PREVIEW
Melbourne International Jazz Festival 2023
20-29 October 2023
Jazz pops its head up again next month, this year in the wake of a referendum on whether to enshrine an Indigenous voice to parliament in the Australian constitution.
Whether jazz finding its voice can dispel the pervasive gloom that surely will follow a divisive No campaign full of negativity and fearmongering remains to be seen, but the Melbourne International Jazz Festival will do its level best to lift spirits.
In this 10-day event described by festival artistic director Michael Tortoni as “one of our most bold and ambitious festivals yet”, there is a clear intent to tap into new audiences and cross genre boundaries.
This brief burst of out and proud jazz begins at 5pm Friday 20 October with Free Jazz at Fed Square, followed at 1pm the next day by a New Orleans-style Second Line Street Party, weaving its way through Melbourne streets from the Red Stair Amphitheatre at Southbank, led by Hot 8 Brass Band (USA) and our own Horns of Leroy. Festival organisers encourage everyone “to dress-up, don some colourful beads and join the party”.
Then, from 4pm to 10pm, Jazz at the Bowl will offer six hours of funk, jazz, disco and soul featuring Chaka Khan along with Nile Rodgers & CHIC in a crowd-pulling celebration at Sidney Myer Music Bowl. Hot 8 Brass Band will deliver more funk, hip-hop, R&B, soul and bounce at Max Watt’s in Swanston St from 8pm.
Hip-hop will also be on the menu at The Croxton Bandroom in Thornbury on Wednesday 25 October when self-described “beat scientist” Makaya McCraven (USA) joins trumpeter Marquis Hill, Matt Gold on guitar and Junius Paul on bass in an outing billed as a chance to hear one of jazz’s “most exciting and visionary performers at the top of his game”.
If you’re game, “creatively fearless” artistic director of the Australian Art Orchestra, Aaron Choulai, will be at the piano at The Substation in Spotswood on Thursday 26 October to direct a reimagining of his 2020 album Raw Denshi, featuring Japanese hip-hop pioneers Kojoe and Hikaru Tanaka. Expect bilingual rapping, dirty samples, lush horn and string orchestration and complex improvisation.
On the same night, at Max Watt’s, dancing to heavy, unpredictable and inventive sounds is on offer with TEYMORI + Supernatural Dirt + Alexander Flood.
In Australia for the first time, UK break-beat trio GoGo Penguin, known for their dance-friendly, anthemic melodies and virtuosic instrumentation, will play The Forum on Friday 27 October in a concert billed as guaranteed to “convert even the staunchest jazz non-believer”.
Continuing the festival’s efforts to reach wider audiences, on Monday 23 October Wyndham Cultural Centre will host West African highlife and Afrobeat exponent Ebo Taylor (vocals, guitar) and son Henry (vocals, keyboards) with the 17-piece energy of locals The Public Opinion Afro Orchestra. For a sneak preview, fans can catch Henry Taylor and the orchestra in an open rehearsal at Mamma Chen’s (formerly the Dancing Dog) in Footscray at 2pm on Thursday 19 October.
In a joint presentation with PBS 106.7FM, 87-year-old Ebo Taylor and Henry will also take the stage with The Public Opinion Afro Orchestra on Saturday 21 October at Max Watt’s for the return of Beasts of No Nation.
For those keen to test the water before diving into the dangerous currents of improvised music, expatriate Australian trombonist and composer Shannon Barnett – now living in Cologne – will intrigue and entice us with Dead Weight on Tuesday 24 October at Melbourne City Baths. Barnett will direct 16 musicians and a fitness instructor in this work, developed in Germany in 2018, comprising Fahrrad Frei (free for bikes) for saxophones and exercise bikes, Skin Deep for three singers and female change room, End of the Bargain for three double basses, cello and rowing machine, and Deep Work for power funk band and fitness instructor. Exhausting, perhaps, but fun.
In another intriguing outing, Hand to Earth, Polish violinist and vocalist Amalia Umeda joins the Hand to Earth ensemble – Daniel Wilfred (vocals/bilma), David Wilfred (yidaki/vocals), Sunny Kim (vocals/percussion), Aviva Endean (clarinets/winds/electronics) and Peter Knight (trumpet/electronics/percussion) – for The Crow. Commissioned by MIJF and Jazztopad Festival in Poland, this work traces the songline of the crow (waak waak) in Arnhem Land.
Also at The Substation, Blue Note artist Nduduzo Makhathini (South Africa) on piano will join ARIA winner William Barton on didgeridoo in a pairing that “promises to cross borders, expand horizons and create new musical languages that speak to culture, Country and beyond”.
More mainstream hi-vis events at the festival include the Hamer Hall outing on Sunday 22 October by Grammy-nominated jazz vocalist, Lisa Simone, to honour her mother’s legacy, and the closing Hamer Hall concert on Sunday 29 October featuring Grammy-winning vocalist and composer, Cécile McLorin Salvant – expect emotive vocals, a captivating stage presence and songs drawn from jazz, blues and baroque to folkloric traditions.
Significant concerts are bound to draw discerning patrons to the Melbourne Recital Centre. US jazz supergroup SFJAZZ Collective has attracted more than 30 world-class players since its formation in 2004. Led at the moment by Chris Potter, it will deliver inspired takes on the classics in a special Anniversary program including a new suite collectively composed by the ensemble along with past compositions and arrangements.
Fans of the acclaimed 2020 album, Love is a Temporary Madness, will be excited to catch the MRC premiere on Thursday 26 October of composer/conductor Vanessa Perica’s new album The Eye is the First Circle, delivered by her 18-piece ensemble featuring some of Australia’s finest jazz musicians.
And on Saturday 28 October at MRC, Elixir – featuring Katie Noonan vocals, Zac Hurren saxophone/piano and Benjamin Hauptmann guitars – will join the Partridge String Quartet to launch new album A Small Shy Truth.
Chapel Off Chapel will host some standout performers during the festival.
On Friday 20 October, Italian pianist Kekko Fornarelli will perform pieces from his eighth album, Naked. On Saturday 21 October Chinese-Australian composer, performer and pioneer of modern guzheng music Mindy Meng Wang will join award-winning Australian composer and pianist Paul Grabowsky AO to explore Chinese folk music and contemporary jazz. On Sunday 22 October drummer Kendrick Scott (USA) will lead a quintet to perform music from his recent Blue Note album Corridors.
On Monday 23 October award-winning expatriate jazz vocalist Kristin Berardi will showcase music from her recent album, The Light and the Dark. And on Tuesday 24 October a not-to-be-missed double-bill showcases musicians from Sydney’s thriving jazz scene: Empty Voices – a dialogue between tar, percussion and double bass and woodwind/brass instruments – and Ghosts Between Streams – bringing a string quartet alongside Tom Avgenicos’ jazz quartet Delay 45.
For big attractions in smaller spaces, The Jazzlab in Brunswick again gives fans the opportunity to get up close and personal with top musicians. As well, The Rookies will host their fantastic, fun late night jams there throughout the festival from 11pm – entry is free.
As part of the festival’s annual Take Note artist development program, on Friday 20 October saxophonist, composer Cheryl Durongpisitkul will lead a 12-piece ensemble in a suite, Conjuress, that channels experiences of loss and healing.
In four outings on the opening weekend of the festival, Canadian trumpeter Ingrid Jensen will be joined on stage by gifted Australian jazz musicians Stephen Magnusson, Andrea Keller, Sam Anning and Felix Bloxsom. Expect technical facility and influences ranging from traditional and classical jazz to American folk and avant-garde. (Jensen also plays alongside students of the Sir Zelman Cowen School of Music and Performance, Monash – with whom she has recently released a digital album on Bandcamp – at The Salon, MRC on Tuesday 24 October.)
The spotlight on trumpet continues in four gigs at The Jazzlab on Monday and Tuesday 23 and 24 October with Marquis Hill in a quartet with Brett Williams piano, Junius Paul bass and Makaya McCraven drums.
On Wednesday 25 October Dutch saxophonist/composer Marike van Dijk will perform in a quintet to present Stranded, a haunting work commissioned by the Netherlands’ North Sea Jazz Festival. On the following evening, Melburnians will have a long-awaited opportunity to again hear trombonist/composer Shannon Barnett with her quartet from Germany – don’t miss it. And on Friday 27 October vocalist Michelle Nicolle – fresh from gigs overseas and touring in Australia with the MSO and Wynton Marsalis – will delight the audience in her quartet, followed later that night by Melbourne-raised, Paris-based pianist Daniel Gassin’s Crossover Band.
In four concerts over the final weekend of the festival, the first South African musician to be signed to Blue Note Records, pianist and composer Nduduzo Makhathini, will draw on ancient Zulu culture’s linking of music and ritual practices, in an outing with Zwelakhe-Duma Bell le Pere on double bass and Francisco Mela on drums. His most recent recent album, In the Spirit of Ntu, has been described as a “prayer”.
Jazz Westside will occupy Spotswood’s Grazeland for three days from Friday 20 October, bringing a mix of jazz, soul, funk and swing concerts – all free – on two stages alongside more than 50 food and beverage vendors. Also out west, pop-up stages at Hall St, Moonee Ponds (22 October) and Maddern Square, Footscray (29 October) will provide a variety of free Sunday gigs.
Lunchtime Jazz performances will provide more free music in the city at St James Courtyard and University Square.
There’s a lot on offer at this festival and a broad spectrum of music chosen, obviously in a bid to encourage jazz out of its niche and potential fans to test the water.
There are also some pretty tough choices caused by the inevitable program clashes. Good luck with that as you vote Yes to improvised music in Melbourne again finding its voice.
ROGER MITCHELL
Ausjazz Blog 