Thursday, May 15, 2008
La Bilbaina Jazz Club turns 17
Next year it'll be allowed to drink!
Last Thursday's show was somewhat unorthodox: A seven-piece act (although the website says it's a quintet...) called the "Fun Collective", apparently a group of friends who just like to play together, starting off the show, and ending in an open jam session (well, for those who had instruments).
The jam session is perhaps not worth commenting on: it was a birthday party, and everyone pulled out their instruments and jammed - there was no particular logic, and as jam sessions go, no particular show, but it was certainly a lot of fun, and contributed to the festive mood already begun with the cake and champagne cocktails distributed during the break!
A couple weeks ago, I mentioned Enrique Crespo and his wonderful photos that he now has up on his site.... well, it seems that not only has he pleased happy jazz-goers like myself, but now, he seems to have filled the position of photographer for La Bilbaina Jazz Club. Again, I highly recommend you check out his photos! They convey the mood of the party beautifully!
So, the first act... Great! I wouldn't go as far as to say they were extremely sophisticated, but I would definitely say that they had an amazing energy. It reminded of SomaFM: Secret Agent, which sometimes plays the sort of happy energetic jazz that reminds you of Austin Powers! When I say they weren't 'sophisticated', perhaps I mean that they weren't subtle - which is the thing to be expected when you put a trumpet, an alto and tenor saxophone, drums, keyboard, bass guitar and electric guitar on stage together. I apologise this time for not having references. I was informed that they haven't gotten anything recorded, and the names went by so fast that I didn't quite manage to catch any of them, other than that of their amazing guitarist (Raoul).
But regardless of that, here are some observations.
As far as characters went, the drummer and the tenor sax really amused me. I dubbed the drummer, with an indian style hippie shirt, bootleg pants and a cigarette dangling from his mouth 'the displaced hippy'. The sax, on the other hand, had these vertical lines appearing from the corners of his mouth, making him look extremely happy at all times! But appearances aside, I must say that without a doubt, it was him and Raoul that were the backbone of the whole act, with the pianist as an important back-up.
The pianist, unfortunately stuck in the corner out of view, is definitely deserving of special mention. Going the way of many modern musicians, he had his laptop by his side throughout the show, no doubt thus enhancing his already great performance!
I'm looking forward to the group releasing a disk in the future!
fon @ 9:43 PM link to post * *
Friday, May 09, 2008
Javier Vercher Trio
Who says appearance doesn't matter?
Not only did Javier Vercher (tenor sax), Edward Perez (bass cello) and Ferenc Nemeth (drums) demonstrate that they were well accustomed to playing each other and attuned to each other as a group - but they also charmed the crowd.
I'm not, referring, of course, only to the appearance of the individual band members, but naturally, to the actual investment into being pleasing to the crowd - a point which many jazz musicians miss. I adhere to my opinion that in a live concert, presentation is half the equation (unless the audience is blind). The musicians were calm and relaxed on stage, which, of course, really helped the audience relax and enjoy the music.
Edward Perez (whose instrument was given a prominent 'voice', instead of relegated to the background), seemed particularly happy, staring at the ceiling as if it was a starry sky. Javier Vercher can be said to have a tall and imposing figure, yet seemed utterly confused and tiny when introducing Thelonius Monk's 'Ask Me Now'- which, of course, in a musician, is only an endearing feature! But in terms of presentation, the drummer was an absolute pleasure to watch!
Ferenc Nemeth truly mastered both the art of coordination, experimentation and presentation! There was a really high level of coordination with the other band members. He didn't stop looking like he was enjoying himself at any stage... and finally - the plethora of mallets he had was absolutely phenomenal. He's got the regular drumsticks, padded mallets, and things that look something like whisks, and then finally, his self-devised thin bamboo-sticks tied together with something like rubber bands! I was duly impressed by the amount of sounds that came out of a drum-set (which was partially tailor made for him!). Being a something of a chef myself, I must admit I appreciated the way he looked as though he was cooking his favourite dish!
I had, earlier in the evening, been to a classical concert, and noted that busy, dissonant notes that are so common in jazz music and are phenomenal on a saxophone simply do not function so well on a classical violin (re: modern classical style). So, as such, I was happy to find myself in the context of a well performed classical style jazz set that cured my ears of the unfortunate cacophonies of John Adams performed (and technically well!), by Chloe Hanslip.
But - back to the topic at hand - I had just finished mentioning the instruments in use - from the specially brought drums and mallets, to - what I noticed, was Javier Vercher's own microphone for his sax (normally, the one at the club is a square sennheiser [ed: it's a MD-441 - thanks Borja!), but I'm not sure what his was).
My favourite musical moment: The amazing cello solo on the last song before the break! There was something reminiscent of Django Reindhart in it (even if the instruments were different!).
During the break, I had a short chat with the trio:
Me: "You have really great coordination between the three of you! I especially like how Javier steps back and plays softly to let the others have a go, too!"
Edward Perez: "No, he's works on his own - it's just part of the act!"
.... hmmm.... so presentation of pretending?
fon @ 12:18 AM link to post * *