2004 Vancouver International Jazz Festival Diary
Jodi Proznick Quartet - CBC / Radio Canada Studio One
This very swinging quart was a nice way to ease into another big day with their easy-going, easy-to-like straight ahead jazz. Bassist Proznick took the stage of that full house deep down in the bunker with a big wave and even bigger smile that never left her face the entire set. Her enthusiasm for and joy in playing infuses her music with a spirit that's infectious and lifts it to another level. Having the great drummer Dave Robbins, whose own openness to connect with his fellow musicians is written all over his face, in the band is always a good thing; add adept guitarist Mike Rud and elegant pianist Tilden Webb and we're all good to go. The concert (set one included two covers, and two Proznick-penned originals) will represent the bassist well when it's broadcast on Hot Air sometime this Summer.
To Be Ornette To Be - Gastown
Ah the sounds of the revered Ornette Coleman on an outdoor stage on a hot, sunny day. Actually, the intense heat of the sun was quite appropriate to the proceedings, even if it did force much of the audience into nearby shade. And leave it to intense and authoritative drummer Bernie Arai (a man who's also quite adept with a microphone) to further make the out (to say the least) Coleman more accessible to the masses by telling the crowd a little about the alto saxist/composer and by humorously dubbing him a 'weirdo'. What I love about this group is that it's a rare chance to hear this music performed live, and that it's by some of my favourite Vancouver musicians is the kicker. The chemistry between saxophonist Jon Bentley (one of my favourite tenor players on Earth), here on alto sax, and trumpeter Brad Turner is something we get to hear fairly frequently around town and subsequently gets even better as they go along. Bentley's lush liquidity and Turner's punchy brashness do the opposites-attract thing, and the combination is an aural delight, particularly in those harmonizing moments that give so very much pleasure to these ears. It's a treat to hear another side to Bentley, here on alto sax and in a role that requires stepping up and out beyond his well-established gentle low-hushed tenor and give us a little attitude.
Me - My house
As I write this it's late afternoon and the evening looms large before me. What a night to have two of the biggest concerts I most want to see this fest, plus a third that I'd like very much to check out - all at the same time. The van der Schyff/Douglas Iron Giant Project with some of my favourite Vancouver players and the virtually guaranteed to live up to the hype Douglas; The Bad Plus and Beady Belle. It must be fate that this is TBP's second show this fest - I do believe in second chances and I do believe I'll take mine tonight. I feel some fast driving coming on. Oh, and tomorrow's election day. The polls have the Libs and Cons (ahem) neck-in-neck with the NDP far behind. Please vote. I know it seems almost hopeless, but all those of us who might not bother heading to the polls tomorrow because 'what's the point', would be awfully sorry Tuesday morning if we woke up to a government that threatens to set Canadian society back at least 20 years and reduce our already strapped arts and culture to significantly less. This is an S.O.S.
Shhz - Vancouver East Cultural Centre
Came in a little late on this one. Immediate sense was of trouble. Underlying currents of angst and anxiety and noize. Perfect. Something was amiss before I got there and this confirmed what was already in the air. It's music like this that makes me marvel at how hard I bang my head against the wall trying to 'get' stuff that I just don't get. I mean, I partway don't want to understand it - don't want to risk ruining the beauty of the mystery of what reaches and what doesn't. But this is the stuff that just takes me; soul then body are just given over to it and I'm lost in it. It is the best place on Earth I have ever been when this happens. Smoke Rings was the first gig of the fest in which I started to disappear, and this one was full-on gone. I am grateful to the music gods and to violist/laptopper Stefan Smulovitz clarinetist François Houle; violinist Jesse Zubot; and vocalist Viviane Houle (no relation). From my perch at the sides of the balcony I couldn't see half the group on stage below, and the more I heard the more I didn't want to. The sounds coming from the stage were so intriguing and surprising I wanted to heighten the effect by not knowing what to expect. The intensity level was amped by the all the strong, serious musical personalities on stage, with moments of dark comic relief at the hands of Zubot and a voice-altering device that was probably a child's toy (ok, I peeked - but I had to know where that voice was coming from). All impressive players I hadn't seen in a while, but in this set I was particularly knocked out by Viviane Houle's huge voice that sounded as powerful in spoken word as in pseudo-operatic singing as in improvised sound-making. Perfect opener on this great bill tonight. My only question is When's the next show?
van der Schyff/Douglas Iron Giant Project - Vancouver East Cultural
Centre
Dylan van der Schyff - drums
Dave Douglas - trumpet
Jon Bentley - tenor sax
JP Carter - trumpet
Chris Gestrin - piano
Peggy Lee - cello
Torsten Müller - bass
Ron Samworth - guitar
Jesse Zubot - violin
What the hell can you say about trumpeter/composer extraordinaire Dave Douglas that hasn't been said? Well, how about he's one helluva smart guy for hooking up with Dylan van der Schyff and a cast of great Vancouver musicians to make a set of gorgeous music. It's not easy to get a group this big together and have it take flight with an unexpected lightness; but then again I think that's part of the magic of Dave. He works through subtlety and understatement, never making grand pronouncements or gestures through his music, preferring to let it speak with a dignified elegance. I like Dave. We could all be more like Dave. Several pieces during this set were astonishingly beautiful and moving (no easy feat either as I was taking notes and attempting to operate a camera under extreme lighting conditions). The first an improvised trumpet duet with Dave and JP that started with quick little call and answer exchanges into textural sounds like flutters and honks and then went into long long air swooshes through horns that were all the way across the expanse of the Cultch stage from each other - with all the other musicians sitting between looking on, and being as revved by it as anyone in the room. What I wrote during that piece: "How cool is it that to be watching Vancouver's fabulous JP Carter up there having at it with NYC's fabulous Dave Douglas?" Sweet. V.V. sweet. The one that really got me was a piece featuring Dave, Gestrin and Zubot that literally moved me to tears. I wish I could describe it, what it sounded like. It's odd that I don't quite remember. But that feeling will stay with me. As off as this day has been, it has been so on musically speaking. I think I'd forgotten how deep it can get into you. I needed that.
And now I will forever regret missing Douglas' Mountain Passages show the opening night of the fest while trying to 'get' Lovano. But I'll 'get' over it. I will.
The Bad Plus - Performance Works
Spun outta the east side to catch what I could of these New York wonders, and caught three tunes. In jazz, three tunes is remarkably long, of course, so all was good. Those guys are knocking socks off all over town. Last night the Commodore, and tonight - a Sunday! - to a packed house at Perf Works. No doubt fuelled by their astonished audience at their intensely driving, very physical performances, these guys (Reid Anderson-bass; Ethan Iverson - piano; David King - drums) kicked the crap out of everyone in the room, including themselves. This is the shit - loud, rollicking, inspiring deconstructs cum joyous meltdowns in the form of cover tunes that sound almost far enough from the original to be an original. And of course they have their own tunes, too, including the irrepressible romp entitled "Iron Man" from their latest disc, "Give". I'm not sure why The Bad Plus brings Northern Europe to mind when I hear them; I've also experienced moments of E.S.T. (er… aka Esbjörn Svensson Trio - a top fave from 2003 and 2002 fests) flashback - partly the spiritual connection of the very modern take on the 'classic piano trio' thing, but largely the edgy, not afraid to go into the darkness aspect that's so goddamned appealing. At any rate, I hope the twain shall someday meet and maybe even collaborate. The Bad Plus - I do wonder about that name. But they are wicked good fun. Who else could've finished their show with a carefully warped take on Queen's "We Are The Champions"? Not so many methinks. Thank god for The Bad Plus.
P.S. I didn't get to Beady Belle, but my addiction to their track on the jazz fest sampler will continue unabated for a bit, I fear. What a great sounding word: pantile. Go on, look it up. I did.
"I am a pantile…I am not fragile…" - Beady Belle
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Forum.
Day 3
Sunday, June 27, 2004
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Writer/Photographer Josephine Ochej is a regular contributor to The Jazz Review, the Westender, Planet Jazz, and Coda Magazine.