Indigenous Artist in Residence, Noongar woman Bumpy.  Image: RM

REVIEW

Melbourne International Jazz Festival, 18 – 27 October 2024

Each concert has stories. Each listener finds their own. Each player shares some of what brought them to the stage – some of that journey.

Do festivals have stories? Yes, but only in the way patrons (and reviewers) collate cues and clues along the way. After 13 concerts, a Second Line Street Party and a Late Night Jam Session, I will posit a theme for MIJF 2024: “journeys”.

On opening night, Noongar woman Bumpy (Amy Dowd), along with members of the Australian Art Orchestra, Mick Power on guitar, Ben Yarram on yidaki and backing vocalists Emma Voland and Isadora Lauritz, let us share her 18-month journey of discovery – returning home to country with her mother, learning language, yarning of sacred ways and mission days.

Fairfax Studio was an ideal space for the Indigenous Artist in Residence to unveil her deeply emotional homecoming – “I come from water, I come from land”, “salty skin to salty water” – her Noongar naming as Tooni and her acceptance that knowledge passed down in the aural tradition is “never lost, but yet to be found”.

The MIJF and Australian Art Orchestra artistic director Aaron Choulai deserve credit for allowing this project the time to develop and then – with subtlety and power – weaving Bumpy’s soulful lyrics, drawing on her Indigenous roots, with modern jazz. It worked. Power and Yarram were magical together and the ensemble was wonderfully cohesive, though I would have liked to have heard more of Sofia Carbonara on vibraphone.

Audrey Powne at the piano during “From the Fire”

On Thursday 24 October at Howler, Audrey Powne led a rhythm section and a string quartet through the Australian premiere of From the Fire, a concept album in which she composed and produced nine tracks, including string arrangements, played trumpet and piano, wrote lyrics and sang. What had been mooted as “lush” – yes, there were strings – was also compelling, due to Powne’s vocals, iridescent horn and the trio of Myka Wallace on drums, James Bowers on keys and Sam Anning on bass.

This was a monumental work, but its true significance was revealed towards the end, when Powne spoke with emotion of a traumatic experience which provided the impetus for From the Fire – “It was the worst thing that has happened to me. This album is the best thing. I can’t believe this came out of me.”

After that, Powne’s moving rendition of Ellington’s I Like the Sunrise was a release invoking “a new day”.

Xani Kolac performs “Stamina”.

The sharing of personal challenges continued on Monday 21 October when the audience was ushered into Primrose Potter Salon at Melbourne Recital Centre for Xani Kolac’s Stamina. Lit from four sides by banks of strobing spotlights, elevated on a small central stage and armed with her amplified violin and electronic effects pedals, Xani mesmerically employed her bow, vocals and live looping – delivered in quadraphonic sound – to reflect on her struggles with hypochondria, endometriosis, body image and panic attacks.

This was a moving performance in more than one sense, Xani turning to face the surrounding crowd while adjusting effects, at one point delivering the lyrics of Hold My Breath in a robotic voice. The instrumental piece A Cups was a response to an episode early in Xani’s career as a violinist when she was introduced as “like Andrew Bird but with boobs”.

Xani closed with a love song, Outrun, that she applied in this instance to her body: “I know every line, every smile and sadness on my skin … [but now] … My reflection’s someone new.”

Tiaryn Griggs performs at Kindred Bandroom

Emotions were exposed also in the opening act at Kindred Bandroom on Friday 25 October when Tiaryn Griggs (on vocals, keys) joined Robyn Poppins (drums, percussion) and Gillan Gregory (guitar, vocals) to play original pieces focused on personal growth, insecurity, creativity and dealing with self criticism. Towards the end of their set, Tiaryn invited the audience to join a group prayer for her mother, who was confronting a brain tumour.

Faisal Salah performs as FaceSoul at Kindred Bandroom.

What followed in the main act was akin to a religious experience, sans ScoMo or speaking in tongues. Somali-born, London-based songwriter and vocal artist Faisal Salah, who performs as FaceSoul, infused the packed standing-only venue with philosophical reflections and exhortations on light, love and healing, silence, life as a dream, seeing with your heart and having faith in the promise of life.

FaceSoul impressed with potent vocals as well as disarming, infectious positivity, his simple messages (“Life will face its ups and downs”) tempered with counsel (“With hardship comes ease”) and a reminder in dark times to ask, “Did the universe bless you with a good friend?” Perhaps you had to be there, but in these days of depressing news I’m sure the audience felt uplifted.

Amadou Kalissa and Lachlan Leeds with Mandeng Groove.

The upbeat mood was also present on Saturday 19 October at The Jazzlab, where Mandeng Groove performed music in the Manding griot (storyteller) tradition of West Africa. Multi-instrumentalist Amadou Kalisssa, born in Guinea and living in Melbourne since 2011, led the band’s first outing as a sextet along with the group’s co-founder, Kyle Muir, on guitar, Flora Carbo on saxophone, Lachlan Leeds on guitar, Harry Birch on bass and Alex Roper on drums. Five members of the band had travelled to Conakry, Guinea early in 2004, studying and recording with musicians there.

Kalissa – a magnetic performer – was superb on kora, ngoni, djembe and vocals as the group delivered energetic grooves in songs dealing with weddings, the giving of thanks for medical treatment and lives well lived. It was great to see Alex Roper so well in sync with Kalissa and Carbo experimenting with amplified sound on ngoni. The one audience member who gave into the urge to dance was rewarded with a huge smile from Kalissa.

The journey that resulted in Paper Tiger’s second album, Between the Lines of Stillness, has been the passing of 10 years for saxophonist Jamie Oehlers and drummer Ben Vanderwal from WA, and Melbourne guitarist Stephen Magnusson, since their eponymous first trio recording.

There was fluidity and a sense of whimsical playfulness to this music, reflecting the ease of understanding between longtime friends and perhaps the fact that it was recorded, once again, in one day. Yet in Magnusson’s Wide – written as a “vengeance piece” in response to an earlier composition by Oehlers – there were hints of unfinished sentences, arguing, “this could get ugly” and fears things could get out of hand. Patterns and layers populated the title track, inspired by moments that stop you in your tracks, which ended the outing. This gig was a delight.

Nubya Garcia enjoys a bass solo by Max Luthert at 170 Russell St.

On Wednesday 23 October saxophonist Nubya Garcia (UK) joined Lyle Barton on keys, Max Luthert on bass and Sam Jones on drums amid the stage fog and lighting at 170 Russell St in a solid performance of pieces drawn mainly from Garcia’s recently released album Odyssey. Garcia delivered exactly what the packed, standing audience was after and there were OMGs aplenty and gasps of approval for her solos and the excellent rhythm section’s work in between. But peering over the sea of patrons I could not help wanting to transplant these fans to one of Melbourne’s excellent jazz clubs and bring on a Julien Wilson, Jamie Oehlers or Scott McConnachie to see how they reacted. My bet is there would be just as many OMGs.

It was too early to ride the Melbourne Metro to Arden Station for this festival’s follow up to last year’s experimental and highly successful series of mini concerts directed by Shannon Barnett at the City Baths. The new underground station won’t open until next year, but at 5.30pm on Saturday 26 October we were allowed access to the impressive arched entrance hall and surrounds for three short sets.

As a venue it wasn’t ideal, although definitely worth the effort of finding an adventurous site. Harpist Brandee Younger in her trio with Rashaan Carter on bass and Allan Mednard on drums had to deal with sunlight streaming from behind the harp. The 15 Invenio Singers, always innovative and impressive, were initially spaced out in a narrow walkway before filing along to the steps outside, so some listeners heard only fragments of their vocal work.

The most powerful messages came from Yorta Yorta story teller and acoustic bassist Allara, who pointed out this was once the site of a blue lagoon. She did not mince words about the land’s history – “Say goodbye, wetland to wasteland” – and referred to jailed First Nations woman Elsie who “was looking to score – you still don’t give a shit”. Allara left us with a reminder that, “We have survived a white man’s world.”

Antonio Sanchez solos during his performance with Monash University students

Melbourne’s jazz festival has a tradition of encouraging notable artists from overseas to spend time with young musicians. At The Jazzlab on Tuesday 22 October, drummer extraordinaire Antonio Sanchez (Mexico/USA) guided two sets of students from Sir Zelman Cowen School of Music and Performance at Monash University through pieces honed during intensive rehearsals over a few days.

Sanchez, reputedly an old-school proponent of practice, treated the occasion seriously, conducting the first ensemble from the kit and ending their set with a long drum solo that delighted the audience. With the second group he was less directive. For all of the students the experience must linger as an integral part of their musical journey as well being a stimulating concert for those listening.

Antonio Sanchez performs live during the screening of Birdman.

Sanchez was primarily at the festival to perform live at Melbourne Recital Centre during the screening of director Alejandro González Iñárritu’s Oscar-winning 2014 film Birdman. It was fascinating to hear, on stage at the Melbourne Recital Centre beforehand, the drummer tell how he came to know Iñárritu, the terror that set in after the director’s 2012 phone call asking him to provide a drum score, his sending of demo tapes that were “exactly the opposite” of what was wanted and the eventual decision to have him improvise the score – “That I can do, a million times,” Sanchez had assured Iñárritu.

Birdman rewards repeat viewings. Having Sanchez at the drum kit on stage in semi-darkness, demonstrating his intimate knowledge of every scene with pinpoint-perfect responses, added an extra dimension. He left silences untouched. He added drama to the film’s continuous-take approach, especially during corridor transitions. He punctuated heated conversations with brief bursts. He accompanied Keaton’s underwear walk with a wall of subdued sound. He flung sonic missiles in scenes of destruction, on target to the second. In short, Sanchez enhanced what was great in the film.

To top off this audio-visual journey, Sanchez added almost 15 minutes of solo percussive wizardry to what was already a festival highlight.

The opening of Tin Men and the Telephone’s “It’s About Time”

The concept of musicians responding to visuals in real – or unreal – time was the key to Tin Men and the Telephone’s concert dubbed It’s About Time at The Jazzlab at 9.30pm on Saturday 26 October. Netherlands trio Tony Roe on piano/electronics, Pat Cleaver on double / electric bass and Bobby Petrov on drums took on a Tardis-like journey that was conceptually and musically clever, as well as incorporating some serious elements.

Definitely a festival highlight, this gig opened with three screens displaying the words, “75 minutes from now”, while Roe thanked us for attending, told us the sound was great and it had been a pleasure to be here, and announced that “Now we will play the last tune”. That set the tone for time switches – forward and reverse, at times aided by the screen displays.

In a serious piece from seven years earlier that has not dated, Autonomous Weapons, we were repeatedly assured that “AI researchers have no interest in building autonomous weapons”. Yet in a highly amusing piece on golf technique, the musicians adjusted the tempo of their playing to match an instructor urging us repeatedly not to rush the backswing.

European bands are almost always able to offer material that is insightful as well as fun. Tin Men and the Telephone showed us what fine musicianship can do when coupled with intelligent use of technology. They even threw in some cuckoo clocks, with sound effects.

In the preceding concert at The Jazzlab, Kira Kira (Japan/Aust) once again brought us the “sparkle and twinkle brilliantly” that the quartet’s Japanese name suggests, even adding some plaintive cat-like vocals in their penultimate piece, Cat Parade.

Tony Buck, the drummer for this quartet’s highly acclaimed first album in 2017, has been replaced by Tatsuya Yoshida on Kira Kira Live, recorded this year in Tokyo and Nagoya. The others – Satoko Fujii on piano, Alister Spence on Rhodes and Natsuki Tamura on trumpet – remain just as daring.

The inventive spontaneity of this avant garde ensemble may be too adventurous for some listeners, but the rich array of sounds and textures, dynamic shifts and wonderful ways in which these musicians tap the potential of their instruments makes their performance a feast to savour. While at times Spence’s bag of tricks is obvious, at others he conjures magical input from behind the keyboard. Drums trade blows with trumpet, piano takes on Rhodes plus percussive devices. Later delicate cymbals complement the beauty of horn notes. Fragments can co-exist or coalesce.

Kira Kira’s last piece, Kite, left the audience in awe.

My festival, not counting the final jam session until 2am, finished at The Jazzlab with piano maestro Makoto Ozone and young protégés Shimpei Ogawa on bass and Kumto Kitai on drums in Trinfinity, which was formed in 2023 on the 40^th anniversary of Ozone’s debut.

There was evident affection and mutual respect between the elder player and his younger compatriots, along with attentiveness, responsiveness and much fun. Momentary Moment, written during a long flight to New York, featured a magnificent piano solo. After finishing a ballad, Infinity, Ozone pointed to the piano and clapped. At concert’s end he said “so much is happening in the world, this is for you” before the trio played Gotta Be Happy.

What happens at the late night jam sessions stays at the late night jam sessions, of course, but it was good that two women – Zoe Marshall and Merinda Dias-Jayasinha – ventured into the testosterone zone.

That’s a wrap. I didn’t hear Marcus Miller or Herbie Hancock, great as I am sure they were. But to be honest, I was happy with my musical journey.

ROGER MITCHELL

PS: Thanks to festival and venue staff for assistance throughout.

PPS: I am having difficulty adding captions to image galleries, but with luck that will be sorted soonish.