Jazz on Lockdown ~ hear it here

Vanessa Perica ~ Love Is A Temporary Madness

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Jazz on Lockdown Releases

On a gloomy autumn lockdown day, nothing is more welcome than a fresh and exciting piece of music. It brings sunshine, and if the artist is a gifted up-and-comer, it brings hope. In the days before lockdown, I saw a press release for Vanessa Perica’s ‘Love Is A Temporary Madness’. It could easily have been lost among the hundreds of emails warning me of the impending crises, but happily, it wasn’t. I listened to the sample track and found it instantly compelling.

There is nothing easy about composing and arranging Jazz orchestral charts and few musicians embark on this tortuous path. Thankfully Perica did, and her charts are magnificent. On ‘Love is a Temporary Madness’ she draws on a large palette, a seventeen-piece orchestra. Using contrast, texture, and modulation to great effect; she balances piano, guitar and the various soloists against a fulsome horn section and all to the best advantage. Big orchestras like this can easily maroon soloists, but these charts nurture the individual voices as much as the ensemble.

I know many of these musicians and I can’t help but wonder if she wrote with specific artists in mind; Andrea Keller in particular, as she is always such a distinctive performer? Very few pianists speak with such clarity and few can imply so much with well-crafted understatement. Add in renowned Australian musicians like Julien Wilson, Jamie Oehlers, Ben Vanderwal, and the other first raters and you understand why the ensemble sound is so fine. A sound that breathes in unison and when required urges a soloist to greater heights. 

This is the first time that I have encountered Vanessa Perica’s work and I am slow off the mark there. She’s increasingly coming to attention of the wider Jazz world and no wonder. When you’re compared to Maria Schneider and praised by luminaries like Ted Gioia, you are well on your way.

The world as we knew it has been upended by a virus and the unfamiliar now demands constant attention; but as we reel from a plethora of new realities, we must not resile from re-examining what was under our nose. In isolation, few of us crave a conversation with our banker. Our desires centre around the arts. With our minds free to roam we form tableaus of reimagined paintings, we craft wonders out of found objects, we sculpt gardens, and above all, we immerse ourselves in music. 

Everyone loves music and as consumers, we have greedily accessed it without a second thought for the musicians. Now, they are our lifeline, our passport to sanity, and when we need them most they are there for us, giving us free concerts or releasing albums at the worst possible time. Income streams in the creative sector have been slashed drastically but the composing and performing continues unabated.  Artists must create, and for that to continue we need to support their endeavours. Buying albums like ‘Love is a Temporary Madness’ is the perfect way to do just that.  Purchase from Vanessa Perica Bandcamp

The lockdowns won’t stop jazz! To assist musicians who’ve had performances cancelled, get their music heard around the globe. There Jazz Journalists Association created a Jazz on Lockdown: Hear it Here community blog. for more, click through to https://news.jazzjournalists.org/catagory/jazz-on-lockdown/

JazzLocal32.com was rated as one of the 50 best Jazz blogs in the world by Feedspot. The author is a professional member of the Jazz Journalists Association

 

 

Jazz on Lockdown ~Hear it Here ~ John Rae

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John Rae Wellington Musician

With humankind and their dogs confined to home, I set up a Zoom call with an innovative Wellington-based Jazz musician, John Rae. I knew instinctively that he was the right musician to initiate the lockdown interview series with. Rae is an important musician; here and well beyond these shores. He is a natural storyteller. 

Born in Edinburgh to a musical family, he began gigging at age sixteen. Accompanying him on those youthful gigs was his friend, saxophonist Tommy Smith. Later Rae worked with Smith in the Scottish National Jazz Orchestra. Rae’s recording output is prodigious and there is much to bring a listener joy among those offerings. I will add links.

While those in Scotland or England will associate him with his two BBC albums of the year or his ‘Herald Angel Award’ from the Edinburgh Festival,  New Zealanders will love him for his work with The Troubles. A Joyous anarchic Mingus like ensemble telling it like it is. Rae’s compositional work looks out toward the world and it frequently blends with ethnic music; Celtic, Japanese Koto, Middle Eastern. As a drummer he exhorts the band, standing up and urging them on, while his beats roil beneath them like a gathering storm cloud supporting the sky above. I was not surprised to learn that he had frequently visited New Orleans (and played there). I can hear that unique influence in his drumming. The perfect cushion and always conversational.

The good news is, that he has a number of albums ready for release or re-release. The re-releases include his ‘Best of John Rae’s Celtic Feet’ from the 1990s and amongst his newer offerings, a Troubles album ‘KAPOW’ (live at Meow).  His website is johnrae.biz  His current recording labels are: Thick Records at www.thickrecords.co.nz, Rattle Records at Rattle-Records.bandcamp.com  Please buy these albums and keep this important original music alive. Check out the samples on the website.

John Rae: composer, bandleader, arranger, educator, drummer, Celtic Fidler ~ improviser in all styles from swing to free.  

The lockdowns won’t stop jazz! To assist musicians who’ve had performances cancelled, get their music heard around the globe. The Jazz Journalists Association created Jazz on Lockdown: Hear it Here community blog. for more, click through to https://news.jazzjournalists.org/catagory/jazz-on-lockdown/ 

 

Jazz On Lockdown ~ Hear it Here ~ Exiles

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Michal Martyniuk

At the beginning of the pandemic, it all seemed so far away. As of today 1/3 of the world’s population are in lockdown and New Zealand with them. A busy South Pacific Island was suddenly disconnected from the world; adrift except for an undersea fibre-optic cable. As confusion dominated the interim period, aircraft were grounded without warning and among the travellers unable to proceed was a touring musician; an improvising exile. Now, we are all exiles from our former lives and major cities have fallen silent.

I refer above to the Polish Pianist Michal Martyniuk, here on holiday and about to return to Poland. Luckily, he has family here and a reason to feel safe in New Zealand. With East European travel curtailed, he organised a gig at the only place he could find, a showroom. This was the last gig I attended before the curtain of isolation fell and it is therefore special to me. 

The venue was the Lewis Eady piano showroom with space for only a dozen chairs, the audience encompassed by a circle of Steinways. Beautiful instruments all; dark polished lacquer and keys gleaming like fashion-models teeth. We were all beginners at social distancing and a few random hugs occurred. After greeting friends, I approached Martyniuk to ask about the format. 

 ‘Eadys have provided me with their finest Steinway B and the acoustics here are so good that the piano will not be mic’d. Nor will the bass or drums naturally’. 

Although the floors were marble, the soft curtains and the cavalcade of pianos soaked up any liveliness. I was able to record the entire concert (mostly Martyniuk originals plus three standards). When leaving home I had realised that I had no video equipment ready, so I grabbed a Zoom recorder and a high-end Rhode mic. They sat on a wooden chair a metre away from the piano.

Cameron McArthur and Ron Samsom completed the line-up; both players having a long association with Martyniuk, accompanying him at Java Jazz and on an album. A few days ago I uploaded the material, savoured the experience. I might not experience live music for quite some time to come. This recording may be unmixed but it sounds special to me.

Michal Martyniuk Trio (NZ). Michael Martyniuk (piano), Cameron McArthur (upright bass), Ron Samsom (drums). recent album Resonance – michalmartyniuk.bandcamp.com

The lockdowns won’t stop jazz! To assist musicians who’ve had performances cancelled, get their music heard around the globe. There Jazz Journalists Association created a Jazz on Lockdown: Hear it Here community blog. for more, click through to https://news.jazzjournalists.org/catagory/jazz-on-lockdown/ 

Jazz on Lockdown series

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Some missing music for those missing music. Hear it Here

Mark de Clive-Lowe (keys) in Auckland’s CJC a few weeks ago with Brandon Combs (drums) and Marika Hodgson (bass)

‘Don’t Dream it’s Over (N Finn), Chelsea Prastiti (vocals), Kevin Field (piano), Mostyn Cole (bass), Stephen Thomas (drums), Mike Booth (trumpet). CJC Auckland at Alchemy Live

Bird Song (Smirnova) Simona Smirnova (vocals), Alan Brown (piano), Cameron McArthur (bass), Jono Sawyer (drums) at Auckland’s CJC, March 2020.

The lockdowns won’t stop jazz! To assist musicians who’ve had performances canceled, get their music heard around the globe. The Jazz Journalists Association created a Jazz on Lockdown: Hear It Here community blog. For more click through to
https://news.jazzjournalists.org/category/jazz-on-lockdown/

Jazz on Lockdown ~ hear it here

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Buy from Bandcamp March 20 to help the Musicians during Covid-19 lockdown

Bandcamp informed us that they would be supporting artists during the Covid-19 pandemic. In an effort to raise awareness around the impact on musicians, they are waiving their revenue share on Friday, March 20. 

Jazz Journalists are supportive of the Bandcamp platform for a number of reasons. Firstly because it gives musicians control, and they can choose a pricing range for their albums. Of equal importance are the revenue returns where the artists share easily outstrips the other models. Bandcamp takes only a 15% share of revenue on albums and 10% on merchandise. Compare this to Spotify, Pandora or other platforms that can pay less than a cent per stream. The Bandcamp share drops even further once the album sales exceed $5,000. Buyers can also pay more than the artists recommended price and surprisingly over 50% do pay more. This feels more like a community than a business enterprise. It can also accommodate self-released material as well as cater to independent labels.

The Bandcamp site is beautifully designed and user friendly, unlike Spotify which is clunky by comparison. You can listen to a track once for free and it’s yours to keep for unlimited streaming (or download) once purchased. Remember iTunes downloads which had an expiry date? The app is free to download and once done you can set up your identity and share your playlists if you choose.

For Jazz lovers, there are other considerations and in particular sound quality. Lately, I have been downloading albums from Bandcamp in a whopping 32bit/48kHz format. That is audiophile quality and there are gizmos that enable you to stream this directly into your Hi-Fi system. 

Another benefit is that liner notes, artwork and full credits are back. When the big streamers stopped providing artists details it was insulting. I listen to high quality streamed music while reading the liner information on my iPad. Old school, new school rolled into one

The above paragraphs illustrate the divergence in philosophy between Spotify, other streamers and Bandcamp. Bandcamp is a grassroots platform and on the app, you can interact directly with the musician via a message box or post a recommendation. Spotify works a different way and it is aimed at the less engaged listener. An artist can do really well on Spotify if an album is streamed millions of times, but that is another world entirely from ours.  

The lockdowns won’t stop jazz! To assist musicians who’ve had performances cancelled, get their music heard around the globe. The Jazz Journalists Association created a Jazz on Lockdown: Hear It Here community blog. For more click through to
https://news.jazzjournalists.org/category/jazz-on-lockdown/.

https://daily.bandcamp.com/features/bandcamp-covid-19-fundraiser

https://news.jazzjournalists.org/category/jazz-on-lockdown/

My Bandcamp playlist recommendations for this month are: Rattle Records at rattle-records.bandcamp.com catalogue plus Chris Cody ‘Astrolabe’ chriscody.bandcamp.com and ‘This World’ Nock/Wilson/Stuart/Zwartz on lionsharerecords.bandcamp.com

I am moving the Jazz on Lockdown posts to this main page, but check out the blog page titled Jazz on Lockdown for cancellations and smaller notifications.

JazzLocal32.com was rated as one of the 50 best Jazz blogs in the world by Feedspot. The author is a professional member of the Jazz Journalists Association