MUSIC
MELBOURNE INTERNATIONAL JAZZ FESTIVAL
Until June 11
In 2009, bassist Charlie Haden – artist-in-residence for that year's Melbourne International Jazz Festival – led an antipodean version of his Liberation Music Orchestra in one of the most memorable concerts in the festival's history.
Uplifting: Dianne Reeves performs at the Melbourne Recital Centre.Credit:Kevin Peterson
This year's artist in residence was composer-pianist Carla Bley, whose highly individual writing and arranging have shaped the LMO's sound since the 1960s. For Bley's belated Australian debut, the venerable 81-year-old pianist brought her long-running trio featuring bassist Steve Swallow and saxophonist Andy Sheppard.
The Melbourne Recital Centre's acoustics allowed the intricacies of Bley's compositions to be heard in intimate detail, as the trio explored tunes spanning three decades – from Ups and Downs to the newly penned Beautiful Telephones. The latter was wryly dedicated to Donald Trump and made Bley's feelings on the subject abundantly clear, the pianist interlacing the melody with quotes from Yankee Doodle Dandy, My Way and Chopin's Funeral March.
Composer-pianist Carla Bley performs at the Melbourne Recital Centre.Credit:Kevin_Peterson
The concert's centrepiece was a masterful three-part suite, Andando El Tiempo, described by the pianist as a story of addiction and recovery. Thanks to the deep empathy among the players and the ingenuity of Bley's arrangements, the suite felt almost orchestral in scope, with a seamless exchange between piano, bass and saxophone. Not a note was wasted on gratuitous flourishes as Bley and Swallow moved in measured counterpoint or teased the subtle Latin rhythms into jauntier vamps, while Sheppard flitted between shadows and sunlight.
The following night, the Jazzlab hosted two lesser-known piano trios from Europe. Led by drummer Jacek Kochan, Poland's NAK Trio constructed punchy, dynamic pieces characterised by precise trio interplay. Melbourne bass player Marty Holoubek (replacing the band's regular bassist) did an exceptional job locking in with Kochan and pianist Dominik Wania as they leapfrogged across skittery time-feels, or softened into a more pliant sound.
The members of Switzerland's MaxMantis are also fond of tightly synchronised shifts in mood and metre. But where the NAK Trio were more internally focused, the Mantis clan are natural extroverts. Lukas Gernet (on piano), Rafael Jerjen (bass) and Samuel Buttiker (drums) are close friends as well as colleagues, and their animated musical conversations were as infectious and engaging. They added soulful backbeats to Swiss folk tunes, created theme songs for imaginary superheroes and exuded a joyful energy that was impossible to resist.
On Saturday night, Vince Jones – backed by the warm breeze of the Orquestra do Brasil – draped his distinctive grain-flecked vocals over the languid bossa rhythms of Jobim's best-known tunes. While the music was undeniably appealing, the show felt under-rehearsed (with Jones fixing his gaze on sheets of lyrics) and lacking in dynamic variation. The highlight was a pair of duets – one with guitarist Doug de Vries, another with pianist Matt McMahon – where the languorous mood gave way to a more emotionally direct relationship between Jones, the song and the audience.
Dianne Reeves' show was as polished as a fine-cut gem, yet still radiated freshness and vitality. Yes, there were moments where the jazz vibe was eclipsed by smooth pop stylings, but Reeves is such a charismatic performer that she carried us with her. And that voice! Rich, full-bodied and with a seemingly limitless range, it can leap octaves and skip across intervals as adroitly as any horn, or transform a typically muted ballad like One for My Baby into earthy blues, dripping with soul and a take-it-or-leave it determination. At 60, Reeves is clearly in her prime, and her performance made for a worthy and uplifting finale to this year's festival.