Berry Jazz is back for its second year featuring Mr Ott, Emma Pask and Ellen Kirkwood
JK: What prompted you to take up the trumpet as your instrument of choice?
EK: I actually started learning music when I was five, on piano. When I was nine my uncle offered to lend me his old Boosey and Hawkes trumpet to see if I liked it. I did, of course, and as I was already able to read music I picked it up quickly and start playing in my school’s band, and the rest is history!
JK: When did you first become interested in composition and putting large ensembles together?
EK: Throughout high school I dabbled in composition, but I wrote my first large ensemble piece for big band as one of my HSC compositions. At that time I had been playing in big bands both inside and outside of school for six years so I was fairly familiar with the style and sound, and enjoyed playing in them a lot. I enjoy writing for larger ensembles like big bands because you have so much choice – you can write luscious juicy harmonies or sparse singular lines, you can have energy and power and rhythm or subtle soft floating soundscapes and everything in between, and there’s a huge choice of tonal colours with different combinations of instruments. I more often tend to go for rhythmic and loud however. Even when I write for smaller ensembles they will rarely have less than five players because I love having options to work with.
JK: You have composed a number of memorable musical suites – the latter being ‘The Mieville Project’ which was especially commissioned for last year’s SIMA International Women’s Jazz Festival. Tell us about that experience.
EK: Writing The Mieville Project was a lot of fun. As an avid fan of fantasy and sci-fi literature I enjoy getting immersed in a good book that takes my imagination to weird and wonderful places. To then ‘illustrate’ some of what China Mieville depicts in his novels through music was the perfect project for me. I got really immersed in it and let it go in some suitably weird directions, especially in “Wormword” where a highly contagious disease gets passed around the members of the band via a repeated phrase, and in the end the whole thing descends into sonic chaos before we try and ‘infect’ the audience. I was also completely chuffed with our first performance as some of the music is pretty tricky and detailed, but of course the amazing musicians in the band did a fantastic job of bringing it all to life, and the audience at the SIWJF lapped it up. It’s such an awesome feeling when something you’ve poured too much time, effort and passion into becomes reality and sounds awesome.
JK: Where do you see your compositions heading in the future?
EK: I hope to have a suite of pieces written for big band by around this time next year! They’ll be interconnected and serial and include a lot of rhythmic influences from other parts of the world, particularly Africa and Cuba.
JK: Tell us a little about what you will be playing with guitarist Aaron Flower at the Berry Jazz Festival?
EK: Aaron (AKA Baz) and I will be playing pared-back versions of our original pieces together at Berry Jazz. This is a good challenge for me as it is of course a drastic change from the larger ensembles I usually write for. It’s great collaborating and exploring different musical possibilities, particularly with someone as talented and creative as Baz.
JK: You are also appearing with the very eclectic Mr Ott – tell us a little about your association with this group.
EK: Mister Ott started in 2012 with our very first gig at Bohemian Grove. Before the band began I had been getting into Ethiopian music, as Sirens Big Band (of which I’m a member) has a few Ethio tunes in its repertoire and I’d been checking out some of the style’s most famous artists. I was stoked when Matt asked me to play with the band and it continues to be one of my favourite bands to play with. I love the infectious rhythms and riffs and the idiosyncratic pentatonic scales that are used in the melodies.
JK: The Berry Jazz Festival is one of a number of regional music festivals gaining momentum in Australia. How important do you think it is to get jazz out into these regional and rural areas?
EK: Australia has produced some amazing jazz, in fact most of my favourite jazz musicians are from here. I think it’s really important for our culture and identity as a country that our music and other types of art be made known and brought out to these regional areas, and hopefully it willl also inspire further generations of aspiring artists too.
Bookings and all details can be found at www.berryjazz.com.au.
The Program at a Glance:
Saturday 7 May:
1pm: Jazz Workshop for Kids, Berry Pavilion ($15)
2pm: New Orleans Parade & Performance, Pavilion to the Courthouse (FREE)
2.30pm: The Glorious Sousaphonics, Courthouse ($25/$20/$15)
4.15pm: Ellen Kirkwood & Aaron Flower Duo, Courthouse ($15/$10)
8.30pm: Mister Ott, Bowling Club (Dinner + Show $55/$50/$40, Show Only $35/$30/$20)
Sunday 8 May:
1.30pm: Finnland, Coolangatta Estate (Luncheon + Show $85/$75, Under 12’s $55).
