Andy Fiddes
Livewire
(Jazzgroove Records)
The blurb I received with Andy Fiddes’ Livewire says that the album is a lo-fi tribute to 1970s Australian rock. The feeling and the energy, presumably the willingness to follow your musical path with little help or encouragement from anyone. The freedom that willingness gives you. You can’t do this sort of thing half-hearted. It has to be all heart, but the sort of “heart” that American poet, Jack Gilbert, writes about: life is great and time is short so why waste it on the trivial: “Living my life without being diverted into things people so often get diverted into. Being alive is so extraordinary I don’t know why people limit it to riches, pride, security – all of those things life is built on”. It’s getting up on a stage and making music against the odds.
Having said that, I think 1970s Aussie rock isn’t a great comparison. As much as Fiddes’ music may have been influenced by The Angels and AC/DC, let’s not forget that those bands were looked after.
Both AC/DC and The Angels were with Albert Productions from early in their careers and, of course, George Young and Harry Vanda were Albert’s hit-men producers for years. George Young, Angus Young, Malcolm Young: brothers. I’m not saying they didn’t all work hard. I’m just saying the average 21st century Sydney jazz musician lives the musical life far tougher than those two particular bands ever did.
If the recording is lo-fi, I think it suits the music. Livewire sounds like four great musicians playing in a room, listening to each other and following their individual muses. You can definitely hear that it’s not overly processed and there doesn’t seem to be much artificial reverb (though I could be wrong – my speakers are rubbish). This is a refreshing change. The tone of each individual instrument sounds clear and present. The drums are quite prominent in the mix but it’s a joy to hear such great playing so clearly. Evan Mannell gets better every time I hear him play. Mike Majkowski kicks off the opening track, Joystring, with a single repeated note, then there’s a roll on the snare and a tremendous crack. The cymbals take off, giving the group sound clarity and propulsion as Jackson Harrison enters with a beautifully muddy rhodes. After a few minutes we hear the trumpet. Andy Fiddes has a bell-like sound that sometimes calls to mind Dave Douglas, sometimes Miles, sometimes even Don Cherry. I suppose this range means that he has what most musicians want: his own sound.
In the louder passages the bass is occasionally lost in the transients of the drums. While this is not hi-fi, at least it’s realistic. Besides, Majkowski’s playing has an authority that stamps its presence on the groove even if the bass isn’t leaping out at you. Same goes for the rhodes. At times it turns into ambient wash but that sounds nice. It gives the whole sound a dynamism that can get lost on a real tied down studio recording. And you can hear every note of those tasty Harrison solos.
The first two tracks, Joystring and A Question of Creation are quite similar – both are built around uptempo, repetitive bass lines (oz rock?) but they set the scene for what’s to come. Where there’s harmonic movement it’s quite restrained, allowing room for the soloists to go where they please, and the rhythm is kept flexible, much like 1960s Miles Davis.
The rock influence is very apparent on Return of the Darkness, parts of which sound very Deep Purple (a positive for me but not many people dig them now). But where the rock is in this album it’s always accompanied by jazz freedom. It never becomes regimented like rock can.
I was sceptical when I read the promo blurb. How can you have rock-influenced jazz without a guitar? But it didn’t take me long to change my opinion. Livewire is great music that sounds like a compulsion rather than a job. The heart of rock is here and, if anything, rock should be listening so it can get it back.
