaches, and the loan of your lovely, intimate town as the backdrop for the music. The 12th was another successful festival of jazz and a locum of musical companionship. Thanks from your mates from the moderately bigger smoke, Canberra. Looking forward to next year.

Big enough (Moruya 4)

Eric Ajaye brought his trio Vertical. Eric made reference to his last trio, Straight up, by saying that his direction remains the same, but this is a different sounding outfit. I’ve hugely enjoyed them both. Vertical has Paul DalBroi (piano) and Chris Thwaite (drums) playing with Eric (bass). It’s a more cerebral, considered, controlled outfit, with some sweet and thoughtful playing on both originals and covers. Paul provides arrangements of some unexpected popular songs, from West Side Story or Cyndi Lauper, and even that 60s pop hit, Raindrops keep falling on my head. It’s an unlikely choice, but a jazz sensibility can convert the most obvious to the most profound. This just proves it. Eric played his visceral, glissando style on 5-string acoustic; Paul was quiet and considered, with well chosen melodies, occasional flourishes and exemplary control of dissonance. I was sitting near Chris and hugely enjoyed his receptive, dynamic, even symbiotic performance. This is a band to savour: for their inventiveness and skill, but mostly for their emotional honesty and connectiveness. A lovely set.

Eric stayed around for a very different set in the Mike Price trio. This band is honed after 10 years of weekly performances at the Kurrajong pub, which have sadly ended in recent weeks. It’s the end of an era, but hopefully they’ll find another venue. This is mainstream, swing, ballads and standards with exemplary skills. Mike (guitar) plays a woody, unaffected sound with the most competent swing-sensibility . Think Wes Montgomery and the like. In fact he played Roadsong by Wes, along with Kenny Wheeler and standards like I should care, Please send someone to love and Crazy she calls me. Eric Ajaye (bass) melds with his stylish, swinging grooves and rapid, gliss-full and sure solos, and Col Hoorweg (drums) provides rhythm from the most basic of kits (his “Kurrajong kit”) comprising snare, a few cymbals and various sticks, mallets and other percussive tools. This is sound experimentation applied to standards … and a very easy drum lug at a gig. Their set ended with a complex samba, and left an audience joyfully swinging. Very nice, very capable; entertainment with intelligence.

Another wing of the ANUSM faculty when John Mackey appeared with Miroslav Bukovsky as a Saxession. I missed the first Saxession, but the Saturday night one featured John and Miro with star students, Austin Benjamin (piano), Chris Pound (bass) and Evan Dorrian (drums). John introduced a set of stock standard tunes from the era of Coltrane and Miles and Shorter. Stock standard, surprisingly restrained, and superbly expressive. It was unusually laid back in style and tempo, but John can’t remain laid back in emotion. His sinuous and virtuosic tenor is a thing of wonder. You could hear him listening, as his long pauses made space for Austin’s comping. Every student has played these four tunes (Impressions, All the things you are, Footprints and Oleo) but this was the result of years of hours of study and it showed in fluency and melodic integrity. Miro brought the hard and ravaged edge of brass and the melliflousness of occasional harmonies on the heads. Austin, Chris and Evan are a capable trio in their own right, with an excellent recent album of original style. But they performed the post-bop and cool swing with integrity and oneness. I particularly liked Footprints played in its original, quiet style. Atypically temperate, informed and wonderfully expressive.

Not too big (Moruya 3)

Moruya’s not a big festival, but it’s intimate and relaxed and a lovely weekend at the coast for the performers and aficionados. It’s a holiday atmosphere: cheap, friendly, easy-going, shorts on stage, and the weather’s generous so mornings are on the beach rather than in the bars. But the music’s good, too. There’s a range of bands from the students at the Jazz School, sometimes formed for one performance at Moruya. The names usually give those away. But there’s also the teachers and their slick and virtuosic performances, a range of amateur or semi-professional players, and a spattering of the popular (less demanding, but better paid and more entertaining) feature artists. I mostly miss those feature bands, but they always draw the big crowds. I love the large ensembles, and the Jazz School always provides the Commercial Band, the Big Band and the Recording Ensemble. All different, and all big and exciting and rich sounding. For me, it was the Recording Ensemble that blew me away this year. They were having a great time (Sebastian McIntosh was in fine and dry form as MC), blowing hard, and playing original charts. Miro leads this band and he asks for, and gets, original charts, and creative input from the students. Congrats due here.

I didn’t catch the whole festival this year, given my relaxed demeanour, the languid temperatures and the pleasant housemates, but here’s my report.

Drummers seemed to be in abundance. Fantastic Woollen Fishing Rod (named for the occasion, I expect) was a quartet of trumpet, alto and two drummers. It was an odd mix, but a nice experiment. Andrew Fedorovitch (alto) played with Shane Spellman (trumpet) and John Wilton and Jono Lake (2 x drums). The Recording Ensemble was also doubling up on drummers (and more) but more on that later.

The Melds appeared after a great outing on ArtSound in recent weeks. They featured 3 drummers, and finished with a drum feature with synth guitar accompaniment. The band seems pretty fluid, as the membership was different from the ArtSound outing. Shouldn’t be a problem, as it’s largely free, sustained, layered improvisations on fairly simple themes, but very compelling. I was amused to overhear at one stage this snippet from the stage: “Don’t stop now. See what happens”. And, of course, it did develop and it was compelling. It was a nice bit of adventurism. The Melds were led by Matt Sykes (drums), with Matt Lustri (synth guitar), Chris Pound (bass), Andy Campbell (guitar), Jo Lloyd (alto), Reuben Lewis (trumpet), Hugh Deacon (drums), John Wildon (drums) and Valdis Thomann (trombone).

Dub Dub Goose is equally capable, but very different, being a dub/reggae outfit led by Nick Combe. Nick’s impressed me over recent years with compositions for the Recording Ensemble. Apparently he has a penchant for reggae, and the opportunity to perform it with capable players. This was another big outfit that probably expanded on the day. Reggae (or dub?) is an attractive style, and indulgently stupefying. I enjoyed the start with tunes by Ernest Raglan, but I found it a stretch by the end of the set. They mercifully finished with something different which I liked and found refreshing, a 7/4 with lush orchestration. But it was well done, and my response says more about my preferences than the music. Nick Combe (tenor) led Reuben Lewis (trumpet), Sophie Chapman (trombone), Matt Sykes (drums), Matt Lustri (guitar), Chris Pound (bass), Austin Benjamin/Bucket (piano), James LeFevre (tenor), Alistair Clarke (trombone), Valdis Thomann (trombone) and Alex Raupach (trumpet).

The Lethals are a hot, funky, loud outfit led by hot, funky Leigh “Lethal” Miller (bass) with Neils Rosendahl (tenor), Aron Lyon (guitar) and Sam Young (drums). They were a big hit. I heard them twice. Obviously the darker evening hours suited the flamboyant performance, but he morning gig was good, too. These guys are supremely professional. No-one overplayed. There were lots of notes, but they fitted without being forced. There was Weather Report and Jaco (Teen town) and Soulive, and some originals, so the heads were challenging, but the essence of the band was tight, hard blowing, and they did it with panache. Niels always impresses, and Aron was fluidity and fast, smooth runs and loops and echo and the rest. Great fun, loud, engaging and popular. A blowout and terrible to follow!

Sally Greenaway toned things down with a lovely, arranged set and a capable band. Sally is renowned as a prize-winning composer, so we can expect new and original compositions when she plays. But these are not blowing tunes; they are emotionally satisfying numbers with apt and developed stylistic approaches. Tunes included an arrangement of Smile in 5/4, a funky Stefon Harris tune, a Vince Jones ballad, and several originals. Her band’s good too. The Sally Greenaway Project included Sally (piano), Raf Jurgen (bass), Ed Rodrigues (drums), Niels Rosendahl (tenor), Valdis Thomann (trombone) and Marie LeBrun (vocals).

Launching a festival (Moruya 2)

Moruya was also where we announced a new festival of modern jazz for Canberra. The name is not finalised (due to a misunderstanding with the ABC, no less), but the date is Saturday 4 April, and there will be bands on two stages at the Folkus Room from 12noon – 12 midnight. Performance is by invitation, and we are seeking interesting and original offers: original compositions, special performances like replaying renowned albums, retrospectives of famous performers, cross-genre styles like NuJazz, jazz-poetry, breakbeats, that sort of thing. We are seeking something with a theme, or a hook, rather than standards, although no doubt there will be some standards there, too. Get your manuscript and pencils together and make us an offer. We have 4 bands so far, and support of the Jazz School. We are planning for up to 20 bands over 12 hours.

The Folkus Room is comfortable. It’s well located with good parking. There’s food and drink, and places to escape the noise for a while. There are 2 rooms and good PAs. ArtSound’s onside, and is likely to be recording and perhaps broadcasting. Even ABC’s DigJazz Internet Radio is supportive.

The festival is also a charity event. We aim to raise $7K to donate to Wellwishers. Wellwishers is a charity that digs wells for poor villages in dry and poor Ethiopia. $7K will pay for one well to be dug, and change the lives of the people of one village. Help us out by volunteering to play or to assist in other ways. It’s a great cause, and it will be a fascinating day of jazz. Any surplus will go to the performers.

The Committee is Cameron Smith, Courtney Stark, Brenton Homes and Eric Pozza. CJ will advise more soon (when we finalise a name). In the meantime, you can contact the Committee through CJ.

We have also learnt that guys from ADFA are organising a more mainstream jazz festival (the National Capital Jazz Festival) for late November 2009 with the expectation of it being annual. The two festivals will be working together. So that means, an annual modern jazz weekend in April each year, and a full blown mainstream festival in November each year. Exciting! Keep your eyes on CJ and join the CJ Group on Facebook to hear more.

Wellwishers

Taking it easy (Moruya 1)

It was a tamer Moruya for me this year. Just one band to play in, although 3 sets, including our debut at the Air Raid Tavern. Michel was being generous. I was also staying with the band and a few wives (for a greater level of civilisation) at a holiday house at Tomakin. In fact, I was slack enough to only attend on Sunday for our gig at the Monarch. As your jazz journo in Moruya, I have to apologise, but it was fun and relaxing.

Firstly, reporting my own band. We repeated tunes for sets 1 and 2, and each version went off well. The second time was a bit more prepared, but following the explosive and virtuosic Lethals was somewhat harrowing. But our compositions are presentable, and I’m proud of them. Daniel wrote about 5 tunes, and I wrote three. We’ve discovered the import of composition, and also that it’s not so difficult. Miro inspired me at last year’s Moruya when he told me how he prompts students to compose: they shouldn’t worry if their compositions are not perfect first time around; if it works, OK, if not, drop it and write another. After all, you have to learn composition like you learn performance. It’s a liberating thought, and frees the mind to write something down and drop the Real Book. I always try to provide something unique at Moruya. Last year it was Giant steps and a Horace Parlan album. This year, it was a fully original set (played twice, because we weren’t sufficiently prepared), and some free jazz. We described the free as an indulgence, but it worked much better than we had hoped for, and perhaps got the most claps of the weekend (I was stunned). Congrats to Daniel for being daring enough to suggest it! My band is Toucani, and the members are: Daniel Wild (piano), John Baczynski (tenor), Brenton Holmes (drums) and Eric Pozza (bass).

There’s also education at an event like this. I learnt something new about modal bass playing, which has been on my mind for years. The influences were chats with Daniel, our pianist, over recent weeks and listening to, and thinking about, bassists Chris Pound and Eric Ajaye and Hannah James, and also John Mackey’s restrained but emotive performance on the Saturday night. Thanks to my mates for the help they didn’t even realise they were giving. We must discuss it sometime. Anyway, I put it into practice in a moderately paced version of Impressions on Sunday, and it worked. It’s such a deceptively easy tune, but so central to the modal style. The learning was satisfying.

In our own words

John Sharpe launched his third book on Australian jazz, today, at the Australian Jazz Archive, located at the National Film and Sound Archive. John’s second book was that valuable tome which documents jazz in Canberra, “Cool Capital: The Canberra Jazz Scene, 1925-2005” which he published in 2006. This new book is “I wanted to be a jazz musician”. It’s a collection of oral histories and pictures of a number of interesting and renowned Australian jazz players: Mike Nock, Sandy Evans, David Jones, Kevin Hunt, Joe Chindamo, Miroslav Bukovsky and the like. The book is divided into two sections: interview transcripts and themed chapters on interests outside music (that’s of particular interest to me), the Rock & Roll experience, and [career] highlights. Accompanying pics are taken from the AJA archive, but interestingly, also from private collections. I was particularly taken by a pic of Mike Nock chatting with Chick Corea and Dave Holland in Chick’s NY apartment, presumably sometime in the 60s or 70s. Also a posed portrait of Joe Chindamo with Kevin Rudd and Hillary Clinton, apparently taken when he was on overseas tour (as was Rudd, I expect; nothing new under the sun). Another that caught everyones’ attention was a posed band photo from the Mona Vale Public School in 1972, with John Morrison on tuba and James Morrison on French horn. Haven’t they come a long way? The pic of Bob Bertles playing with the Wild One, Johnny O’Keefe, set the scene for the involvement of jazz players with rock & roll, and I guess any other musical form that pays. Another fascinating book on Australian jazz which crosses the popular and academic divide. Thanks again to John Sharpe.

The book was formally launched by Bruce Johnson. Bruce was instrumental in setting up the AJA and authored the definitive “Oxford companion to Australian Jazz” (1987) as well as several other learned works. Bruce surprised me with some comments on the importance of Australian jazz in the world context. Apparently, a European encyclopaedia has recently claimed Australia is second only to the US in its importance in international jazz history. Along similar lines, Bruce claimed that jazz is the major Australian cultural export (perhaps only matched by film from the 70s). More facts: Australia held the first ever jazz festival in Sydney, and the Australian Jazz festival is the oldest continuous surviving jazz festival in the world. Impressive.

The whole show was introduced by Matthew Davies, Senior Curator of Recorded Sound at the NFSA. Here’s some news on the AJA. The Australian Jazz Archive now holds over 12,500 items. The cataloguing’s not up to date, but how’s that different from any other cultural institution? And this is just the first amongst equals of jazz archives in Australia, so our jazz history is in good hands.

Bruce Johnson at Glasgow University

Our own jazz history

I knew I'd noted John Sharpe's history of Canberra Jazz on CJ. I had, but it's been lost in the news items from early 2006. So here it is recorded for the blog.

John Sharpe is a well known trombonist with a long history in the Canberra trad jazz scene, and an interest in the full range of jazz, from trad to modern. He recently published a lengthy book on the history of jazz in Canberra, so we have our own history. I've just browsed the book. It's big, contains a long history (1925-2005), a list of ~1,000 musicians and lots of pics. John tells me it's available at Dymocks in Civic and the National Library bookstore.

Price ~$39 for the paperback of 399 pages. Well worth our support.

Sharpe, John (John Bruce), 1941- A cool capital : the Canberra jazz scene, 1925-2005 / John Sharpe. Torrens, A.C.T. : J. Sharpe, 2006.

Ever more harps

I knew Canberra was a centre for the harp, and that the ANU School of Music was the epicentre. So I was not too surprised when I found harps playing today at the ANU's Park Stage at Floriade, rather than jazz. Tegan Peemoeller and Meriel Owen played a varied program of popular tunes (eg, Bali High, Danny Boy) along with some more lengthy tunes, presumably from the classical harp repertoire. The sounds were beautiful and sharp and pure, despite incongruous interruptions from burbling bikes and diesel double-declutching on nearby Parkes Way. A mild and mesmeric, and quite entrancing, respite from financial woes and business busy-ness.

Moody giraffe

Text by John Baczynski, pics by John & Neal Gowan

In direct contrast to the frosty weather outside, the James Annesley Quartet from Melbourne delivered a warm and thoroughly entertaining performance to the delight of a very appreciative audience. The physical layout of the Gods Café also encouraged a fabulous intimacy, often lost in larger venues, making the night even more enjoyable.

Opening with a Bob Dylan cover, "Girl from the North Country", Annesley (tenor and soprano sax) calmly and confidently played evocative floating solos. The rest of the night consisted mostly of originals, with a couple of standards thrown in (Tutu and You Don't know what Love is) all played in an expressive modern jazz style. A stand out was the original "Idle hands do the Devils Work" which not only showcased many of Annesley's abilities on the saxophone, including circular breathing to extend a trill, but also gave Hugh Stuckey the chance to demonstrate his great talent on guitar. Stuckey clearly enjoys his playing and is a delight to listen to as he constructs clean, precise, and fast expressions throughout his solos. Rhythmically, Hugh Harvey (drums) provided a solid foundation to all of the pieces. Hugh created a particularly trance-like mood during his solo for "Giraffe" in which he effortlessly produced an array of fascinating sounds from his cymbals and then shifted back to a organic feel by playing his kit bare-handed. Tom Lee on Bass was flawless throughout the night and his playing was given prominence during the sax and bass duo "Claustrophobia".

As a whole, the quartet displayed an intimate understanding of each others musical vocabulary and technical ability which resulted in a lush, layered and varied sound that was interesting, considered and precisely executed. It was also great to see a group clearly enjoying what they do. Well worth seeing next time they come back to Canberra (hopefully soon).

Teen spirit

It was a quiet night at Folkus and not too well attended, but the music was mostly original and the playing capable and interesting all round. James Annesley was visiting Canberra on tour from Melbourne and he was supported by a local student band led by Andy Campbell.

Firstly Andy. I hadn’t heard his band before, but I knew they’d been performing recently. The music turned out to be all original material penned by Andy himself. Sometimes meditative, often restrained; mostly straight eight feels although there was a rapid walk in there which was more boisterous; deliberate and dynamic rhythm playing by Hugh on drums and Chris on bass, constantly responsive to long melodic and solo lines. Again, we hear current students playing interesting, complex, original tunes: it bodes well. Andy Campbell (guitar) played with Austin Benjamin (piano), Chris Pound (bass) and Hugh Deacon (drums).

The James Annesley Quartet was the feature band on tour from Melbourne. From the top, they were louder than Andy’s band, and more confident with a brasher style of music and some terrific playing. Again, the tunes were mainly original, other than the Marcus Miller/Miles Davis Tutu, and the last tune of the set, the one they didn’t introduce, Nirvana’s Smells like teen spirit. Teen spirit has a strongly insinuating melody line that just clicks in the jazz idiom, and they did it justice. James played tenor and soprano saxes, but was more commonly on soprano. His playing was clear and incisive and fluent throughout. Hugh Stuckey was also a blast. He reached the finals of the National Jazz Awards for guitar at the last Wangaratta Festival, so it was not unexpected. He was fluent, subtle, elusive. It was fast playing with a lush background echo, so modern sounding. Rapid lines often merged with chords; generously spaced; open and searching for a response to the surroundings; resting between passages with a flourish of his left hand. Tom Lee played a strong and regular line on bass. He moved with his bass lines: more than anyone else I remember seeing. It’s interesting to see how musos respond to what they hear: variously cool and unmoving or mobile and expressive. Hugh Harvey combined with Tom for the steady, go-ahead bedrock rhythm, and played some nice solos of his own. I doubt my description does them justice. I thoroughly enjoyed the confident, capable performance in a modern post-bop style. There’s still a chance to catch them at the Gods next Tuesday. Well worth the outing. James Annesley (tenor, soprano sax) played with Hugh Stuckey (guitar), Tom Lee (bass) and Hugh Harvey (drums).

And remember to support music like this! Folkus is increasingly providing the venue for comfortable, intelligent, listening jazz. Use it or lose it.