This time, Coen Brothers

After the Joe Chindamo concert, Robyn praised the variety of programming at the Capital Jazz Project. Just what I’d been thinking. This time it was Joe and band with strings playing music that was visual, appealing, filmic. The concert was taken from his CD, Another place some other time, which is a reworking of film themes of the Coen Brothers. Now this was good, because I inveigled on Megan to come and she likes film music. It was particularly lucky becuase this was not what I’d expected. Joe had played jazz trios in his workshop. I knew the lineup was bigger, even with strings, but the bluegrass and storytelling of the musical structures surprised me on the night, but pleasantly. This was charming and even engrossing and there was some impressive playing; just not what I’d expected or promised. It was perhaps better. Certainly Megan volunteered how much she’d enjoyed it. Success!

The concert started with the themes from No country for old men and Man of constant sorrows. I live in a film vacuum: I’m told these are both from the Coen Brothers. Then a bluegrass from Henry Mancini (!) and Raising Arizona, another CB theme, and the Adagio from Spartacus by Khachaturian. This was also unexpected but it worked and it’s a memorable theme fitting in this company. Megan recognised this one. Then adding the sublime or the rediculous (you choose), Hotel California, another film theme and You are my sunshine. Then another film theme and an encore on solo piano. Unexpected? You bet. Sentiment, heart on shoulder, daring to breaking (jazz) conventions? Yes, all that. Like Paul Capsis, the glam cabaret singer who introduced the CJP with the support of the Alister Spence Trio, this was a challenge to our categories and our habituated ears. Good! But the jazz and chops were there, too. It’s good to see Philip Rex again with his busy, powerful playing and his rugged touch. And I enjoyed both violins, Zoe Black for her romantic melodies and Nigel McLean for his catholicity and chops covering bluegrass to the classics. Ronny and Alex provided layers of rhythms and Joe played with impressive breadth of improvisation and flamboyant flourishes, and even dropped into accordion, his first instrument, for a touching take on You are my sunshine. But, for all the arrangements and capable performance, I think my jazz ears most liked Joe’s solo piano encore that reprised Sunshine and some other melodies from the night. This was a confident and professional outing and I like that it was eminently attractive. It’s a change from music for afficionadoes and tiny audiences. Perhaps it was nonchalant and a bit distant but you have to love someone who will front a band with two violinists and play You are my sunshine at a jazz festival and carry it off with sentiment but without sentimentality.

Joe Chindamo (piano) led a band comprising Nigel MacLean (violin), Zoe Black (violin), Alex Pertout (percussion), Philip Rex (bass) and Ronny Ferella (drums)

Cyberhalides Jazz Photos by Brian Stewart

More chalk and cheese, pt.2

Joe’s band went second. I say I was formed by jazz of the ‘70s but perhaps the classic voluble swing of Oscar Peterson and Ray Brown and the like have influenced my playing more. I still love a swinger and I love the standards. Joe started with a piano trio, with Max and Luke – a quintessential jazz format - and the two opening tunes were classic standards of the American songbook that have reached into the lounges of the world: Cheek to cheek and Out of nowhere. Joe’s masterful in this style: fluent, inventive, playful, responsive and with big ears. This was just confirmed later when the larger band was playing and the solos were being passed around. Joe would mimic or paraphrase a player, and they would respond. Joe’s particularly good at it, taking ideas and changing key or underlying scale or intervals within the shape and repeating as a sequence. The later tunes were originals, mostly by Joe: Yesterday street, Yet to be named, Sleepless days about continuous daylight in the Norwegian arctic. The band also played Siberia by saxist Joe, a tune in 7/4 that maintained the temporary frosty theme. I heard the writing as filmic, especially after Bennie’s grooves, and at least one tune was from a film score: more melody, more harmony, more open sounding; less earthy movement, less bump and grind. There were some decent solos here, too, but I particularly noticed one guitar solo from Jack with a scratchy, staccato roughness and hints of Scofield. But I remain intrigued by the title of the session: Freshbace. Fresh is obvious; …bace?

Joe Chindamo led student group comprising Joe McEvilly (alto), Miles O’Connell (tenor), Scott Temby (trumpet), Rachel Cummings (trombone), Jack Palmer (guitar), Max Alduca (bass) and Luke Keanan-Brown (drums).

Cyberhalides Jazz Photos by Brian Stewart

More chalk and cheese, pt.1

Freshbace was two student bands, each led by a visiting jazz luminary. The first was Bennie Maupin; the second was Joe Chindamo. I’d seen both of these musicians in workshop so I was intrigued to hear them in concert as leaders of a student band. Like some other combinations that I’ve attended at CJP, these were chalk and cheese.

Bennie’s band went first. Bennie was involved in some major movements in the late sixties and seventies - Bitches brew, On the corner, Headhunters, Mwandishi – so we could expect a more spacey presentation. We got it. Just to emphasise the approach, the concert started with a string quartet. Then into a concert of heavy grooves, touches of free or at least lengthy cacophony, string quartet intros and washes, plenty of solos including a Ponty-like jazz violin, and an end on a solid funk. The tunes were originals from Bennie’s pen. Jewel of the Lotus and Mapo were spacey ‘70s jazz from early ECM releases. Equal justice was a ballad where Bennie played a slow ostinato of long and somewhat atonal intervals on piano. The final tune was a solid jazz funk that livened up to finish the set. This is probably the era that most influenced me in jazz so I was entranced by the music. The students were playing to their best, aware but smiling, and the music was alluring and physical. I especially took note of the unusual sound of El’s electric violin, which she played with considerable authority and with those characteristic intervals due to the tuning in fifths. Daniel’s guitar solo, especially his overt cutting blues and repeated notes against the funk, was classic Kim: outlandish but convincing. Jordan dropped into slap for the funk and let loose some devastating triplet slaps. I enjoyed watching the string quartet enjoying temporary freedom from dots during several group improv passages. Nice concert and earthy and physical.

Bennie Maupin (soprano sax, piano) led a student band comprising Andy Butler (piano), Matt Handel (alto), Tom Sly (trumpet), Patrick Langdon (trombone), Daniel Kim (guitar), Henry Rasmussen (drums), Llewellyn Osborne (jazz violin) and the Childers String Quartet of Tobias Chisnall (violin), Estelita Rae (violin), Anthony de Battista (viola) and Julia Janiszewski (cello).

Cyberhalides Jazz Photos by Brian Stewart

Night of extremes, pt.2

The other extreme was far less profound and far more sheer fun. Laurence Ku led an organ trio with Norwegian organist Steiner Nickelsen and renowned ex-Canberra drummer Nick McBride. Swinging organ trios have become popular of late and I’ve seen several in the last few years. This one is from Shanghai and was a blow out. This music is not meant to be a great cerebral experience. It’s hot and alive and seriously partying and this band did it justice. There were some tunes with out playing, but the essence of this music is tonality, swing, feel, dynamics. Laurence was playing pentatonics but they were seriously interesting. Great, alive, staccato lines spanning the fretboard, little stops to punctuate the solos, concentration released in smiles. The band obviously has a good time with music like this. It’s a game, too, although perfectly serious. I loved their openness. There were a few grimaces on the faces when they went for something that didn’t come off, but this is all part of the overt play. And I the band dynamics were astounding. It’s strange, because some of the individual dynamics were limited, especially the guitar, but overall, there were serious dynamics. Players dropping out, leaving a duo even a solo organ. The organ itself continually but subtly changing in volume and tone. But especially Nick’s drums that followed the flow, stating melody and responding to improvisation but never just mimicking. This was flowing, busy, diverse sounding drums and you could see every touch was individually formed and controlled. Maybe because there was no bass, but I sat in awe at nick’s flowing expressiveness. Again, I noted some grimaces, but any muso knows this happens on the edge, and any party muso knows that’s where you play. This was a tour de force to my ears. But that was just my focus for the night. Steiner’s organ was rip-roaring with nice bluesy lines formed and reformed and developing into blistering flourishes of that uniquely attacking but also sustained organ tone. I guessed he played with two keyboards on his Nord and he definitely a one octave footpedal under his left leg and a swell pedal under his right. It’s a busy job, and perhaps approaches drums for limb independence. They mostly played originals, a series of Pictures 1,2,3,4 by Laurence and several by Steiner. I heard lots of odd times and time changes. One count seemed to be 11/8 split as 6-5 then some triple feels then 11/8 as 5-6, but I’m never sure of these things. Suffice to say, it works musically but sits oddly until you get the count, but then it moves again. It can be flummoxing. They played a take on Poinciana and a considerably changed take on I’ll remember April which they called I can’t remember. But overall, this is music that doesn’t hide its honour or skills behind the bushel. It’s overt, excitable, youthful, dynamic and such great fun. We all left with wide open smiles. Great fun and very much the other extreme.

Laurence Ku (guitar) led an organ trio with Steiner Nickelsen (organ) and Nick McBride (drums).

Interestingly, I caught the trio again at the National Press CLub on Friday playing with Mike Price. Just one pic.

Night of extremes, pt.1

It was genuinely a night of extremes at the CJP with Gian Slater followed by Laurence Ku.

It could be no else with Gian Slater’s Invenio as an introduction. At least for me, this was truly a unique experience in jazz - atypical, diverse, distinctive, unrelated, singular. When else have I heard an unaccompanied choir of 14 (nine females, 5 males) vocalising all range of wordless sounds over one hour with just two sung songs. What were these sounds? Animals, squeels, pops, slides, clucks, drones, forests, whoops, wheels, ca-ta-da, hisses, relationships, guttural, vocalised, more. Harmonies, sharing, movements, responses. And visually nondemonstrative, dressed in white or faun, standing with hands to the side, deadpan faces, moving only slowly but in synch with each other and the music, forming patterns on stage. And props? Just for vocal enhancements: cups and bowls at one time, metal foil at another, to rustle and mute. Then once a drone of sitar in support, but mostly just voices. And then just two sets of words, both sung by convenor/leader and presumably composer, Gian Slater. One of innocence and dread, starting What you said it left me hanging. The other similar in presence. There were intimations of minimalism with slowly moving lines amongst singing pairs or groups. There were melodies passed one to one and changing like a Chinese whisper. And always that beautiful, beautiful sound of voice taken to places unimagined. I thought of likening to The Necks in effect and to minimalism in the trance-like beauty. But this was of itself and immensely beautiful. One side of the night’s extremity.

Gian Slater led Invenio, a choir of fourteen voices (9 female, 5 male) in a performance of Gone without saying. The voices of Invenio were Gian Slater, Georgie Darvidis, Miriam Crellin, Gemma Tully, Jenny Barnes, Helen Catanchin, Loni Thomson, Audrey Zoega, Louisa Rankin, Edward Fairlie, Jem Savage, Jeremy Hopkins, Tom Barton and Josh Kyle.

The wisdom of experience

Another afternoon off work, another workshop. This was Bennie Maupin, multi-instrumentalist with McCoy Tyner, Miles Davis, Herbie Hancock, Horace Silver, Roy Haynes and others.

I can’t attend his Saturday gig, so a workshop was a decent alternative. And of course it fascinating for the musicians. Hearing anecdotes of Miles as leader on Bitches Brew, of Eric Dolphy and John Coltrane and Sonny Rollins. Hearing of his eminently practical approach to life and survival as a musician, even of some of his setbacks. He strongly supports reed players learning other instruments, sax and clarinet and flute, if only for survival, and taking all sorts of gigs. He recounted gigs where he was forbidden from improvising, then explained that he went to the Lower East Side to let off steam with the likes of Joe Henderson. He spoke of learning of the value of timbre from Yusef Lateef. He spoke with some eminently quotable lines. You have to keep a bass clarinet under control “like a wild horse”. He promoted self-discipline and organisation and focus in practice, but also balance in life. I was surprised to hear that “some days I don’t practice”. He quoted Miles as being a supportive leader, “Yeah, I hear ya”, and said he learnt from Miles “how to be in the moment”. I liked the line “Always be the one to say yes” in the context of the sole initial volunteer to play. Then he went on to hail the use of space in performance. He called up several student bands and played with them and asked for a group picture to remember the event. He mourned the damage to the ANU School of Music. Bennie is not young (71) but there’s no way you’d say he’s old. A nice bloke and a lovely player, from what little I heard.

Old and young guns, pt.2

Bernie led his standard quartet and what bliss! I felt transported to another era and place by this concert. But the actual place, Street One, suited the band brilliantly. I don’t usually like jazz under a proscenium arch, but The Street was strangely intimate with its sagging cabaret-like backdrop and the band up front on stage with gentle colour washes.

I heard Bernie’s sax as slithering and seductive and unobtrusively articulated, undemonstrative and perhaps wary but nimble and open to experience. It’s been likened to Australian bush and I felt it as birdsong, nimble and seductive as that is. Warwick is anything but the same, but I was in Heaven when he entered with harmonies over melodies. This was the closest, most articulate, most familial harmonies I could imagine. But his soloing was anything but like Bernie’s. Warwick was all even eights or shreds of sixteenths, running chords with even volume and intensity but with phrasing that toyed with the bars running below. One trumpeter said after that he’s the best, meaning he’s the best jazz player, for this is classical, cerebral jazz: just melody improvised over chords with immense harmonic and technical skills and tightly controlled tone. Fabulous. What of the rhythm section? Andrew is renowned for his swing and, to my ears, it’s a swing of an era. I heard it as ‘40s: snappy, choppy and coarse-grained, authentic to style and displaying the influences of the pre-bop. Brendan was just supremely comfortable. Again, lots of bop-like swing, vivid soloing up the neck and a nicely balanced tone but with an upper-mid edge (he’s switched from gut to Obligatos and loves them, partly for bowability). I’ll particularly mention one spot where was playing an obligato (in Db I think) and dropped the volume from strong to the lightest but with a constant intensity. Now that’s control! The tunes were Bernie’s recognisable repertoire, some of which have become standards for Australia jazzers. First were The breeze and I, the Spirit song. Then a blues and Sweet and lovely, a ballad, Finally, Paul Desmond’s Wendy. I was just a little surprised to hear “Paul Desmond is “one of my all-time favourite saxophone players” but I probably shouldn’t be. Just 5 tunes? Maybe I missed one, but these were long takes with extended solos. I’d been hanging out for this gig. I’ve heard Bernie before but this was the most convincing. Perhaps it was the quiet room and quiet and attentive audience to hear the detail. The room, the night, suited this band and they are classics. Great gig.

Bernie McGann (alto) led his quartet with Warwick Alder (trumpet), Brendan Clarke (bass) and Andrew Dickeson (drums).

Cyberhalides Jazz Photos by Brian Stewart

Old and young guns, pt.1

The concert was entitled 21+75 because it marked the recent birthdays of each artist. Andy Butler was the junior; Bernie McGann the senior. If this expresses the quality of jazz in Australia as it has been and as it will be, I can only be proud. These were two seriously satisfying sets, and I was not the only one who left in thrall.

Andy led a big band (and for one tune, an octet) performing a series of charts that he’s developed with sponsorship and mentoring from Steve Newcomb under an Australia Council program. I know the band is brought together for this performance, so I was mightily impressed by how easily the band took to the charts. They weren’t easy, with odd times and syncopated conversational passages back and forth between parts. There may have been a touch of hesitation from the horns but nothing at all from Mark on drums. I particularly noticed his solo, which was solid, even magisterial. And a mix on a decent PA made all the difference. You always hear the snakey reeds and the blasting trumpets, but the tuba can be lost with its bell pointing to the ceiling. Tonight it was here and proud and speaking with its own voice. There were solos all round, of course, but the excitement here is in the tone and the orchestration and composition. The first tune was as yet unnamed and I heard it in 7/4 but perhaps with 4/4 passages. Poco was a highly syncopated unyielding pattern over 16 with a buzzing bee swarm as resolution. I missed the third tune’s title, but it was sleazy and slow and arranged for octet. The big band returned for Ode to Skype, if I remember correctly, in triple time. Andy later told me he communicates with Steve (and his girlfriend) over Skype. The final tune was Tightrope. There as a lively buzz in the foyer after Andy’s concert: for the pride in achievement as well as for the beer line. This gig was joyously received and Andy was talking of other gigs. But how to do this with such a large outfit? We can only hope.

Andy Butler (piano, composer) led big band comprising John Mackey, Niels Rosendahl, Matt Handel, Tom Fell (saxes), Miroslav Bukovsky, Alex Raupach, Ax Long, Scott Temby (trumpets), Rob Lee, Valdis Thomann, Patrick Langdon (trombones), Peter McGovern (tuba), Max Alduca (bass) and Mark Sutton (drums)

Cyberhalides Jazz Photos by Brian Stewart

Effortless does not mean uninformed

I have tickets to Joe Chindamo at the Capital Jazz Project on Friday and after seeing Joe in a workshop at the Band Room this afternoon, I am counting the days. He didn’t play much, but what he did was intriguing and coloured. The main piece was Out of nowhere as a piano trio with students Max and Luke. This was generous and a performance rather than a demonstration, so we could hear the richly varied approaches, his satisfyingly structured lines, his gentleness and intriguing modern-classical harmony (he particularly likes Ravel, Prokofiev, Charles Ives and the American composers) and his capable plays on jazz harmony and mobile patterns. He played a little else, but as demonstrations: Bach’s Goldburg Variations to display repeating form with variations; Gershwins’s Our love is here to stay showing two melodic shapes in movement and in play; Beethoven’s famous first three notes of the Fifth Symphony as a simple but memorable pattern. And Joe has catholic tastes: he also spoke of bluegrass and playing Dolly Parton. I liked some memorable quotes: “Notice things all the time” while talking of learning away from an instrument. This was in the context of noticing bassoon lines and learning from hearing harmony at an orchestral concert. He was strong on listening. It reminds me of a favourite quote of mine: "In the final analysis, your stature as a jazz musician is determined not by how much you have practised, but by how well you have listened" (Jazzology, p.195). Then a preference for effortless playing: he prefers musicians who don’t grunt the C major chord (think Paul Desmond). When practising, it’s ïmportant to muck around intelligently” and this one that I really liked and that highlights the responsibility on the learner: “[It’s] important to have a good teacher, but much more important to be a good student.” He was wary of the view that jazz has to come from certain locations, observing that “No critics have ever seen a bad French film”. He pointed to variation as a key to interest and demonstrated the effectiveness of a C major chord finishing a free passage. He talked and demonstrated various ways to practising soloing. Against a chord structure, choose the 9th or 5th and sharpen or flatten it on seventh chords. This produced intriguing harmonies and was perhaps my favourite as a sound. Another was essentially voice leading. Move up by a semitone or tone for each chord and build solos on those notes. Vary in all sorts of ways: start from different notes; use two, three or four notes per bar. Build interesting lines; check that fast lines are interesting when slowed (don’t just run scales). Or more traditionally, play arpeggios, move patterns, more.

This was just to touch on the discussion. But Out of nowhere said it all. I’m looking forward to Joe’s full band playing Friday for a full dose. Joe Chindamo (piano) ran a workshop for students at the ANU School of Music. Max Alduca (bass) and Luke Keanan-Brown (drums) sat in for one tune.

Not playing, chatting

Thanks to Brian Stewart of Cyberhalides for the pics

I like a writers’ festival but to be in one, on a panel, with illustrious co-panellists and not a few illustrious writers in the audience is a blast.

This was Conversations about Jazz at the Canberra Jazz Project. The CJP has a words and music theme this year, so a few jazz poets appear in the program (Alan Browne and spoken-word artist Miles Merrill) and this panel session. I represented the local, community stream, and the professionals were Sydney writers Jasmine Crittenden and John Shand and broadcaster-writer Andrew Ford. The session was convened by Melbourne writer and editor, Miriam Zolin. Now these are significant names in the jazz writing scene and I was chuffed to appear with them. The session passed with great speed, and some interesting points were raised about writing, criticism, the purpose and nature of reviewing, the benefits of writing about music, responses to reviewing, even the writer as parasitic on the performer. Also issues about jazz itself: the size of the community, the knowledge of jazz players and their expressiveness (or lack of it). And the state of publishing in Australia and the opportunities for jazz writers. There were a few questions at the end. I particularly liked one from Alex Raupach about the permanence of writing against the ephemeral nature of performance. Now that’s one that leaves your mind in a philosophical twist. Andrew quoted from Orwell - “[g]ood prose is like a window pane” (from the essay Why I write / George Orwell) meaning that the writer is of no consequence in the review. OK, agreed. I find these discussions intriguing (and perhaps unfinalisable: modern dialectics would argue the writer can’t be removed from the writing). FWIW, CJ takes a simple and practical approach. If interested, read my Instructions to authors. I seek to promote a community, widen popular interests, record some local history, assist performers and promote Canberra’s and Australia’s presence in the world jazz scene. And still allow the author some time for work and other interests. None-the-less, I could have easily chatted for hours more. Great fun.

Colour against the dark, part 2

It’s only a small room so they could hardly fit on stage, but the sound of Alex Raupach’s Dectet was lush with the tuba and various horns and the soprano voice performing sometimes as a singing voice and otherwise wordlessly as another instrument. This sound just has to remind you of Miles in the ‘50s. The tonality and harmonies and voice movements may be influenced by Gil Evans (the ballad was spot on) but the music was contemporary. The one non-original was a piece by drummer John Hollenbeck. It sat minimally against an insistent and heavy drum pattern then grew into melody and withdrew again to melodic minimalism. The last (as yet untitled) tune of the night seemed to be similarly contemporary with perhaps cacophony replacing minimalism. An earlier tune was cabaret-zany music as a setting for lyrics in Franglais by Liverpool poet Neil Innes. Andy’s Drag was more slow and bluesy and ripe for solos. Matt was his normal stunningly fluid and expressive self; Alex impressed me with some very purposeful solos on trumpet and muted trumpet and flugelhorn. Andy’s style was hard and abrasive and exploratory with single-note lines in a hard-bop style and formed an interesting contrast to Tate’s gentler tone in the previous set. I hadn’t heard Valdis for some time and I luxuriated in his solo of essential lines portrayed with richly satisfying tone. The tones of Ben and Tom and especially Peter’s tuba was essential for the lush performance. I was surprised by Ben on flute at one stage, when I thought I was hearing voice. Mark added rhythmic grunt and lots of percussive colour and Rohan sounded strong and beautifully tuneful on bass. But this was essentially a group performance in a way that smaller formats aren’t. It was lush and rich and satisfying and it must have been lots of work to orchestrate. There were some minor lapses in intonation, but nothing a little practice or regular performance wouldn’t fix. This was part 2 of a concert that confirmed the quality of our local jazz product (while it lasts). I enjoyed it, but more, I was truly impressed.

Alex Raupach (trumpet, flugelhorn) led a dectet with Rachael Thoms (vocals), Matt Handel (alto, tenor), Tom Fell (tenor, baritone sax), Ben Sutcliffe (tenor, flute), Valdis Thomann (trombone), Peter McGoven (tuba), Andy Butler (piano), Rohan Dasika (bass), Mark Sutton (drums).

Colour against the dark, part 1

It was a double bill at the Loft: Rohan Moore’s Songbird Project followed by the Alex Raupach Dectet. By the end, I was stunned by the invention, creativity and sheer hard work to get together such a complex program. I find every jazz session in Canberra at the moment is tinged with emotion – dread or sadness at loss or even anger. It’s all related to the Music School changes, of course. So it wasn’t surprising that I left feeling it’s downhill from here. Someone mentioned there will be no teachers, at least no specialist teachers of instrumental studies (an hour a week with someone outside the school just doesn’t count in this context) and the joke in witty reply was that this is the perfect teacher/student ratio: infinite, ie, no students, no teachers. Black humour abounds. But black sets off colour, so how was the concert? Intelligent, mostly original, varied and skilled. What we love in jazz. But these were two very different bands.

Songbird Project is a quartet in standard guise: tenor, piano, bass, drums. Rohan Moore leads from drums and composed all but the first tune, Nunu by Avishai Cohen. Given that Rohan’s a drummer, I wasn’t surprised by rhythmic games and oddly timed hits and polyrhythms and varying time signatures but I also found some decently satisfying melody that repeated neatly and arrangements that fit well with the band. This was not head/solo/solo/head. Piano and sax got a number of solos with the band, but pianist Tate also played alone in the middle or to start a tune, playing wide ranging stylistic variations, dropping into stride or diminished substitutions. I am generally taken by piano, but Tate is clearly a name to watch, huddled and beanie-clad and stylistically catholic. Max took a supportive role in this outing, but his one solo was delightfully softly-toned and playing nicely with rising and falling lines. I still think of Miles in terms of his stay in NYC (because of FB updates and some subsequent chats). I enjoyed what I thought were ‘70s influences in his playing: deliberate melody, varying intervals over extended ranges, long flourishes, occasional cut tone. Rohan was outspoken in solos and harsh in one tune dedicated to the ANU (a metal tune called Fury). This is emotionally tender ground. But there was also lyricism in a ballad dedicated to lost love (If we ever meet again), lively rollicking attractiveness (Misconception) and feathery lightness contrasting with syncopated hits (Marion’s rooftop). This was some skilful playing, but what I most took from it was maturity in composition and arrangement in a contemporary style. The band’s name sounds more like girl folk duos to my ears, but this was serious and skilled contemporary jazz. The Songbird Project was led by Rohan Moore (drums) with Tate Sheridan (piano), Miles O’Connell (tenor) and Max Alduca (bass).

This time Texas

It was almost like a jazz variety show when Niels Rosendahl presented his Farewell Concert. There was an audience of family and friends and not just the local jazz students and tragics. There was a good representation of audio and recording engineers and photographers were well represented. Niels, as host, chatted with the audience and invited a string of musician colleagues to stage to perform a varied mix of styles and tonalities. Then to top it off, there was a party in the foyer afterwards. But this was not lightweight performance. These are top players around town and our best are very good. First up was Niels’ organ trio with Luke Sweeting and Gary France with that particular ‘50s tonality that can be a bit woofy but which swings hard and funky when it’s in good hands. They were variously joined by three trumpets (locals Dan McLean and Ben Marston and Melbourne visitor Matt Tubman) and Raf Jerjen sat in after a few tunes. Ben played a gloriously melodic solo on Stella by starlight (trumpeters do) that highlighted to me the difference from prolific tenor madness. But then Dan and Matt indulged in trumpet mania with Dizzy’s classic brass hit, Night in Tunisia. Niels played Moon River for a friend in NYC and Luke performed a piano solo, while reading a chart from his mobile, that had Brenton and I astonished by its brilliantly perverse logic. (Luke later told us he just ignored the chart for a bit – so much for our ears). Both Raf and Gary had their solos too. Raf was newly back from NYC with a new commitment to rhythm above all and Gary is long out of the US but always with involvement and huge joy in his playing. I hadn’t realised that Gary studied at the very school that Niels is attending for his Masters program – University of North Texas School of Music: 1,500 students; 25 bands; a small town of jazzers. Back to the concert. Luke swapped to grand piano, groups grew and shrank, styles changed through various bop-influences and movie musicals then even on to the blues when Fiona Boyes came on stage. Niels has been expanding his palette into the blues and its conventions by touring with our internationally-recognised Fiona. Fiona led a Mississippi blues duo with Niels from acoustic guitar, vocals and kick box and an electric guitar blues. Then a return to jazz conventions and the influences and Coltrane and John Mackey and then a touch of evocative vocals and playful vocalese from Rachael Thoms. Then the party.

There was some stunning playing here and I imagine Niels can only continue his development with this sojourn. It was a friendly night and chatty to finish off, but as I walked home I wondered if Niels will ever wish to return to the future desert that will be Canberra music.

Niels Rosendahl (tenor) led a several bands and several visitors at his farewell concert: Luke Sweeting (organ, piano), Gary France (drums), Rafael Jerjen (bass), Dan McLean (trumpet), Ben Marston (trumpet), Matt Tubman (trumpet), Fiona Boyes (guitar, vocals), Rachael Thoms (vocals).

Cyberhalides Jazz Photos by Brian Stewart