Martin Jackson looks at some of the background issues and the music at Melbourne’s new-look jazz festival
In an article assessing the Umbria Jazz – Melbourne 05 event, I concluded that, “there is still potential for (the Festival) to get all aspects right and become a great event for Melbourne (and Australian) jazz … (but) most importantly, there also needs to be local artistic vision to match the strong Umbrian one of Pagnotta”.
Of course, after the cancellation of the 2006 event due to the staging of the Commonwealth Games there eventually followed a split from the Umbrian team, who cited lack of an adequate budget as a key factor in their decision to withdraw from the partnership. In response, new artistic director (and former festival chairman) Albert Dadon produced easily the most ambitious, largest scale and biggest-budget jazz event ever staged in Australia (and this region, for that matter). In doing so, he made a huge undertaking, and I suspect that even with Major Events funding of $450,000 in a budget which was close to $3m, he was potentially risking some of his own money, as well as his reputation, if the event did not meet expected figures.
With this scenario it is extremely pleasing to report that Dadon’s gamble and hard-work did come off, with some spectacular overall success, and with the Festival achieving virtually all of its aims. It drew sell-out audiences for several shows, strong overall paid attendances, and an amazing level of media coverage. And despite the restrained reviews of some major shows, the majority of reviews were highly positive of the music presented. There are still a few qualifications from some critics (such as the need for the inclusion of at least one significant avant-garde international artist and more adventurous Australian artists to balance the program), but these concerns may almost be seen as more a matter of fine-tuning rather than fundamental change. The Festival clearly aimed for key artists of broad appeal, but it generated the large numbers required. In the net result the Festival has easily done more to boost the profile of jazz in Melbourne in its 11 days than any previous event (including the Umbria event in 2005).
So how was this achieved by an inaugural artistic director and a staff which was seemingly inexperienced in music presentation? Firstly, Dadon brought his immense business expertise to the endeavour, and confirmed himself as a great deal maker. One master stroke was the involvement of Crown Casino (which recently celebrated its 10th anniversary) as major sponsor in place of the Grand Hyatt (previous hotel sponsor for past Festivals). This was seen by many in the jazz community as a controversial association, but in reality it generated many benefits that helped to stretch the relatively modest budget much further: it provided even more than the Grand Hyatt could with first-class accommodation for artists, a dinner venue for the Australian Jazz Awards, large and club-size venues for concerts, a central office space, and in-house advertising. And, perhaps almost as crucial, was another key sponsorship deal with Channel 9, which saw discounted rates for prime time television advertisements.
Securing both the Herbie Hancock Quartet and the duo of Chick Corea and Gary Burton meant the Festival had to on-sell the groups to some other capital cities. While this meant that neither act was exclusive to CMJ, both of the acts played with symphony orchestras in some other states, making their Melbourne performances different to many of the interstate ones. The long-term planning required in working with symphony orchestras is proof of the extensive time and planning invested in CMJ by Dadon’s team.
Secondly, although Dadon was solely responsible for the final choices, he was still open to the ideas and suggestions of some members of the jazz community in regard to programming, and did learn from both the mistakes and innovations of the Umbria event. The Umbrian template (actually based on George Wein’s classic Newport model) of noon and late afternoon concerts in the central city area (at BMW Edge at Federation Square) remained, as did the late 10.30pm nightly start at the Festival club venue, Bennetts Lane. The concept of a nightly jam session was also retained (this time at Crown Live). However, the Forum venue (with its cavernous atmosphere and poor acoustics) was not used.
Thirdly, Dadon and his staff benefited from the Umbria experience. Dadon learnt directly from Pagnotta, while general manager Romina Calaro worked in Italy at the 2005 and 2006 Umbria Jazz Festivals (on exchange from Melbourne Jazz). He also chose his key staff judiciously, such as marketing manager Lauryn Cooke, who had significant experience on the M.M.M. marketing team. Other staff members may have been relatively inexperienced with the running of a music festival, but they bonded well as a young, enthusiastic and dedicated team who obviously believed in their boss’s vision. They were also assisted by around 200 volunteers with a variety of skills.
The first indication of the scale of the Festival’s publicity campaign was the hiring of publicist Suzie Howie, a legend in publicity and media circles. Next was the colour advertisement in the February edition of the doyen of U.S. jazz magazines, Down Beat.
Then they began spruiking corporate Festival packages to the business community.
The impressive promotional campaign saw a sequential campaign which included regular colour display advertising in both major newspapers, large colour street posters, brochure inserts in both The Herald Sun and suburban newspapers and large plasma roadside screen film advertisements. The scale of this is reflected in the number of the folded A3 size two-sided colour brochures printed: 1.5 million.
The onslaught of media coverage was incredible. While The Herald Sun was the official sponsor, The Age newspaper was extremely generous with its coverage, with both previews and reviews. ABC Radio also came to the party with prime-time talkback sessions for all of key artists, while Herbie Hancock was featured on ABC-TV’s 7.30 Report and a rare commercial television spot was also found for another artist.
The level of coverage was comparable to the much more heavily-funded Melbourne Comedy Festival, and the cumulative effect was to give jazz in Melbourne a profile which the jazz community could previously only dream of.
The presence was physical in the city itself too. Back in 2000 I wrote that the Melbourne International Jazz Festival that year was the first one that seemed to have some chance of having a real impact on the broader community through its display of expensive banners in the city centre. Through the sponsorship of Baileys, there were probably some 20 or 30 banners then, and they were a tangible sign that the festival was happening in the city. Yet for this year’s event there seemed to be 80 or more (in two different sizes), with rows on St.Kilda Road outside the Arts Centre, a forest of them at the CBD end of Royal Parade and others scattered around the city.
The other promotional initiative was the generous distribution of free full-colour glossy souvenir program booklets at venues. This meant that most patrons had a copy, and they then read about other artists and performances.
With this promotional lead-up, there was a palpable sense of anticipation in advance of the event, especially when it became known in mid-April that the Herbie Hancock concert was a sell-out, with several other presentations (such as Chick Corea) also enjoying strong pre-sales. The Bell Awards dinner was also a sell-out event.
The Awards night, on the eve of the Festival, was a curate’s egg, again. The positives are that it acknowledges very worthy recipients, and that it is a successful fundraiser that manages to bring together the big end of town and both sides of politics to acknowledge Australian jazz. We also had the added bonus of speeches by Hancock and Corea to make it feel like a special occasion. On the other hand, the music and musicians were not always given the respect they deserved, with some uninterested people talking through speeches by artists such as Don Burrows.
The choice of artists offered at this year’s Festival was extraordinary. There were six major
American stylists (three of whom were of unquestionable legend status for their output as performers and composers over four decades), 50 other players from North Korea, Israel, Ethiopia, Denmark, Sweden, Germany, Cuba, and Brazil, together with almost 150 Australian musicians.
It was a challenge to see as much as possible, but I gave it my best shot (allowing for my part-time work commitments, both teaching and co-ordinating M.J.C. performances, and been hampered by an ill-timed cold).
There was a school of thought that while this was a commercially strong program, most of the Hamer Hall artists – pianists McCoy Tyner, Chick Corea and Herbie Hancock; saxophonists Dave Liebman and Pharoah Sanders; and vibraphonist Gary Burton – were in their late 60s, and no longer quite capable of reaching the musical heights they had attained in previous decades.
Unlike the previous Herbie Hancock Quartet tour here (with saxophonist Craig Handy) or the duo tour with Wayne Shorter, this line-up with drummer Vinnie Colaiutta, African guitarist Lionel Loueke, and bass guitarist (and vocalist) Nathan East was obviously not aiming to deliver straight ahead jazz. Instead, it was going to cover some of Hancock’s best known hit tunes, and produce a funky good time (which they did with ease).
For the jazz fans, the alchemist Hancock still managed to introduce some spontaneity into his piano solos on even his most well-worn tunes. These listeners’ highlight was the appearance of Chick Corea, first duelling with Hancock on electronic keyboards. Then a second Steinway grand was wheeled out for them to reprise their 1970s acoustic piano duo on Stella By Starlight, with some tantalising interaction before the rhythm section joined in and somewhat swamped them. After this carefully orchestrated piece of cross-promotion, the evening ended with a predictable encore of Chameleon, which left the packed house with smiles on their faces. While this was a commercially-oriented set, Hancock was on stage for almost two hours in an energetic and quite enjoyable performance.
Following this I went to the Ren Walters Trio at the Paris Cat (which coincidentally saw experimental guitarist Walters returning to his funk roots in a first-time meeting with young in-the-pocket drummer Johnno Solerno). I then went on to Chick Corea’s “open rehearsal” with his quartet at Bennetts Lane, where the group with had been playing solidly for long stints over the two previous days. Having missed the end of the first set, I waited until around 1.00am for the next set to start. The still substantial audience was extremely enthusiastic and very vocal in showing its appreciation of some long solos from all four members. A great deal of interest was focussed on Tal Wilkenfeld, who had received considerable publicity. She certainly displayed total absorption in interacting with, and supporting Corea. While enjoying the opportunity to hear such players cut loose in a club setting, I tired somewhat of Corea’s electronic musings (especially on ring modulator), the dominance of Latin feels, and the gladiatorial style of some of the other solos. I also concluded that while Wilkenfeld has enormous potential, she showed her lack of experience and repertoire on some material such as Thelonious Monk’s I Mean You.
After this experience I came to Corea’s Hamer Hall concert on the Saturday without high expectations for anything other than a pleasant evening. Of course, I expected that the ensemble would be far more focussed and disciplined, but they made quite a substantial leap, with Corea setting the bar high through strongly musical solos without any extraneous passages. When one technical mishap occurred with his equipment, Corea quickly quipped to his audience that, “Herbie had better equipment than me”. But he had a spontaneity and looseness about his program which allowed him to interact with his group (and the audience) at a different level to Hancock. Wilkenfeld and the ever tasteful drummer Antonio Sanchez formed a very cohesive rhythm section with Corea, and the whole group sound and approach suited the venue well. Guitarist Frank Gambale was not too overpowering in the mix, and never overplayed, contributing meaty solos. Despite only a few days of intensive rehearsals, Corea had these musicians sounding like a unified ensemble.
The night before Corea and vibraphonist Gary Burton reconvened their duo which had played at Hamer Hall in 2000 as part of that year’s festival. On this occasion they clearly drew a larger audience and soon proved that they had lost none of their special chemistry, often almost working as one. While a few hours sleep undoubtedly hindered my full concentration at times, the subtlety and high level of interaction made their concert a genuine Festival highlight for me, especially a seemingly effortless stroll through Monk’s daunting Four in One. Their encore began as a playful routine with both Corea and Burton playing Armando’s Rhumba on the vibes before Corea returned to the piano.
Burton’s solo performance at noon at BMW Edge was one of several I regretted that I missed, but I did see Jamie Oehlers Small World Ensemble (on the Friday) and **Joe
Chindamo’s Romantic Project** (on the Sunday). Both drummer-less groups are new projects which shared ex-Perth bassist Sam Anning and an emphasis on mainly acoustic guitar, and mined similar sounding material (such as South American and European folk songs). The key difference was that the Oehlers quintet always functioned as a fully integrated unit, with the leader’s saxophone blending in as an equal voice with the other instruments. Chindamo employed his quartet in different combinations, often in duos or trios featuring violinist Nigel MacLean or guitarist Doug de Vries. The capacity Sunday audience was certainly appreciative of his lyrical material and approach, and demanded an encore.
Meanwhile, in Northcote, a more vocal and less-restrained capacity audience was in full support of the Fringe Festival’s Big Arse Sunday program at the adjoining Northcote Social Club and Club 303 venues. An impressive line-up of most of Melbourne’s more cutting-edge groups was featured over 11 hours, with Sydney trio 20th Century Dog taking the evening to an incendiary climax. It was pleasing to see this scene so well supported, with a very positive atmosphere amongst the musicians particularly. After its inception three years earlier in part protest at the “Umbrian invasion”, there was very little animosity by local musicians towards the new Festival (which was, after all, delivering two of Fringe musicians’ favourite inspirations in Tyner and Sanders). So, the Fringe Festival had wisely chosen to only overlap slightly with the major Festival, with this concert only a minor clash with Chindamo’s diametrically opposed audience.
Through my MJC involvement I had earlier seen the Co-op’s early evening gig of Brisbane’s Toby Wren Trio at the Scarlette venue. Despite a rather modest audience, this group of strong players impressed even more than on their debut CD, Umlaut, playing the guitarist/leader’s compositions with unified purpose.
With Melbourne’s scene almost beginning to feel like a New York jazz smorgasbord, I then went to the Crown Casino complex to catch the Chris McNulty Quintet from New York. They played almost every night at 11.00pm from May 3-13 at the Live Crown venue, followed by a jam session after midnight.
Despite the fact that this venue was on the same level as The Palms venue, and patrons at those concerts were offered free admission to the Live Crown venue, the McNulty gig remained one of the best-kept secrets of the Festival. Yet for me this group (and the jam session) provided some real Festival highlights over the several nights I heard them.
With guitarist Paul Bollenback (with McNulty since 2002), pianist Mark Soskin (long-time accompanist for Sonny Rollins), acoustic bassist Ugonna Okegwo, and sensational younger drummer Jeremy Clemons, this was a really strong swinging New York band from note one! Whether playing Bollenback arrangements of lesser-played standards or McNulty’s originals, Soskin and Clemons had some wonderful interaction, while Bollenback rolled out one brilliant musical solo after another. McNulty was in great form out front, using tone and every possible nuance to enhance her expression, while always swinging. While Bollenback and McNulty were given a daytime duo gig, it was an enormous shame that the whole group could not have been seen in a more accessible venue and time by a greater audience (especially younger student players). It is interesting to note that this was the one group which I heard in the Festival (and I heard most of them) which actually delivered such a joyous and irresistible swing that one’s foot had to move!
On the Sunday night the jam featured all the members of the Jens Winther Quintet (who had earlier played at The Palms) as well as local alto saxophonist David Rex and guitarist Jon Delaney. Rex clearly impressed the international company, while Swedish tenor saxophonist *Tomas Franck**, with his muscular and distinctive sound, was the European I enjoyed the most. While there are arguments and hype about New York no longer being the creative epicentre of the jazz world, when drummer Clemons cut loose behind Rex he unquestionably demonstrated that there is still a huge difference in skills levels between an emerging New York talent (albeit from St.Louis) and most Australian and European jazz drummers. On the second Friday jam, Clemons played a ferocious 30-minute plus duo with young Brisbane tenor saxophonist Zac Hurren, who eventually struggled to keep up with the rhythmic interplay, but would have gained much from the experience. As with most jam sessions, there was a broad range of hits and misses, but it provided a valuable platform for visiting musicians, such as American pianist Jon Weber and others to interact with local players. There were some frustrating problems with how the venue managed the jam, but this should be easily overcome.
Some of the other smaller venue performances I caught were pianists Mike Nock’s solo on Wednesday, and the Mike Nock Trio on Thursday (both at BMW Edge), and the duo of pianist Aaron Choulai with Israeli saxophonist Abate (both at Bennetts Lane on the Tuesday and BMW Edge on the Friday).
Nock was in superb form, with his technique as strong as ever. His solo set was characteristically charming and warm, exploring a range of material, although mainly in a romantic and reflective vein. His Trio set demonstrated how much his young protégés in Mike Majkowski bassist and drummer James Waples have developed under Nock’s guidance. Waples particularly played in a disciplined yet affirmative manner to the demands of the acoustically live sounding venue.
Abate (on vocals and tenor and soprano sax) and Choulai were essentially a World Music act, performing traditional chants from the black Ethiopian branch of Judaism. Abate delivered these melismatic melodies with a powerful and richly expressive voice, while both he and Choulai explored their possibilities with filigreed solos. There is a potential sameness to this material, but the duo managed to explore every possible nuance.
Two other international groups which I caught at Bennetts Lane were Ramon Valle Quartet from Cuba on the Friday, and the Albert Beger Quartet from Israel on the Saturday. While the audience were obviously delighted with the rhythmic exuberance of the Cubans, I was impressed by a beautifully sustained extended ballad they delivered, with an emotionally direct alto sax solo. Their evening could not end before an obligatory encore for the packed house. The Beger Quartet were another of the well-kept Festival secret. Various people had bemoaned the lack of an avant-garde ensemble, but here was a group which clearly traversed into that territory at times. The leader obviously liked to play outside too, and produced some intense and sonically explorative solos, ably backed by a robust rhythm section. This was not exactly on the level of the David Ware Quartet, but it was played with comparable spirit and energy.
The Festival’s only real setback was the last-minute cancellation (due to injury) on the Tuesday of French gypsy guitarist Birelli Lagrene, who was scheduled to appear in a double bill with pianist McCoy Tyner on the Friday at Hamer Hall. It is extremely hard to gauge the impact this had on final ticket sales for the event, as the cancellation was publicised and full refunds were freely offered.
Lagrene is not exactly well-known here, but like Cuban artists, gypsy musicians seem to draw out a large last-minute crowd. In any event, Lagrene was replaced by another brilliant acoustic guitarist in Brazil’s Yamandu Costa. His Trio, with expatriate French violinist Nicolas Krassik and bassist Gustavo Virtti entranced the appreciative audience with their fluid, rhythmic and spirited approach.
Tyner’s trio with bassist Gerald Cannon and drummer Eric Gravatt opened with a trio number before they were joined by saxophonist Dave Liebman. Unfortunately, their set was beset with distracting sound problems (both in the front of house mix and possibly on stage too), despite the fact that they were using their own sound technician. Possibly due to choice of one-off material (such as Coltrane’s India) and the sound problems, but this set never quite gelled. Liebman was both valiant and inspiring in his attempts to galvanise the almost sluggish performance through his double-time runs, vocalised punctuations and incisive rhythmic playing.
I’ve always counted a Tyner solo I heard in 1984 at the Village Vanguard as one of my most memorable listening experiences, so it was disappointing to accept that the pianist’s days of dazzling superhuman displays were behind him.
The formerly robust Tyner looked to have aged considerably, had lost a lot of weight, and one suspects he was in poor health. Perhaps as a result, his playing lacked characteristic dynamism and energy.
The next day Pharoah Sanders gave an afternoon master class, which attracted a full house, including Liebman and, seemingly, every jazz saxophonist in Melbourne. Notoriously shy and clearly uncomfortable with public speaking, Sanders commenced by playing a couple of ravishingly beautiful duos with his pianist, William Henderson.
When he spoke, Sanders astounded the saxophonists in the audience by relating that he was playing a new saxophone that he had acquired earlier that same day – a locally designed (but Taiwanese-made) nickel plated Temby tenor saxophone. He further shocked local players by adding that he swapped his own Selmer Mk VI model for it in a direct trade (despite the far greater market value of the latter). He explained this by saying that he wanted to take something from Australia home with him.
After a few good humoured answers (such as saying that playing with the Coltrane quartet was “like having pancakes and bacon and eggs for breakfast EVERY morning”), he played some more duos, including My Favourite Things and The Creator, filling the cavernous BMW Edge with his incredibly rich sound (despite some leaks in the saxophone).
His wish to collaborate with Koori artists was fulfilled near the end of the session when Joe Geia appeared with his didgeridoo for two improvisations. There was a tangibly warm glow in the room after this. It was a special recital for those present.
Later that evening, Geia joined Sanders at Hamer Hall in a cameo (for which he was later generously renumerated by the Festival) on both the opening and closing encore numbers. In between the quartet played a similar set of mixed repertoire which they performed on their previous visit: a lovely reading of Coltrane’s Welcome and overly-long and frenetic workout on Giant Steps, plus a call-and-response vocal High Life workout with Henderson on electric piano. This was an enjoyable set, but there was not enough tenor sax featured in the 60 minute bracket, and parts of it were slightly marred by the sound mix.
The Tyner trio’s second night with Liebman at the venue saw the quartet present a more unified approach (probably helped by the sensible inclusion of two blues, including Tyner’s 1960s classic Blues on the Corner). But there were no great heights reached in their set. In fact, Sanders was not as inspiring as on his previous visit.
The closest I heard to really inspiring and exciting moments were from young drummer Jeremy Clemons (to a very small late night audience, as is so often the case with jazz). Certainly, no music approached the very high artistic benchmark set by the Wayne Shorter Quartet (with Jason Moran) in 2005. But they are the exception rather than the rule in the more conservative jazz world of today.
Some international visitors wondered why more shows were not sold out. To put the Festival’s results in perspective, it should be pointed out that Miles Davis did not quite manage to sell-out both of his two nights at Hamer Hall in his debut tour here in 1988, even with television advertisements.
The Festival presented five shows at Hamer Hall, and sold out the Hancock concert, while gaining creditable numbers for the other four nights. They did well in getting sufficient numbers for two nights with Corea, too. In addition, most of the double bill shows at The Palms (with its capacity of around 800) were sold out, as were many shows at the smaller Bennetts Lane. Predictably enough, BMW Edge worked best on the weekends, and struggled with noon concerts during the week. But it did provide a central and convenient forum for catching a concert before the Hamer Hall performances, and provided an essential daytime alternative for interstate and international visitors.
The visit of several international critics enabled some invaluable interaction with local jazz industry figures. This happened largely by serendipity, and should be better facilitated in future, and possibly involve a public forum to better foster an exchange of ideas.
Some people complained about the cost of the big ticket events, but for those who go to rock concerts in Australia or who have heard jazz in Europe or the US could assure them that the prices for international acts represented great value compared to jazz club prices elsewhere. Some prices for local acts need to be fine-tuned, though.
In terms of the artistic scope and content, this was a largely commercially-oriented program with a focus on well-known figures, combined with a substantial slice of World Music. In stark contrast to the Umbria – Melbourne 05 event, there was a fairly strong component of Melbourne and interstate artists – such as Perth’s Graeme Lyall and Matt Jodrell, and Sydney’s Mike Nock Trio – given excellent showcases. However, the Festival still needs to further develop its artistic vision in terms of local content.
The program could have been enhanced by the inclusion of some other major Australian figures. Don Burrows (who received the Hall of Fame award) and leading Sydney guitarist James Muller (who played once as part of James Morrison’s group at The Palms) spring quickly to mind.
Sydney icon Bernie McGann is often cited as one of our most quintessentially Australian sounding musicians. He is an overdue candidate for Hall of Fame status, and should be part of such a national platform.
Also, some representatives of Melbourne’s vibrant cutting edge scene, such as Scott Tinkler or Nash Lee, would have added an extra dimension. And, as Melbourne has such a strong community of female jazz instrumentalists, this fact should be highlighted by the inclusion of an important artist, such as dual ARIA-winning pianist/composer Andrea Keller. Outstanding younger players, such as Young Artist of the Year winner Shannon Barnett, or bassist/bandleader Tamara Murphy are other worthy candidates.
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Possibly the Fringe Festival’s Big Arse Sunday showcase could be incorporated into the main Festival as an umbrella event as a way of letting international visitors know about this component of the local scene.
Albert Dadon, who recorded in the 1980s as acid jazz guitarist Albare, has the ability (if limited time) to delve more into the Australian scene if he wishes, but at present he does not display a broad enough understanding of what is happening locally.
There was some criticism of slight mismatches in double bills, but in defence of Dadon’s programming, some of the local ensembles were actually new groups instigated by the Festival. It is a very positive development that Dadon is encouraging special projects, and it is hoped that he takes this a step or two further in the future, possibly including a composer commission for a special festival work.
It is also a positive development that Dadon has worked together with Melbourne’s tertiary institutes to provide performance showcases for them. However, it would be good to see more leading professional players (rather than students) showcased to the public on the outdoor stages over the prime weekend spots.
During the Umbrian event I heard the exciting sound of saxophonists Oehlers and Ian Chaplin going head to head with Los Carbrones in Federation Square, something that might encourage young listeners to further check out local jazz.
It would also be good to see some interaction and co-promotion with Australia’s brave jazz labels.
Dadon is seeking a substantial increase in state funding from Major Events, and I believe that he has clearly proven that he can deliver the goods on an international level, work productively with other local players, and return real value for public money (especially compared to some other more highly funded Major Events in the calendar).
Dadon’s parents-in-law, the Bessons, have created a well-respected visual arts legacy for Victoria with their public art gallery at TarraWarra Museum of Art in the Yarra Valley.
Dadon alone secured the elusive Major Events funding for a jazz event through, not only his business and political connections, but through sheer persistence, passion and diligence. He has already produced two of the most substantial jazz events staged in this country.
If Dadon can establish this Festival as an on-going concern he will have created an arts legacy for Victoria on par with TarraWarra but in a neglected, challenging and far more-needed area.
Having come this far, and with his determination, I believe (and hope) that he will achieve this.
The 2007 Festival can be cited by the national jazz community as a proof positive of what we have argued for years: that there is a broad audience for the music if it has adequate funding (comparable to opera or other so-called “serious” music) to market it properly.
