Jamie Oehlers Double Drummer Group
You R Here – Session One and Session Two
(Jazzhead)

The obvious question with these latest releases by tenorman Jamie Oehlers is whether the double drum idea makes these albums distinctive. The short answer is no, and that is a good thing.

The story of the double drums is that Oehlers’ band was playing one night at an inner-city Melbourne gig and, due to a mix up, two drummers turned up. They were ex-Perth compatriot, Ben Vanderwal, whose sophisticated and somewhat minimalist style is well known to Perth audiences, and Simon Barker who has played with Australia’s best, including Bernie McGann, Mike Nock, Vince Jones, Dale Barlow and Paul Grabowsky. To get some idea of Barker’s style, think of the path-breaking Fire by the Mark Simmonds Freeboppers. He can be a take-no-prisoners kind of drummer if the music warrants it. So I guess it made a lot of sense to Oehlers to use the booking mix up as serendipity and try an experiment with two drummers whose styles may provide an interesting contrast and some fireworks.

Apparently the gig was a great success, so much so that the double drummer experiment was continued into other dates, culminating in this gig at Bennetts Lane in Melbourne where the Jazzhead crew were present to digitally take down the action. The result is this pair of albums recorded over the 29th and 30th of March 2006.

The first thing to say is that the recordings are a driving and breathtaking excursion into contemporary jazz. All nine tracks were written by Oehelers with the exception of a rather deconstructed version of Miles Davis’s Side Car. All tracks sustain interest and admiration for their invention and variety. Being a live recording, the musicians stretch out in long solos with over half the tracks clocking in at about 15 minutes. Here is a real opportunity to get into the groove of a live performance and, by the reaction of the audience, the sessions were enthusiastically received.

However, the music is far from gimmicky because of the use of double drums. Although there is a driving post-Tony Williams free, polyrhythmic style to the drumming, the skins and cymbals do not dominate. They add, as they should, texture and, above all, rhythm that underscores the rest of the band. Importantly, Rodrigo Arevena’s bass adds a completely sympathetic third voice to the rhythm section’s conversation for the front line to play off. Thus, the temptation for an orgy of rhythm is eschewed for very satisfying and often challenging ensemble work.

Session One features the explosive James Muller on guitar. He plays on every track and his contribution is elemental to the session, giving it a wild, free and very exciting groove. Of particular note is the searing, free-form, avant gardism of Portal. Not that all tracks are taken at a fast pace, however. Solace is a beautiful ballad that shows up Oehlers’ beautiful tone and his empathy with pianist Sam Keevers, so evident on their earlier work together (**Grace** and the Assemblers) on the same label. And Wayne’s World is a brooding track, full of atmosphere. Is it a sly tribute to the recent work of Wayne Shorter? I don’t know. It is mighty fine jazz, though.

Session Two features the wonderfully inventive trumpeter Scott Tinkler (also one of Mark Simmonds’ Freeboppers). Tinkler is without doubt one of Australia’s greatest trumpeters. He has played with all of the greats on so many pivotal Australian recordings, most recently as part of the stellar line-up on the Paul Grabowsky Quintet’s highly acclaimed album Tales of Time and Space. Tinkler and Oehlers are ideally matched in temperament and tone. Although both have a reputation as hard, driving soloists, both also have wonderful control and the ability to build and resolve tension through the use of space, and also through perfectly attuned duets, as on the second track from this session, Kinjit.

Of particular note is the title track for the sessions, You R Here. After a particularly quirky and inventive unaccompanied solo by Oehlers, the band launches into a raunchy and fast-paced number, punctuated with a brilliant drum duet. I found this particularly interesting, as by and large recorded (as opposed to live) drum solos always seem to me a bit of a distraction. However, here the two drum effect really does work by demonstrating how two supreme musicians can play off one another by the use of understatement and space as much as the use of fireworks and the flaunting of technique (although of course, technique is very much in evidence). Keevers achieves much the same effect on percussive piano in Rubato where he, Baker and Vanderwal play a central trio, book-ended by some dramatic, free playing by Oehlers.

Everyone gets to stretch out on the final track, Don’t Look Back, including Muller who returns for the end of the session in a blistering duet with Tinkler. It is a fitting end to a great session. You are unlikely to hear a better live recording this side of Seventh Avenue South in Greenwich Village, and you would be pushing to hear a better session even there. Of course, being a live recording, there is the odd glitch. But rather than detract from the performance, these add to the integrity of it being recorded live. Listeners should note however, the incorrect listing of the tracks in Session One on the insert to the CD. The correct listing is given on the back of the CD.

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Hash Varsani is the owner of The Jazz Directory, a network of sites related to jazz, travel and everything else he loves. He also runs a selection of jazz related sites including Jazz Club Jury, a jazz club and festival review site. Check out his Google+ Profile, to see what else he's up to...probably setting up another website from one of his many passions.

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