West End Composers Collective
Driving Hat
(Pinnacles Music)
Rating: ***1/2
This collection of compositions by Rafael Karlen features eleven foremost jazz performers from the highly active Brisbane scene, including the composer on tenor sax and flute.
Two vocalists appear on a track each, Hannah Macklin’s voice-as-instrument contribution on Driving Hat, and the brightest new star on the Australian jazz vocal scene Megan Washington, singing her own lyrics for an ethereal number Water and Time, alone worth the price for vocal fans.
The album contains interesting compositions, varying considerably in style and mood, from ballad pieces to rhythmic post-bop themes, well arranged, if not entirely originally, and played with flair.
Coffee Dance dedicated to late Brisbane saxophonist Tony Hobbs, opens with a series of solo baritone sax notes from Graham Norris, developing into a slow ensemble riff, taken up by Georgia Weber on double bass, eventually moving into Mikael Strand’s humour-injecting, faux trad trombone solo before a slowing combo conclusion. Curve starts with Steve Newcomb’s gauzy, out of tempo piano before the others arrive with a rhythmic bop theme, scored with a nod to Miles Davis’s famous arranger Gil Evans, and features a smart drum solo from Joe Marchisella, the talented drummer from outstanding Brisbane trio Misinterprotato.
Shannon Marshall’s trumpet provides a high energy opening to Eat Better, Sleep More followed by a driving solo against the group’s chord patterns, then another mood-altering unaccompanied baritone sax passage which runs overlong. Abstract Gloom features murky section work with elegant voicings and thoughtful solos from trumpet and Mark Spencer’s alto sax. Some of the best solo work comes from James Sherlock on guitar, notably in his high velocity performance on Five For Now where later a bluesy trumpet builds a high register swinging groove.
Ballad for Songs and Places is reminiscent again of Gil Evans, where moodily descriptive sequences of subdued hues establish a calming atmosphere in which the baritone sax floats like a lazy ripple.
This collection is a good example of the high level of composition and performance coming in this instance from Brisbane, but equally available now, although not widely recognised, in all Australian capital cities outside of the better known Sydney/Melbourne axis.
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This review first appeared in The Weekend Australian and is republished with permission.
