Andy Fiddes – Survival of the Fiddes
Sound Lounge, Seymour Centre, Sydney
2 June, 2006
Miraculously, the urgency and energy of City Rd was transported to the Sound Lounge’s stage in the form of ex-Gunnedah trumpeter Andy Fiddes’ ‘Survival of the Fiddes’. A name presumably inspired by the Hancock composition ‘Survival of the Fittest’ via ‘Maiden Voyage’. Fiddes, initially in trio mode with Ben Waples on bass and Dave Goodman subbing on drums ensured instant opinion with the bold avant-garde ‘Apathy Buster’. Then ‘The Wisp’ returned to traditional theme and variation, with NZ tenorist Reuben Derrick and trombonist James Kennedy forming the quintet. Derrick held the tenor on his right hand side in a posture reminiscent of a young Dexter Gordon but his rasps and shrieks, especially in the high register would recall Roland Kirk or Eric Dolphy.
The Fiddes tone was luminous with paper-thin vibrato and a smooth velvety texture. His clever writing for the three-horn line-up gave each horn singular voices during harmonising on the head, allowing the arrangements to breath against the pianoless heartbeat. ‘Fear Smile’ saw the horns syncopated into a crescendo as if a New Orleans marching band was approaching the fairgrounds while on the simply entitled ‘Mandy’ dedicated to the trumpeter’s wife, Waples’ large bass hands, magically turned Indian drones into Pierre Michelot ‘Play Bach’ like figures.
‘Mustard!?!’ – It’s hot and you’re at Taronga with a hot-dog in your mouth walking past the cockatoo enclosure. In free flight? No – controlled chaos, simmered to boiling point. The implied theme imbedded in an environment of freely created sounds while ‘Hewn’ placed Goodman’s emphasis on patterns and textures rather than rhythm. Cuts and gashes and at one point like a motor mower about to stop, needing a fuel injection from his deeper than typical toms.
The second set commenced after the “ceremonial donning of the clogs”. With his feet planted firmly in his Dutch mementos, the effect was a weighty rendering of ‘Something wicked this way’s been’ followed by a feeling of emotional isolation in ‘The Fall that takes an Age’. A melancholy tone was set by Fiddes on trumpet but was this an opportunity missed not to pick up the mellower flugelhorn?
‘Buzzard Spiral’ was introduced as an ‘interpretative improvised dance’. “Animal cruelty!” was the lone shout from the crowd; such was the desperate, petrified yelps from Derrick’s tenor, while Goodman painted light and shade impressions by snatching the cymbals and smacking the rims. Waples strummed the bass strings like a bow, building tension and sustained sound, then, at a turn, played nearly on the instrument’s bridge to create electronic pulse like vibrations.
Having spent two years in London, ‘Stale Sweat & Smog’ is Fiddes’ dedication to the tube. They trawled a beefy, fatty groove with Derrick front and centre frightening with his sheer capacity. At his fiercest, bloody, showing no fear with his lashings and guttural sounds.
The Fiddes sense of humour is embroiled in many of these compositions. ‘Mink oiled boots are made for walkin’, so don’t try running in Colorado’s and jeans in the mud with a hangover! It’s a struggle, it’s laborious. Slipping and sliding. Heavier and heavier as it starts to stick. It’s farcical, it’s parody, and it’s a survival of the fittest.
When the art of composing, arranging and improvising meld together, a showcase like this can demonstrate high art. Add a great sense of humour, a relaxed atmosphere and good sound quality and you’re left with the question “since when was high art such great fun?”
Note: This review is one of three that made up Peter Wockner’s winning submission to the 2006 National Jazz Writing Competition.
