Unfortunately I missed Alex Goodman’s quartet Tuesday night, but I heard this young, talented band played some great music. I mentioned Ernesto Cervini in Wednesday’s post and the intriguing twist of having a drummer as lead in the band. Well, a musician has explained to me that in jazz music, the roles of drums and bass are reversed from the more familiar rock format: the bass keeps time, while the drums add colour and nuance. Now, that makes sense! With this band, I noticed a finer balance and subtler ensemble work than in groups led more traditionally. Cervini composes, first, with amusing, idiosyncratic sources of inspiration (the mysterious three-toned signal preceding announcements on the London-Paris bullet train, for example), but the result is, to my ear, complex pieces whose appeal lies in delicate melodies and subtle, extended transitions. The stories behind the compositions added an element of fun to the whole show.
Even though I’m not much of a pessimist, I nevertheless feel a little sceptical, after one great show, about the next one. But there was no need to be worried about disappointment Thursday night: Even without Seamus Blake, who couldn’t be here due to delayed flights, Jacek Kochan’s concert was another stunning show. Boy, did this band deliver as a trio! Like the Cervini quartet, the Kochan group is led by the drummer, but also like Cervini, this fact seemed to add more subtlety to the balance of the players, not less. At times I thought this music was playing a bit with the boundaries between rock and jazz, and I really liked this.
Then Friday night there was Hutchinson Andrew Trio. And before I rave about the music, I will rave about the venue—the Esplanade lobby. There was some kind of genius behind the setting, which people at the evening show glimpsed: yards and yards of copper silk wrapped around and draped between the foyer pillars, with the instruments positioned underneath; red lights projecting a leaf-and-vine motif across to produce a dappled golden light… Need I say more? With the lobby furniture surrounding the musicians and tables further out, it was an incredibly lovely setting for listening to music.
And then there was the music. Maybe I can best convey the effect of this concert by telling you that when it was over, I walked out without talking to anybody, without saying goodbye to friends, and utterly forgot even to buy a CD. (Which makes you wonder if the band is really serving its own long-term interests, playing such great music!) I hope others were more grounded than I was and had the good sense to get a CD; and I hope I know some of them, because I really want to listen to this music again. And again. For a few tunes they invited Lethbridge saxophonist Dave Renter to join them—unrehearsed. It was fabulous.
If you’re keeping count, you’ll realize that I’ve described three of the four late shows and I’m already running out of words. The truth is, each night I took fewer and fewer notes, my cerebral resolve gradually defeated by the music. Which is what music is all about, isn’t it? I forget this, sometimes, when facing music I’m not confident I understand—as if grasping it mentally is the point. (It’s not.)
Last night, Jonas Kullhammar’s quartet wowed us, first, with their music. And then with the humour and charm of saxophonist-lead Jonas; if you think jazz fans are a serious lot, you should have seen 50 of us doubled over with laughter, reduced to guffawing by Kullhammar’s one-liners and anecdotal introductions. (And his pleas to buy CDs after explaining how much he has spent in therapy during the six years that he has been waiting for a return invitation to Medicine Hat.) I’ll admit to shedding a tear or two—it was that funny. I suppose lesser players might have been upstaged by all this comedy—but not these ones. One piece, a ballad composed by the band’s bass player, was all the talk at intermission; several of us were looking for it on the CDs available for sale, but it has not been recorded yet. —Something to look forward to!
And off I go to the final show: URBANdivide at the Esplanade this evening, likely indoors due to the forecast. This festival doesn’t wind down; it goes out with a bang. -CGS
Afternoon jazz jam in the Studio Club at the Esplanade
The Don Berner sextet at Mauro`s
"I-vanna dance the night away with Lyle at the transit terminal parkade"
The Jonas Kullhammar quartet at the Studio Club's late-night show - Torbjorn Gulz on piano, Kullhammar on sax, bass player Torbjorn Zetterberg, Jonas Holgersson on drums
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