Vancouver International Jazz Festival Diary – Day 10 / Sunday, July 3, 2011
Posted on | July 10, 2011 | No Comments
by Josephine Ochej
The end…
No matter how much you deny it, this day always comes. I always wake up on Day 10 with a heavy, sad heart. Heavy both with its fullness from the extravaganza of the previous nine days’ packed full with music and great hangs, and, of course, sadness that all the rest of the days of the year can’t be the same. Thank the universe for the Vancouver International Jazz Festival. And thank the universe for the pretty wicked Vanky music scene, which includes a great variety of music including so much blessed jazz and improv/creative sounds.
André Lachance Quatuor @ Roundhouse – Festival Stage
Funky, fun group of four of Van’s best that clearly resonated with the audience at this free stage. Great to hear Brad Turner on the Rhodes, Chris Gestrin holding down the bottom-end, playing bass lines on the Moog, the near-ubiquitous (that’s a good thing) and sensitive drummer Joe Poole, and of course, Lachance leading the quartet with some fine guitar. Album please!
Kjaergaard/Street/Cyrille @ Roundhouse – Performance Centre
Popped in to hear some of this, and see what bassist Ben Street was up to since I last heard him some years ago. In another frame of mind/mood, I’d have loved this mellow, spacious, piano-led trio, but not on this day.
Kevin Elaschuk Quartet @ Roundhouse – Exhibition Hall
Kevin Elaschuk, man of many hats and a soaring horn sound
When a gig like this is on the schedule, it can be easy to think, ‘Oh, they’re local. I can see them anytime.’ I’m certainly not immune to it (though I usually have crazy work hours to blame… ;o). But that line of thinking can backfire, and if you missed this gig, you missed an absolutely joyously swinging couple of sets by four great Vancouver musicians who were clearly in the zone. Elaschuk sounded fantastic, with a strong, soaring clarity combined with the heart and soul he can’t help but put into it and that’s a magical musical happening. Hearing tenor saxist Ross Taggart for the first time in years reminded me of what a swinging, joyful player he is – he brings such spirit to the proceedings, and roused the crowd with some fantastic solos. Add the graciously solid and lively swing of bassist André Lachance and fast-becoming-a-fave Joe Poole on drums, and you’ve got a gig that no one seemed to want to leave after set one, including me – and Swedish fave Atomic was starting next door before Elaschuk’s awesome Quartet would be finished. An extremely enjoyable and memorable, high-energy late afternoon gig. Didn’t even miss the adult beverage area gone from the room – too busy being high on music instead, seduced by the swing. Thanks boys!
André Lachance, Joe Poole and Kevin Elaschuk in the zone
Atomic
Fredrik Ljunkvist and Magnus Broo cooking up something hot
Hot, tight and hyper. Just how we love our cool-climate Scandinavian jazz. Nevermind that my heart was still next door with the glow of the Kevin Elaschuk Quartet vibe still swelling it, Atomic was only after the body, and it took it: feet tapping away, trying desperately not to make noise on the floor when those sudden silences in the form of dead stops on a dime (like I said, tight) occurred. Such skilled players, such intense connectivity with each other and in that intimate space of the Performance Centre with the audience literally starting two feet away. Not for the faint of heart. Or body, for that matter. Yet another fine onslaught, as expected, and yet even beyond. A welcome and beautiful pummeling with which to end the fest.
Now what?
Want more music year round? Go out! Easy as that. Go to http://www.coastaljazz.ca/ and http://vancouverjazz.com/ and http://vancouverjazz.com/webcalendar/index.php. Check your local listings. It’s out there, it’s happening, dig it. (See ya there!)
Need MORE music, as in Vancouver’s own Music Centre? (We’ve got film, we’ve got dance – next logical step….) Go here: http://www.vancouvermusiccentre.ca/. Check out what this group is looking to do; voice your opinion, get involved. Let’s make a beautiful music centre together, shall we?
Thanks, Coastal Jazz, for the soul-filling. And yes, thanks everyone from the army of volunteers to the amazing sound technicians to the money, in the form of sponsors, for making it happen. It is appreciated.
20 Questions for…. LISA CAY MILLER
Posted on | July 9, 2011 | No Comments
by Josephine Ochej
While the Jazz Festival is over for another (great!) year, we all know jazz is a 365-day-a-year happening in Vancouver. Lisa Cay Miller, another very active musician (aren’t we lucky?) on the Vancouver scene, takes the 20 Questions Quiz.
At what age did you start playing an instrument and what was it?
I was 3 or 4 when I first started playing the piano.
Do you still play the first instrument you started on? What others do you play?
Yes! I play flute (I was a flute major in college, but I don’t play it often now).
What has been the biggest surprise you’ve experienced about playing music as a career?
I wish that the arts were a more integral part of our cultural identity and more important in our society.
If you could travel back 5, 10 (20?) years, what’s something you wish you knew about music or even the business that must happen for music to be heard?
I still don’t know what must happen for music to be heard. The music business is a mystery to me.
What are your thoughts, in general, on Vancouver’s jazz scene?
There are many dedicated creative musicians here and a lot of very intelligent and committed programmers. I love that.
What musician(s) or genre might your audience be surprised to find you a fan of? And why are they worth checking out?
I don’t know if they would be surprised, but I love Tom Jobim and Elis Regina. They are so insanely musical, and so personal in their approach.
What’s happening in your musical life, currently, and what are you working toward in the relatively near future?
I’ve got an incredible year coming! Q (Peggy Lee, Steve Smith, Dylan van der Schyff, Eyvind Kang and I) just recorded our second album, and we’ll be touring with Eyvind Kang in Belgium, France and the Netherlands in May of 2012. I’m really looking forward to that. I just finished new piece for the ensemble mmm… (flute, violin and piano) which will be premiered in Tokyo, September 29, 2011. In November of 2011, I’ll be the Artist in Residence at De Bijloke Music Centre in Gent, Belgium, performing my compositions with with Audrey Chen, cellist from Baltimore, Jean Yves Evrard, guitarist from France and Jaochim Badenhorst, Belgium reed player living in New York. In March of 2012, I’ll be in New York City for a month, composing, performing and studying with composer Bunita Marcus, pianists Sylvie Courviosier and Denman Maroney and composer/performer Ikue Mori. I’m feeling very lucky!
Tell me about a memorable gig you had at a previous Vancouver International Jazz Festival?
One of my favorite performances at the festival was when Q performed at the Roundhouse in 2009, and also the group’s debut performance by Q at the Cultch in 2002. I really enjoyed improvising with Peggy Lee and Nicole Mitchell at Ironworks in last year’s festival.
Tell me about a favourite gig you heard at a previous Vancouver International Jazz Festival?
I really loved seeing Barry Guy New Orchestra in 2008. I Found it incredibly inspiring – what a great band, and amazing compositions.
What gig(s) (other than your own) are you looking forward to at this year’s festival and why?
I’m really looking forward to hearing Colin Stetson. I heard him perform with Eyvind Kang and Laurie Anderson in Delusion, and he really knocked me out. [Interviewer note: Of course this interview has been posted after the fest, but from what I heard, most who caught Stetson would agree he lived up to his rep.]
Lisa Cay Miller
ON THE RECORD: Lisa Miller Octet – ‘Sleep Furiously’, available by contacting: greenideas@telus.net
ON THE WEB: http://www.myspace.com/lisamillergroups
ON STAGE: Lisa Cay Miller performs solo piano every Sunday in July 2011 at O’Doul’s Restaurant & Bar 9pm-12am.
Vancouver International Jazz Festival Diary – Day 9 / Saturday, July 2, 2011
Posted on | July 6, 2011 | No Comments
by Josephine Ochej
Magnus Broo & Paal Nilssen-Love @ Roundhouse – Performance Centre
Paal Nilssen-Love listens awfully closely to Magnus Broo
Bummed bummed bummed to have missed this. Came into Performance Centre during last piece; very quiet, very spare, very not what I expected, but with no idea what came before. Saving it for later…? Merely winding down from earlier high? Maybe, The Thing was still to come… and it’s, well, some Thing.
Beer Garden
Party in the park
Or the Cider Garden, as I prefer to recall it. Bigger and more well-placed than the last time I saw it, the expanded Cider Garden offered a primo, if sorta distant, view of the stage, and of the goings-on of the audience in front of it. Awesome! I’m not sure if the sole person taking money and making change for ticket purchases was working alone because slower consumption was in order, given some of the city’s behavior a few weeks back, or simply what was deemed ample staffing, but I can tell you that once or twice, it didn’t feel ample. Cause then you had to go and line up again to have someone pour your drink from a spout attached to the side of a truck. Which was pretty cool. And even made you kinda forget you had to line up twice. I’d like one of those in my driveway.
The Thing @ Roundhouse – Performance Centre
There is nothing like sitting in a darkened theatre-style room that is clearly designed for maximum listening experience, with a few hundred of your closets friends (and they must be, if you’re all there to hear something like The Thing – there’s a certain bond amongst this crowd). Black curtains all around, theatre-style seating, and the stage is mere feet from the front row, literally at their feet, on the floor, and (of course!) amazing sound. If the gods are willing, this music is transporting, free and flowing wherever you will let it take you. Just let it. And, really, you shouldn’t even bother trying when it’s Scandinavian powerhouse trio The Thing. Norwegian Paal Nilssen-Love is an absolute shit-kicking, fierce drummer –fierce like I-wouldn’t-want-to-meet-him-in-a-dark-alley-fierce; from a distance, standing away from the drum kit, sure, he looks like a nice, normal guy, but put him behind that kit and this focused ferocity comes across his face, channeling through his body into a royal ass-kicking of his kit that is truly awesome to behold (not to mention to feel the vibrations from across the floor). Fellow Osloite Ingebrigt Håker-Flaten, who has the best, boldest name (even more fun to say once you know how to pronounce it correctly), so can get away with being so low-key by seemingly trying to hide himself while literally draped over his bass, even when causing sheer thunder to rumble out of it. Blown away that Swedish saxist Mats Gustafsson uses the floor as a horn stand; literally just lies the instruments down. (I suppose it’s only fair to mention that he does take care to swivel the neck up so the mouthpiece doesn’t touch the floor.) It’s fitting, somehow, especially in this group, because he is kind of a brute with his bari and tenor saxes; creating strange and beautiful noises through what one would call traditional playing, but also smacking, honking, probably chomping, and definitely scream-yelling into his instrument. I usually sit in the back row, off to the side (easy escape), but sat in the second row for this: I wanted to be closer to The Thing, to have my head blown back and my brains blown out, like I knew they could. It worked. In fact, I wanted to see how it felt to be in that front row, centre; I was actually jealous of the people down there being bombarded at close range with way-out free jazz, Euro style, and turned up to 12. It’s usually preferable (to me, anyway) to have the heart engaged and the rest simply has no choice but to follow. The Thing hits lower, somewhere in the gut, pinning you back against your chair, senses heightened, highly attuned to the four-spirited machine (theirs, yours) that has you where they want you. And you can’t look away, either. Those heads down, eyes closed tight, frowns of extreme concentration involved in intense active listening that’s as much a part of the proceedings as the sounds they’re making. A full-body musical happening that I highly recommend if ever you get the chance. I sure hope to again.
Wilson/Lee/Bentley @ Ironworks
Whoever thought of putting these three together is a genius to whom fans of something real exhibited through passionate, honestly emotional music owe a debt of gratitude. Tony Wilson is revered for being a guitar player of extraordinarily creative skill who brings a rare spirit to his music, completely at one with his instrument as a very extension of himself, and a songwriter of achingly beautiful pieces. Coaxing a veritable orchestra of sounds out of her cello, Peggy Lee’s skill and sensitivity on the instrument and in her songwriting, are consistently astonishing. And there’s a cocooning magic in the gentle, warm tone of saxist Jon Bentley’s tenor sound – it’s one of the most beautiful things I’ve ever heard. Any one of these musicians is capable of conjuring up musical magic, but put these three incredible musicians together just wait for the magic to start hovering above before it floats down to envelop you. Heart heavy, deep shallow breathing – ah, there you are – hadn’t felt you since Day 1’s infamously fantastic Tonbruket gig. This is soul music, pure and simple. And of course not so simple – complex, emotional storytelling weaving you in and out of a state of active consciousness, tripping along on edgy textures of scratching, striking bow on strings below cello bridge, sharp cello string pluckings, foreign objects inserted into guitar stings to warp and redefine its sound, smooth waves of tenor (or sorprano) melody sometimes shocked away briefly by the insertion of choppy, quick hits or smacks. There is no bullshit with these three; there’s no show, no on and off, seemingly no separation of music and musician. They all are the music they play. (Oh how I wish (for all of us) they had more opportunity to play together, and we can hope, but we can also see/hear these three in many settings because they are Vancouver’s very own (well, more or less around these parts, but we’re still claiming them). And you can get their gorgeous album ‘Escondido Dreams’ at Drip Audio, http://www.dripaudio.com/releases.php) A rare and beautiful experience, and easily a Top 3 highlight of the fest.
Vancouver International Jazz Festival – Diary Day 8 / Friday, July 1, 2011
Posted on | July 3, 2011 | No Comments
by Josephine Ochej
Granville Island/Nation’s Birthday
There is absolutely nothing that could get me to leave the mainland and take a boat to a small island so overcrowded it felt like half the country was on it and it might actually sink, with virtually no means of escaping quickly when one needed to. Except jazz. And the birthday of our dear Nation. No, not that one. Brian Nation.
Mats Gustafsson & Colin Stetson @ Performance Works, Granville Island
Missed most of this sax summit in two men, but heard last piece and encore and grabbed a few shots. So glad Gustafsson’s still a monster, attacking bari and tenor with a ferocity and physicality unmatched as far as I can see. Want to check out Stetson more when the chance arises (missed him rest of fest, too, as it’s Day 10 as I write this…, and I’m not sure how he escaped my attention while in Toronto off and on these last six years). So, will sum this short musical interlude up with this…
Mats Gustafsson blasts off
Peggy Lee Band @ Performance Works, Granville Island
I love Peggy Lee’s music. It’s rare that I am not psyched for (and extremely excited in anticipation of) it, but this day I was just not in the zone. A good reminder that if we don’t ‘get’ or enjoy something at a certain time, it doesn’t mean we won’t in another frame of mind/mood. I’ve fallen in love with so much music from giving it a try another time. Tough on this day, with this wonderful band, but there it was. Part of it, I think, was that I hadn’t heard tenor saxist Jon Bentley in about five years (maybe more?), and the anticipation of hearing him in what was certain to be an incredibly beautifully intimate trio setting with gifted cellist Lee and extraordinary guitarist Tony Wilson the next night at Ironworks (the gorgeous room where listening is paramount), simply negated any listening pleasure I would normally enjoy from this large ensemble.
Gord Grdina’s Nordic Sextet: The Listening @ Roundhouse – Performance Centre
Wow. A veritable Canadian-Scandinavian super group. There was a lot of excitement in the room for this gig. Grdina’s star continues to rise, and he’s got the goods, man. A very talented guitarist with the full package – technical abilities that amaze the eyes and ears, and the passion and emotion to engage the heart. Beautiful tunes that often blend Middle Eastern sounds with jazz and rock elements into pressure-cooker stunning musical expeditions. Throw in seriously heavy bassists x 2 in the forms of Vancouver’s Tommy Babin and Norway’s Ingebrigt Haker-Flaten (so much fun to say), kick-ass Vancouver drummer and longtime Grdina bandmate Kenton Loewen, and top it off with Swedish sax sensations Mats Gustafsson (very busy today with some hardcore playing) and Fredrik Ljungkvist (of beloved, brash Atomic, set for two gigs tonight, Sunday, July 3 at the Roundhouse – Performance Centre) and you are guaranteed to be blown away. Having just arrived that day from a gig the previous night in Ottawa, they played in that furious, insane way that only sheer exhaustion can fuel – and it was truly awesome to behold with the ears and eyes: vivid images remain of Haker-Flaten slung over his bass, eyes squeezed tight; stoic Loewen sitting deceptively still; Canadian hairy beast #1 Babin paused, left hand holding bass beside him, right hand on hip; Ljungkvist with tenor out front, boyish face scrunched up; Gustafsson gyrating back and forth, swinging a tenor or a bari, depending on his mood that moment; and Canadian Hairy Beast #2 Grdina standing, sending out gorgeous sonic waves, guitar slung over shoulder, yelling out the changes cause they’ll never see him with their eyes closed and it’s that loud… An aural and visual assault that occasionally soothed the audience – probably so it could then pummel them some more with this insane beauty. Absolutely mind-blowing fantastic gig. There would be no leaving. Set two was a must-stay to watch more closely the players’ circle: intense listening among them, admiring glances, too; this was a rare and special cross-cultural meeting of raw passion and intense expression from some of the best from the creative music that they so obviously enjoyed and that their audience was incredibly lucky to bear witness to.
Jazz Fest Fact(ish)
If you weren’t here for it, you might be able to tell it’s been a long, cold winter that isn’t giving up very easily, perhaps by looking at the length of hair and beards of some of the local musicians. #1 (although I believe he sports this year-round, so may be off on a technicality) and #2 as above, and #3 is JP Carter, witnessed yesterday with that fiery red beard that his trumpet tucks into. Stark contrasts to the very shorn northern Europeans, who must’ve had an early Summer. So unfair.
Vancouver International Jazz Festival Diary – Day 7 / Thursday, June 29, 2011
Posted on | July 2, 2011 | No Comments
by Josephine Ochej
Day 7 – Thursday, June 30, 2011
Erik Truffaz 4tet @ Venue
Erik Truffaz rings it out
One of the great surprises of this fest was this sneaky 4tet lead by minimalist trumpeter Erik Truffaz. Sneaky because, even though my ears were open and ready to receive, I wasn’t expecting to dig this quartet as much as they made me. Set started out slow, Truffaz a little shaky in the first tune, perhaps not warmed up yet. Then –suddenly– very warm. Beautiful, spare, spacious and spacey tones, long and short; effects elongating, repeating, laying down a rhythm for himself to play over. Gorgeous, warm tone; zen presence. And then, simply scooped up the audience in (yet another) extend-a-set groovefest. Knock-out electric bassist Marcello Giuliani, who looks rather like he should be in a punk band, still managed to somehow have a subtle physical presence while exhibiting some seriously heavy bass chops, popping the ears out with some serious(ly awesome) perma-rumble finger flying. Bliss. Amazing set of high-flying grooves, a deliciously long encore that only made us want more, and then a rush to the table to buy out the CDs (I had to get mine online!)
Truffaz awash in an awesomely trippy haze of his own creation
The Bad Plus @ The Vogue
Haven’t seen these guys in some years, though not for lack of trying – last time I was in NYC they sold out several nights at the Village Vanguard. I missed most of this set because I was happily lost in an Erik Truffaz 4tet trip, so was belatedly and happily thrown back against the wall by their mega-tight, absolutely smokin’, fast-changes-with-no-man-left-behind, hot (yet so NYC cool) jazz originals (as opposed to the beautifully warped versions of rock and pop tunes they’ve built their name on. My brain must be fried because I’m somehow remembering them as loose, loopy stoner versions of rock and pop songs. Weird.) Anyway, throw in the best sound quality I’ve probably ever heard at the Vogue and talk about blown away – all I could think about what blasted me in the face when I walked in: “Holy shit… they’re good!” Stunned wordless. Almost made me miss…
Kevin Elaschuk Quartet @ O’Doul’s Restaurant & Bar
Caught the last few tunes of longtime fave, trumpeter Kevin Elaschuk’s Quartet at Home Sweet O’Doul’s and it was like coming Home, twofold. There is a warmth and sincerity to the man that comes through in his soulful trumpet playing, echoed by his bandmates Bill Coon (guitar), Joe Poole (drums) and André Lachance (bass). Fantastic to hear Bill Coon sounding so wonderful, too – the man is, after all, largely responsible for a marked increase in my enjoyment of guitar in jazz.( I’m a tenor sax and trumpet girl, but the man’s lovely playing has gotten to me…) This Quartet is a must-hear soul soother for these ears. Wanted to take photos this set, but it was far too pleasurable to sit back and enjoy this with full-on listening. Good thing they’re local and we can hear (shoot) them at regular gigs throughout the year.
NOTE: Kevin Elaschuk & co. have another gig this fest, adding even more gorgeous warmth via tenor saxist Ross Taggart – catch them at the Roundhouse Exhibition Hall for a FREE gig, Sunday, July 3 at 5pm.
The Jam @ O’Doul’s
Mike Allen, bandleader, gutsy tenor saxist, host extraordinaire
Was having such a good hang with friends that, in spite of a strong need to be asleep, ended up hanging for a bit at The Jam, watching people make the scene. Enjoyed a couple of tunes from Mike Allen’s awesome Quartet (Allen on tenor sax, of course; Miles Black, piano; Adam Thomas, bass/vocals; and Julian McDonough on drums, including a bluesy ‘Georgia on My Mind’ featuring Thomas’ sweet, sweet vocals. Soul filled, it was time to turn the attention to the physical body and drop.
Vancouver International Jazz Festival Diary Day 6 – Wednesday, June 29, 2011
Posted on | July 1, 2011 | No Comments
by Josephine Ochej
Day 6 – Wednesday, June 29, 2011
Day 6? Day 8? Where am I…
As I write this, it’s Day 8, and before us lies three days of incredible music to behold, absorb and inspire and I’m jonesing to get to it and not be sitting in a room writing about two days ago. But what an interesting fest this has been. Haven’t participated in the Vancouver Int’l Jazz Fest with this level of intensity (though still mild, by comparison – and by force, a girl’s gotta work!) since probably 2005. Yipes. Times have indeed changed. Leaner, meaner Fest, to be sure. But still that delicious smorgasbord of variety, and music aplenty. Have altered my listening approach accordingly, it would seem, without even thinking about it. Less racing about to hear absolutely ‘everything’; deeper listening accompanied by more sitting still. Less shooting; it can be a more pleasurable experience to not be taken out of the music by focusing on the visual rather than the aural. The fact that it’s now Day 8 is weighing on my music-famished soul as the final weekend is here (then what will we do with ourselves?! I know! Let’s go out more all year around!), and I’m taking stock already and starting to look back. I always miss it already before it’s even done. I’ll make it quick, though – there is SO much going on out there today and I don’t want the show to go one without me (there).
Pilc Moutin Hoenig @ Performance Works, Granville Island
One of the great shows of this festival with amazing musicianship, creativity and stunning chemistry connecting this trio (François Moutin, bass; Ari Hoenig, drums). The extreme close proximity of the piano, drums and bass was the first clue to just how tight these guys are – tucked in together as though they were conjoined triplets in this cozy little triangle on that big Performance Works stage where other groups were spread out a bit for previous concerts. Pianist Pilc’s beautifully discordant piano poundings, group grooves and punches, repetitive, ringing tones, building up up up, circling above, high and hard then low and light… how many thoughts, ideas, pieces, emotions in one song? So many sounds and textures, such amazing unpredictability of where they’re taking us next in such a ferocious intensity, there’s nothing to do but just give in to it and go along for the ride… then the trio machine stops!, nothing… then low, crawling, the thundering monster edging its way slowly up and back and rebuilding into a meandering groove with one hand inside the piano, pressing strings while the right hand repeats a single note as a beat for the bass to cruise over… Bassist Moutin one of the most enjoyable performers to watch so far this fest – fierce player who is very clearly having so very much fun playing and dancing with his bass in jarring, quick motions around it, as if it were talking back at him and he was trying to show it what was what. One of the most entertaining and surprising hours (or closer to 90 minutes – again – another blessed trend of this fest, extend-a-sets abounding! Yeah!) of the week.
Satoko Fujii Ma-do Quartet @ Roundhouse, Performance Centre
Popped into this cause I felt it was a must-hear, but I was still vibrating with way too mch glee from Pilc Moutin Hoenig and just couldn’t really hear it. Crowd was thin, but digging it. I tried, but couldn’t feel the simmering intensity after being so wonderfully charged up earlier. Soothing was necessary. So…
Jillian Lebeck Trio @ O’Doul’s Restaurant & Bar
Jillian Lebeck in the zone
Gorgeous-voiced, talented pianist to those in the know, Lebeck is, I think, rather too unsung and flying under the radar a bit – maybe because her subtle, lush and deeply intimate performance style doesn’t scream for attention. (And I don’t mind being screamed at, either, musically speaking – see above.) Makes you wonder if people are so bombarded at on a daily basis that they don’t hear less overt stuff that’s quietly simmering over there. It’s easy to turn off, but how about just turning down a bit? I was all for that at Lebeck’s simmering-on-low, passionate set this night at my fave watering hole (and old local) O’Doul’s. Performing with a very apparent joy this evening, Lebeck, in the zone with longtime bandmates Paul Townsend (drums) and Paul Rushka (bass), delivered a gorgeous set including an airy version of ‘Someday My Prince Will Come’ and a sweetly satisfying take on ‘Danny’s Song’, the Anne Murray classic that previously left me cold somehow, and that I never knew I liked before this day, this version. Absolutely gorgeous – Lebeck delivers serious a soul-to-soul connection, you just gotta be willing to go as far.
Vancouver International Jazz Festival Diary Day 5 – Tuesday, June 28, 2011
Posted on | June 29, 2011 | No Comments
by Josephine Ochej
Day 5 – Tuesday, June 28, 2011
Day 5….?
It’s Day 5 already! How did that happen, and so fast? Halfway there, halfway over, depending on your perspective. It’s also almost July. Which is just nuts. How can days be so long and yet still fly by? Things to ponder when being carried away on a trip-out by something like…
Eivind Aarset Sonic Codex 4Tet @ The Roundhouse – Performance Centre (7pm)
The Performance Centre concerts are my new Western Front concerts (but how I miss the 5:30pm improv meetings) – they’ve consistently been my fave gigs of the fest so far, and the go-to venue for adventurous music. The audience (many of the same faces each night) is fully present, open to anything and willing to go along for the ride, wherever that takes us. Also love how the room lets
I love when expectations are thwarted by something being more enjoyable or more interesting than you imagined. And I was already expecting interesting, at the very least, as I headed into the Performance Centre and was greeted by the now-familiar, friendly volunteers at the door. I figured there’d be some noodling, and noodling there was. A modern version of a lava lamp (also known as iTunes Visualizer or the equivalent), had images floating and melting away upon a big screen above the band. And indeed there was a laptop present. But when I caught the two sets of drums sitting expectantly on the floor, things got even more interesting. Throw in a couple of vibraphones, a steel drum, and various other percussive sound-makers and an adventure feels imminent. Trippy guitar pings, warping keyboard effects (bassist/keyboardist Audin Erlien) over sneaky slow-mo drum and cymbal echoes (Wetle Holte, Erland Dahlen) airy, spacey, mesmerizing, then new sounds pop in from every direction, the (awesomely mostly) tandem drum beats have grown closer together, the keyboardist has left his post and picked up his bass and is grooving and before you know it, they’re rocking, full-on prog jazz grooves with the double rumble of double drums. Weaving in and out of a conscious state during these rock and releases, I had the sensation of being on a subway under New York, headed straight for the 1970s. Wicked.
Lucinda Williams @ The Vogue
Kinda had to check this out, as I’ve never heard her live, and it seemed like too good an opportunity to pass up, especially considering the venue – The Vogue still has that magical vibe about it. Was expecting the ‘can’t have the ticket until you’re ready to go in/no in’s and out’s’ spiel, but was told that it was standing-room only, and I could go in for 2 songs. Maybe it was gear switch from the expedition I’d just taken with Eivind Aarset’s quartet, or maybe it was the promise to disappear I’d made, but more likely it just wasn’t for me, so three songs later, getting very depressed, earlier buzz killed – it was time to go.
Twin Shadow @ Venue
Twin Shadow @ Venue
And just when I thought it was all over for the day, musically speaking, some groovy ‘80s soul nouveau wave pop masquerading as a jazz fest act picks you up and turns your bummer into a sort of musical summer (hey, we aren’t getting one anywhere else). Zero expectations, 100% reward. No idea at all when proximity called me over to nearby Venue to see what Twin Shadow was up to. Ringing guitars, big three-part harmonies, another kick-ass hair drummer, and a pile of keyboards all funneled into nuggets of catchy sweetness. If this is them on the last night of a six-month tour, I’d love to see them full-blast on night 1, or maybe 7.
Twin Shadow
Vancouver International Jazz Festival Day 4 / Monday, June 27, 2011
Posted on | June 29, 2011 | No Comments
by Josephine Ochej
Day 4 – Monday, June 28, 2011
Jonas Kulhammar Quartet @ Roundhouse – Performance Works (7pm)
I’m really gonna hafta lay some of the blame for this Euro fixation on the programming of this Festival. I go to a show by an amazing Euro group like Sweden’s Jonas Kulhammer Quartet and I immediately want to get on a plane to Stockholm, or Copenhagen or Amsterdam… But, of course, they’re here now, so here I’ll stay. For the moment. This set was an unusual blend of music and stand-up comedy, with Kulhammar exhibiting the powerhouse style he’s famous for during 10-minute + pieces, and then blowing off even more steam with 5-10 minute comedy routines between songs. The guy’s pretty damn funny, and it’s not a cross-cultural lost-in-translation kinda thing – his genuinely funny stories and delivery had the crowd laughing pretty uproariously with his jokes about each of the members of his band, therapy (apparently experienced after not being invited to the Vancouver Int’l Jazz Festival for the last six years), rats in pianist Torbjörn Gulz’s walls, Torbjörn Zetterberg’s year-long stay in a monastery (he was not kidding), his song about a British hooligan who wished death upon him at a gig in Bristol (the result of which is the awesome tune ‘Bristol Scream’), and describing a former teacher whose class he failed in music school as mean, and then pointing a finger at his pianist, who is that very teacher. Highly entertaining, to say the least. Musically, the foursome came out hot, amped up and ready, like somehow overcharged batteries that had to release some serious energy or explode. I know the feeling. It was a much-needed burst of intensity that got the heart racing after two days of semi-musical disconnect. We were promised a big tenor sound, and Jonas Kulhammar delivered. Big, warm, cocooning, room-filling, room-commanding sound, and other than the between-song routine, Kulhammar emits a very laidback vibe. (Hmmm, perhaps if we all let off so much steam, we’d be more relaxed, too.) Every time he stepped away to allow the others a solo (and they’re all fantastic players, so this makes no sense), I actually missed his horn in the mix. And yet it was a delight to hear more piano (somewhat buried in the mix, under the horn) and bass. I didn’t know he’d been awol from music, but boy was I glad to hear Torbjörn Zetterberg (one of the best names in music) was back playing bass! Apparently he’d been awol from life, really; he really did spend a year in a monastery, abandoning music altogether. Whether it was his prior absence or just his preferred playing stance (and I actually know it’s the latter, but I can’t help but imagine it’s the former), it’s such an interesting and subtly powerful thing to watch Zetterberg literally hang over his upright bass in a big body hug. He looked rather like he wanted to crawl inside, but more likely was simply listening very closely. (Watching the intermittent tap of his bare left foot was also highly entertaining.)
Kulhammar’s best between-piece bit had to be the alleged call he made to Zetterberg at the monastery, inquiring if he would ever return to the band or play music again, to no avail; a morose Zetterberg declined repeated pleas to rejoin the group until an email from Artistic Director Ken Pickering announcing the band’s invitation to return to the Vancouver Int’l Jazz Festival was the key to unlocking the bassist from his self-imposed exile. (Perhaps Kulhammar and I should exchange fixations. I think it’s time to book that flight. I’m going to take the tenor saxist up on that invitation to coffee at his place (he invited all of us) and a crash pad (apparently it’s a big house) at Mr. Gulz’s now apparently rat-free home. Two Jonases and two Torbjörns walk onto a stage – sounds like the makings of a comedy to me. This sixty-minute set was ninety minutes of pure pleasure.
Trombone Shorty & Orleans Avenue @ The Vogue
Bringing down the house:
Trombone Shorty with drummer Joey Peebles
The ear-splitting volume of the MC introducing the band was a painful clue to just how loud this show was going to be, and the fact that the band (minus Mr. Shorty, who had not yet appeared) was noodling away behind him as he introduced them was yet another clue, this one to just how on fire they were to get their party started. At first it was easy to feel an amazed kind of giddy delight at the body-vibrating bass and drums literally pounding in my chest. Then Trombone Shorty bounded out wearing shades and packing some serious firepower soul. I’ve never been to New Orleans, but if this is what they’re growing down there (and I could convince them to turn down the volume just a wee bit), I’m game. Major rock star attitude and style, with a N’awlins vibe, but with the substance to back it up. These guys are solid, kick-ass players, and they very clearly love to play, and live to perform for an appreciative audience like the one this night – they were barely into the first piece when TS told the crowd they didn’t have to sit through the whole gig and then waved them on down to the edge of the stage. The energy was already in the room –they clearly had a lot of fans in the house- but the vibe just went whoosh as a couple hundred or more people headed down to stand at the feet of TS & Co. You kinda had to stay and watch that for a bit, to see what would happen. Further impressed when TS picked up a trumpet and brassed the hell out of it; then moreso when he took the mic and sang a tune. By the fourth or fifth tune, I could literally feel my eardrums being perforated and my body reverberating, and as much as I loved the brassiest brash brass I might’ve ever heard, I like my cells intact, so with some regret, had to split before they did.
Kate Hammett-Vaughan Trio @ O’Doul’s
Kate Hammett-Vaughan sings us a tale
It’s just not Vancouver Jazz Fest if I don’t hear Kate Hammett-Vaughan at O’Doul’s. It’s tradition. As I sat listening to vocalist Hammett-Vaughan and her intimate trio (Chris Gestrin, piano and André Lachance, bass), I wondered on just how many occasions (and it’s a lot) I had been on pretty much that exact spot before, watching at a beaming Hammett-Vaughan singing her heart out with pure utter joy – making eye contact with people in the crowd, and loving the audience that so clearly adores her. What a lovely circle to not only observe, but to feel a part of. A major déjà (dejà déjà déjà…) vu that brought a big smile to my face. Thrilled to hear favourites (such as ‘Show Me’ and ‘On the Street Where You Live’ from Lerner & Loewe’s ‘My Fair Lady’, classic tunes that showcase the storyteller in the singer. Dreamy way to slip into the midnight hour, on out into the darkness.
Vancouver International Jazz Festival 2011 Diary – DAY 3/Sunday, June 27, 2011
Posted on | June 27, 2011 | 2 Comments
by Josephine Ochej
Day 3 – Sunday, June 27, 2011
Sun @ Gastown
Waiting for the sun no longer as it finally appeared over Vancouver, if not in time for the start of Big Outdoor Weekend #1, at least in time for Gastown Day 2. It appears we’ll take what we can get these days, and it was a beauty day! Wanted to get there to hear The Unsupervised, but couldn’t make it in time. Hoping for another gig locally soon.
Jacek Kochan & Co. featuring Seamus Blake @ Steam Clock Stage, Gastown
Arrived to catch much of Toronto-based drummer Jacek Kochan & Co. featuring Vancouver-born/Brooklyn-based tenor saxist Seamus Blake, and considering the man does not appear to have aged since I last saw him maybe 10 years or so ago, I wonder if he maybe made a deal with the devil. Cause he still plays like it, too. What a joy to just meander up under the sunshine on a relaxed Sunday with a few thousand jazz friends, and effortlessly slide into music you know and love, as it wraps itself around you with its familiarity; so easy to feel appreciation for these stellar Toronto-meets-New-York-in-Vancouver modern grooves. And one further pleasure made this a memorable gig; finding an Unusual Suspect in the crowd of many Usual ones, in the form of an old musical friend. Kinda heartbroken when the set ended, because it was just that perfect a mix.
Company B @ Maple Tree Square Stage, Gastown
Lovely three-part vocal harmonies (and matching dresses) from a long-ago era had the crowd dancing and swaying to this sweetness of a more innocent time. How divine to stroll away, slowly, behind the stage to a near-empty street, drifting along a serenade of ‘La Vie En Rose’.
Steve Earle & The Dukes (and Duchesses) featuring Allison Moorer @ The Centre
A quiet, unassuming walk out on stage, strap on a banjo, play a few strums and then… That Voice. Unmistakably undeniably wonderfully Steve Earle. Right there, on that stage down there! Oh man…. Wait! Steve Earle – at the Jazz Festival? He’s still one of the coolest cats around, and I think the man’s probably got 100 souls’ worth floating around in his aura, and that makes him a jazzer in my book. And as exuberant as I sound, I was considerably more restrained than the fellow down front and centre who stood up after ever song and applauded for 5-10 seconds after everyone else had stopped. Seriously hardcore. Or something. I was only able to stay for about 5 tunes, but I wonder if he kept it up through the entire performance and if Earle ever acknowledged him. Yes, he was that much of a distraction. So, ya, the music. What can you say about someone like Steve Earle that has not been said… the man’s a poet and it’s a privilege to be in the presence of such an honest, down-to-earth performer. Unfortunately, I was all hopped up on the hype of what was about to happen at The Vogue…
Darcy James Argue’s Secret Society @ The Vogue
I was expecting a lot, and a lot I got. Though not quite in the ways imagined based on that hype. Big band. 18 instruments. A composer/conductor with great hand movements. A charming host/storyteller/composer, clearly gifted with words and songwriting. A row of five trumpets that caused an audible sigh when they stood up. I’d have been pacing like an expectant father if I hadn’t been seated. The elements were there. The scene was there. The venue was right (Vogue sweet Vogue). Eager ears were present. Brassy-edged yet understated, ambitiously sinewy cinematic scores, fresh young talent, but the music-heart link never connected. But the head, which usually tries not to get involved in these things, actually took charge for once and found some hypnotic pleasure in the trying to ‘hear’ these intricate compositions in a new way.
Footnote: Had I known Ingrid Jensen was in that line of trumpets and had a solo reserved for the encore, and, to be fair, had I not had an early morning staring me in the yawning face, I might’ve stuck around for what I heard through the grapevine was the best piece of the night, featuring Ms. Jensen.
Vancouver International Jazz Festival 2011 Diary – DAY 2 / Saturday, June 26, 2011
Posted on | June 26, 2011 | No Comments
by Josephine Ochej
Day 2 – Saturday, June 26, 2011
What do you do when your ears are full after Day 1 and you’re maybe a bit of an obsessive personality and can’t stop listening to the discs by the earth-shattering kaboom artist you heard the previous night? Shake it off and hope like hell. The experience of such intense musical pleasure on Day 1 had the same effect as the annual festival overload that usually hits around Day 6 or 7, maybe 8. Funny how I manage to block that out of my music-loving mind.
Marianne Trudel @ Performance Works, Granville Island
To each their own. One of ye olde truisms about art that popped into my head as I walked into this gig. There is simply no accounting for taste. It just is. An older, uhm, gentleman who had paused (inexplicably, it turns out, given his comment) in the doorway on his way out and therefore blocking it, said, ‘Bloody awful’ to my ‘Excuse me’. I wonder now why he couldn’t have just said, well, nothing at all would have been preferable, but if he had to say something, maybe ‘I didn’t like it’ or ‘It wasn’t to my taste’. I’d have agreed with him on that point, because while the musicians were fine players, the music was just not my cuppa, either. Enjoyed hanging out for the hang factor, though. Often that’s enough.
In the Country @ Roundhouse – Performance Centre
Back to his day job, bassist Roger Arntzen
After finding some confusion as to who was actually playing in this time slot (programme differed from website), I was very excited when I got confirmation that the Norwegian trio In the Country was a late substitution for the cancelled Médéric Collignon and the jus de Bocse (France). [Note: Check the Festival’s official site for any scheduling changes or substitutions http://www.coastaljazz.ca/ OR the Facebook page https://www.facebook.com/pages/TD-Vancouver-International-Jazz-Festival/352631849710]. The group made light of their addition to the fest gig, saying that in spite of their booking agent they ended up with a gig at the VIJF anyway while on their three-week tour of North America, and they’d relegated him back to his day job – playing bass (Roger Arntzen, oddly, not one of the Vancouver jazz dynasty Arntzens, I believe).
Was shocked (though the mics really should’ve clued me in, had I looked that closely) and rather pleasantly surprised by the haunting three-part vocal harmonies (Arntzen, along with pianist Morten Qvenild and drummer Pål Hausken) of the first piece, which started with the words ‘So afraid’. So unexpected. So lovely. Spare, subtle, sneaking. I love surprises. Well, this kind anyhow. Soft swishes of broom-style drum brushes. Lovely. Second piece called ‘White Out’, a weather reference pianist Qvenild felt we as Canadians would understand. More toward classic piano trio stuff with some snowed-in-like-I-can’t-imagine angst cropping up. A few minutes into the third piece, somewhere after the bird tweeting sounds, it was feeling maybe just a little close to new agey for me. Onward…
Jaga Jazzist @ Venue
What Jaga Jazzist could’ve been…
If you didn’t know where Jaga Jazzist was from, a quick listen would be enough to tell you they were not from around here. In fact, they rather seem like they’re from another planet entirely. These ears are simply mad for that ‘crazy Euro sound’, as I lovingly refer to it; the energy, the all-at-once untamed appearance while actually being under great control… Ahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh sweet sweet sounds. And Jaga Jazzist is a fine example of this. There was so much going on, such an aural feast of rising and falling waves that, with nine instruments, could’ve just been chaos (which would’ve been its own set of fun, perhaps). But this super-tight, super-cool nine-piece Norwegian group took a very appreciative crowd on a beautiful controlled rollercoaster ride, piece after piece. What a blast to hear where things would dip, what would drop out and who’d come in – a very pleasurable kind of musical seek and find. What a blast! Perfect room for it, too – big, high stage in a nightclub setting with a cool light show (though perhaps a little too dark, over all). Wish the balcony had been open, too.
What Jaga Jazzist was – who’s in?
The best thing about the Vancouver International Jazz Festival, for me, has always been the sheer variety of music presented, including the many foreign acts imported to expand our musical horizons – and so much of it for FREE. Free! Sure I’d love to be hearing this stuff in Oslo or Stockholm or Amsterdam, but since I am not there, I am absolutely thrilled to be here to get the chance to hear these cats as part of my jazz festival experience (not to mention the gigs throughout the year that Coastal Jazz puts on), and find some new music to love, as I have each and every year of this fest that I’ve attended (from somewhere around ‘93 or ’94, I think). My musical taste has expanded and grown, and it is largely due to access to the free concerts at the fest. I thought I’d heard Jaga Jazzist at a previous festival and wasn’t so sure my memory of that gig was a good one, but I’m very pleased, in this case anyway, that my memory is terrible.
Robert Glasper Trio @ Performance Works, Granville Island
Popped in to hear a few tunes of this to find that Performance Works had become an absolutely jammed, standing-room only sauna that brought on memories of the Canada Day madhouse concerts (though at least in that case the big glass windows on the side are usually open). Can’t complain about being hot, though, cause I’ve been so obnoxiously complaining about being cold. So let’s talk about the music. Glasper’s Trio (Glasper, piano; Derrick Hodge, bass; and Mark Colenburg, drums) has a beautifully solid connection that (as with all the good ones), they madke look so loose and easy, hooking them together, led by Glasper’s elegant piano; it’s enjoyable stuff that you don’t have to work hard to find pleasure in. Kinda soul soothing actually. Suspect that had it not been so warm and packed in that room, and had they not played ‘Smells Like Teen Spirit’ (apart from Kurt Elling’s jazzy take on Joe Jackson’s ‘Stepping Out’, and I have issues even with that, it’s rare that I can stand pop or rock music that has been given the ‘jazz treatment’), and had I taken that seat that the very nice volunteer told me was free somewhere toward the front, I might’ve found it very easy to sit and let that luscious piano trio wash over me.
Almost forgot to mention how nice it is to have the bar in the lobby of this venue, where previously it was in the corner of the room near the backstage area and could be distracting. It helps make it a true concert setting, if perhaps not doing much for bar sales.
Jazz Fest Factoid #1
André Lachance may be the hardest working man this jazz fest (again? Probably). With gigs as a leader and a player/sideman every single day from Day 1 through Day 10, the stalwart Vancouver bassist/guitarist is in major demand. Which is no surprise to anyone who’s had the pleasure of hearing him play. Look him up.
