Category Archives: WANGARATTA JAZZ 2009

Australia’s major festival of improvised music

WANGARATTA JAZZ 09 — THE VAMPIRES

Posted on October 31, 2009 | Leave a comment

Jeremy Rose on alto sax, Nick Garbett on trumpet, Alex Boneham on bass, Alex Masso on drums and special guest on percussion Fabian Hevia, in Memorial Hall

Maybe one day I will catch up and complete this post. My apologies

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WANGARATTA JAZZ 09 — BAND OF FIVE NAMES

Posted on October 31, 2009 | Leave a comment

Phil Slater on trumpet and laptop, Matt McMahon on piano, Nord, Carl Dewhurst on guitar, Simon Barker on drums, percussion, at Alpine MDF Theatre

A festival is about transitions, about moving between the worlds created by the musicians in each space at a particular time. What a contrast to leave Linda Oh’s trio — young players who took no prisoners, reveling in driving rhythms and complex patterns — and enter the light and shade, frenzy and reflection, and at times absolute simplicity of this ensemble’s creations. Band of Five Names was affective, slowly evolving, highly involving. I thought at the time, “How can a Nord sound so gentle?” and “Stillness can take root here”.

Pics to come soon

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WANGARATTA JAZZ 09 — LINDA OH TRIO

Posted on October 31, 2009 | Leave a comment

Saturday performance in Memorial Hall: Linda Oh on acoustic bass, Ambrose Akinmusire on trumpet, Tommy Crane (of Be An Astronaut) on drums

This was first chance to hear the exciting New York trio of Manhattan School of Music graduates that released debut album Entry in 2009, albeit with Crane sitting in for drummer Obed Calvaire on this visit. In my review of the festival I wrote that on Saturday “Oh seemed competent, but tense in the trio”. It may have been completely wrong, but I thought perhaps Oh was preoccupied with her first appearance with Charles Tolliver, to come 10.30pm that night. The young, expatriate bassist had a lot on her plate, but she remained cool.

Opening, logically, with Numero Uno, they played tracks from the album — Fourth Limb, A Year From Now, Gunners, 201, Soul to Squeeze — as well as one new piece, the powerful To Not Be Broken. It was not warm music — it had emotion, but was not heart-warming, if that makes any sense. Akinmusire’s playing in To Not Be Broken was breathy and like dark chocolate icing: splendid, but not too sweet. He showed great command of the horn, producing light sensitivity, strength and lament as required. Oh’s bass in this outing seemed technically brilliant, but businesslike. But Sunday’s concert was to be a different story.

pics to come soon

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WANGARATTA JAZZ 09 — JOHN McALL’S BLACK MONEY

Posted on October 31, 2009 | Leave a comment

John McAll on piano, Jordan Murray on trombone, Tim Wilson on flute and alto sax (David Rex broke his arm), Adam Simmons on reeds, Philip Rex on acoustic bass, David Jones on drums at Jazz on Ovens

I loved Black Money, John McAll’s first album as bandleader and composer, so I relaxed and enjoyed as the septet played tracks including Atlantis, I Should Care, Behind the Bushes (think sinister, think silly swaggering cowboy elements in America), Melbournology, the superb Glitter and Dust (“melancholy meets brilliant thoughts”) and Chick Corea’s Humpty Dumpty.

The audience loved it and queued to buy the album later. Shades of the wonderful Way Out West gig at Ovens the previous year.

I’m hoping there’ll be another album from the “lesser known McAll” soon, with this line-up or similar.

Pics to come

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WANGARATTA JAZZ 09 — CARSTEN DAERR TRIO

Posted on October 31, 2009 | Leave a comment

Saturday performance in Alpine MDF Theatre, from Berlin: Carsten Daerr on piano, Oliver Potratz on bass, Eric Schaeffer on drums

I’m not sure how Daerr introduced the opening piece, Dumpelh, but later his explanation of the title seemed close to “becalmed”. He seemed to mean it when he said we were “a really nice audience” and “I’m proud and glad to be here now”. Daerr’s engaging personality shone through the set of originals — it was easy to warm to this trio. Their energy impressed in Manila, which was followed by Phantomsz, then the classically influenced Intuition (“inspired by a little child playing on my piano at home, only using the white keys, experimenting with the 12-tone scale”). The trio’s obsession with photography was given expression in the developing rhythms of Full Aperture.

Baby Levi, dedicated to Daerr’s baby nephew, opened beautifully, with the piano again contributing a classical feel, Potratz’s bowed bass providing rhythmic underpinning and Schaeffer’s drums giving strength. Daerr briefly played a melodica a la Erik Griswold, which added dimension. Next came Potratz’s composition Templo, inspired by a visit the previous year to Mexico City, where Christians built a church on the site of an Aztec temple in a bid to capture the energy of the place. The set closed with Innen (Inside), Daerr bending in to tap the piano strings and using a small cymbal or bell, Schaeffer applying the end of a drumstick to a cymbal and Potratz using his bow. It was a gradual build-up before they really got into it.

I left wondering what had contributed to my enjoyment of the set. This was a polished, energetic group with a friendly approach. They did not take themselves too seriously. They enjoyed playing and let it show. And Daerr in particular had loads of style, yet avoided in any way appearing to be full of his abilities. I’m a sucker for style in politics, so was I impressed for that reason? Or was it because I’d arrived on a high from hearing Nock & Schauble? Well, these factors probably had an effect (these days many would say “impacted”), but there was more to it. These guys could play, they were inventive, light and amusing without being frivolous or insubstantial. Endearing sums it up.

Pics to come

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WANGARATTA JAZZ 09 — NOCK & SCHAUBLE

Posted on October 31, 2009 | Leave a comment

Mike Nock on piano and Niko Schauble on drums at Memorial Hall

What you lose on the swings you gain on the roundabouts, so if I found Sylent Running a tad soporific, I was engrossed from the moment of arrival at this gig. Simplicity in the line-up was reflected in the music they created with such apparent (and probably real) ease. Schauble is my favourite drummer, so I was anticipating a treat. Couldn’t help contrasting his playing style with that of Ari Hoenig — the latter being much more the showman and Schauble most of the time seeming to be utterly lost in the music, unaware of anything or anyone else. But of course he was well aware of Nock — the communication was tangible, though it was achieved through no visible means.

This was music to fill the soul and totally occupy the attention, so that you wanted to be nowhere else but there, in the moment. I found myself smiling, though there was no patter and no gimmickry. Variations evolved without hurry, with textures and timbres valued by each player. I heard Art Blakey’s words (as recalled by Charles Tolliver) in my head: This was music to wash away the dust from our everyday lives. As the set evolved, there were periods of swing, of substantial force, of great involvement (of audience and the players). And at times Schauble was so delicate it would break your heart. Is that what makes drummers great … the ability to release sudden force, yet at times to be so restrained?

I have not said much about Mike Nock’s playing, but it was superb. Leaving this gig felt like returning to Earth after a trip to some space beyond. A space of immense satisfaction.

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WANGARATTA JAZZ 09 — BARNEY McALL & SYLENT RUNNING

Posted on October 31, 2009 | Leave a comment

Barney McAll on keyboards, Gian Slater vocals, Chris Hale on electric bass, Ben Vanderwal on drums, Dan West on laptop, toys, electronics, Nir Felder (New York) on guitar

This was quite different from what I’d expected from the notes promising experiments in relationships “between silence and non-silence, beauty and its opposites … pristine acoustics and botched, ‘confused robot’ electronics”. Barney explained the set would explore a future scenario in which Gian was the last person on earth. They began with a piece that may have been titled “Okaline” or similar, then one Barney said was “for my son … he smiles a lot right now”.

Holy Trinity cathedral was packed for this, though many seemed not to stay that long. You have to be in the right state of mind, in the moment, and I was probably already ahead of myself, working out when to leave to catch Mike Nock and Niko Schauble, so I did not do this justice. There seemed to be a lot of surreal beauty, but not much of its opposites while I was there. It was too ambient for me, despite the hypnotic feel and the enticement of Slater’s voice.

This is a fairly inadequate snapshot of what I’m sure ought to have been considered as a whole concept piece. I had the chance to hear Sylent Running again in the Alpine MDF Theatre, but it clashed with the gig by Barney’s brother, John McAll and I went to that. I was not disappointed.

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WANGARATTA JAZZ 09 — ARI HOENIG QUARTET

Posted on October 31, 2009 | Leave a comment

Saturday performance by Ari Hoenig drums, Gilad Hekselman guitar, Jamie Oehlers tenor sax, Sam Anning bass

Ari Hoenig
Ari Hoenig

Text to come here for this gig, which i left after Moanin’ …

Ari Hoenig
Ari Hoenig

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WANGARATTA JAZZ 09 — PATERAS, BAXTER, BROWN

Posted on October 31, 2009 | 3 Comments

Anthony Pateras on prepared piano and electronics, Sean Baxter on drums and percussion and David Brown on prepared guitar

Anthony Pateras
Anthony Pateras: Was that piano prepared for what happened?

Text to come for this amazing gig. Not a long dissertation, but some thoughts. The lighting really worked for these guys (and few others), but that’s incidental to the music. Still it all adds atmosphere. Let’s hear these guys in Melbourne soon.

Sean Baxter
Sean Baxter on drums and percussion

David Brown
David Brown in full flight

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WANGARATTA JAZZ 09: CHARLES TOLLIVER & JAZZGROOVE MOTHERSHIP ORCHESTRA

Posted on October 31, 2009 | Leave a comment

Saturday, October 31, performance by US trumpeter and band leader Charles Tolliver with the orchestra

Aaron Flower and Charles Tolliver
Band leader Charles Tolliver is attentive during an Aaron Flower solo.

It’s funny how little things can so easily sway us. On the final night of this festival, a while after the last gig, I was on my way back to the motel to start writing a festival review and happened to be walking behind some musicians. I won’t name them, and I did not really try to eavesdrop, but the import of their discussion was clearly that Charles Tolliver had been a tad pernickety, demanding that certain requirements be met by the organisers, and seeming to be unimpressed by the JM Orchestra. Who knows whether there is any skerrick of truth in this – it would not be the first time a headline muso had acted ornery – but it seemed totally contrary to the impression I had while watching the band under Tolliver’s direction.

So I may have a totally wrong take on how things were, but I saw signs of Tolliver’s empathy with the band, and of him being supportive and enthusiastic (he had good reason to be) about the performance of the 18-piece ensemble. It pleased me to see Tolliver rest his hand briefly on the shoulder of Aaron Flower en route to the front during the set-opening In The Trenches from the bandleader’s Emperor March album. The piece was a rousing way to start.

Layers of horns built to a crescendo in Tolliver’s I Want to Talk About You, which included an energetic tenor sax solo by Matt Keegan. Tolliver then challenged the audience, saying, “When we finish I’m going to ask everyone in the audience to tell me what the song is.” After a moving trumpet soliloquy, Tolliver quick as a flash turned to conduct.

Charles Tolliver
Charles Tolliver flies solo.

His tone in solos was at times piercing, with notes driven by a relentless flow of air or being pumped out in staccato fashion. The piece was, of course, Round Midnight.

David Theake reeds the mood perfectly.
David Theak reeds the mood perfectly.

Tolliver again introduced Emperor March with a mention of the penguin, saying “no other creature can endure what that does only to have a little one”. David Theak’s soprano sax solo seemed to evoke the harsh conditions in Antarctica. As we heard a trombone solo from Danny Carmichael, then brief flute and clarinet interludes before deep notes from “dem ‘bones”, it felt like a journey. The slow build-up at the end, with melodic repetition, created a great atmosphere.

In closing piece Toughin’, Tolliver cheerfully announced “everyone’s going to solo, and they did. When Phil Slater popped up last in the line of trumpets, it struck me how talented the orchestra was to have such musicians quietly keeping a low profile in the band.

Along with the Bennetts Lane Big Band, the Jazzgroove Mothership Orchestra is likely to win over anyone who does not think big bands are their cup of tea. And that’s because it’s not all about blasting away, though that sometimes happens, but also about playing with sufficient feeling to move those listening.

Aaron Flower
Aaron Flower in a chord with proceedings.

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