reviews - cd/book reviews

Michelle Nicolle
The Loveliest Night
ABC Jazz 179 9501 Melbourne, Dec. 2008

Michelle Nicolle - vcls; Geoff Hughes - gtr; Tom Lee - bs; Ronny Ferella - dms.


The girl from The Barossa Valley, long resident in Victoria, gives out with yet another stunning performance with her trio, whose empathy with their leader is evidence of an extended association. On this CD, Michelle shows a love of Broadway, presenting songs from The Big Show of 1916, Kiss Me Kate from 1948, Carnival in Flanders from 1953, The Pyjama Game from 1954 and My Fair Lady from 1956. She has an equal affinity with Hollywood, rendering her special magic to songs featured in Love Me Tonight from 1932, Every Night at Eight from 1935 and The Great Caruso from 1950. For the more modern composer credits, she includes a couple of classics from Tadd Dameron and Horace Silver. The special delight for this reviewer was the epitomy of 1940's country music, You Are My Sunshine, which I sang to a reluctant girl-friend in 1950 (and she remained reluctant!). Of course, no beau could be reluctant with this sultry version by Michelle. On most of these tunes, the verse is given as much attention, expression and melodic invention as are the better known choruses and there is much pleasure to be derived from the variations in tempo within the same song, a clever device that enables the performer to add a unique meter to a vocal line. Adding to the total effect of special songs specially interpreted is the symbiosis of the musicians, who could well be one of our best performing trios, both as soloists and as rhythm section for the divine talents of Michelle Nicolle. This is a recording to be taken from the shelves of ABC Shops and added to your own collection.

Reviewed by Ron Spain

The Hounds
Bell End Blues.
Independent recording made in Perth, 2009.

Ricki Mallet - tpt; Callum G'Froerer - cnt; Benny Collins - clt/alt sax; Tilman Robinson - tmb; Mace Francis - bjo; Wayne Slater - bs; Greg Brenton - dms.

Oh, joy! A youthful band with a 'traditional' line-up, mostly their own compositions (by Francis and Slater) and no vocals! What more could you ask of some of WA's finest young musicians who acknowledge allegiance to RTR fm, The Jazz Club of WA, Jazz Fremantle and the Perth Jazz Society. One can ponder on the inspiration for Captain Benny's Magical Jazz Wand (a tour de force for clarinet, of course), Dingle Dangle and The Monk, The Drunk and Derek The Researcher (reminiscent of The Mooche) but it's the music that counts and this music counts for something out of the box. The title track comes in like the Second Line of a street parade in pre-Katrina New Orleans and the happiness starts right here. Viennese Line Dance is a tearaway introduced by solo bass and enlivened by muted cornet in boppish mode throughout. One of the only two non-originals is Some of These Days, most often a vehicle for a burlesque singer, but this time we are fulfilled by some glorious plunger mute trumpet from Ricki Mallet. The other recognizable 'oldie' is King Porter Stomp which goes from banjo introducing the clarinet and a sotto voce ensemble into the cornet and the trumpet exchanging phrases, more ensemble to banjo then a drum solo and a wild Condon type exit by the whole group. The writing is professional and the arrangements are just tight enough without curbing the impetuosity of youth on the rampage. It's very good music from a bunch of young guys who enjoy what they are doing and want you to enjoy it, too. Classify it as original jazz based on traditional styles and by that token it is very refreshing.
Send for a copy to www.macefrancis.com

Reviewed by Ron Spain

Marlene Richards
Here, There and Everywhere

Private recording

Incredibly, this is the first solo CD by an artist of great style who has been singing distinctively over nearly four decades, on television and in clubs from Adelaide to Sydney and back home where she is an icon of the local jazz scene. Marlene Richards sings jazz in a husky voice that evokes smoke-filled bars on late nights, typified by her opening song, ‘Close Your Eyes’, which brings on thoughts of a warm bed with good company. Lennon and McCartney wrote some exemplary tunes, often with difficult chord changes and on both the title tune and ‘Fool On The Hill’, Marlene accords them respectful interpretations with The Boss Trio providing appropriately simpatico accompaniment. Her version of the Francis Youmans/Billy Rose tune, ‘Without A Song’, is honey running over sand, complemented by one of Bob Jeffrey’s bouncing tenor sax solos and he shows some muscle on ‘You’d Be So Nice To Come Home To’, with spare piano accompaniment from Kerin Bailey, who also produced this CD, while Marlene phrases like Peggy Lee. She lives every note and expresses every word in the emotion-drenched ‘We’ll Be Together Again’ and rates approval from Mel Torme on the rarely heard ‘Green Dolphin Street’. Did Sigmund Romberg and Oscar Hammerstein ll really write ‘Lover Come Back To Me’ in 1928? If so, they were ahead of their time and so is Marlene as she gives a contemporary twist to this romping version of a classic song of love. It’s jazz singing at it’s very best, plus one of Dave McEvoy’s hot solos. On the final ‘I Hear Music’, the lady is back in bed, but unable to sleep because she’s as hyped up as the listener will be after 12 choice songs sung and played in singular empathy by seven alternating musicians and one very special singer. It’s some CD – get it!
Available from JazzScene

Reviewed by Ron Spain

John Montesante Quintet & Guests - JMQ Live @ Atlantis.
Wazoo Records WR 004
Recorded 2009

Guest vocalists - Rebecca Mendoza, Yvette Johansson, Bob Valentine, Julie O'Hara.
Guest horn players (Track 13 only) - Chris Dyer - tpt; Sigmund Sokolowski - tmb; Russell Praetz - tnr sax; Martin Zakharov - bari sax.

This is a new band to me, though it was formed in 1990 by Jazzer/arranger John Montesante, who is also well known around the Melbourne R'n'B/Soul music scene. This CD was recorded at the Atlantis Studios in front of a small audience who don't get in the way of some very good music of the vocal and instrumental varieties. Of the latter, there are Bop versions of Invitation, Where or When and Tell me a Bedtime Story, each giving rein to the invention of the soloists in between the fine arrangements. The four vocalists, who have appeared with the band on club dates, are all expert in swingers and ballads, of which the classic Bye, Bye Blackbird by Yvette Johansson, At Last by Rebecca Mendoza, Just One of Those Things by Julie O'Hara and Night & Day by Bob Valentine, are representative of the 10 vocal tracks. The final track is by the augmented line-up and is a brassy blaster that inspires a desire to catch the band at one of its 'live' gigs around the traps, where you'll surely buy this CD.

Reviewed by Ron Spain

Putamayo presents Women of Jazz.
Putamayo World Music
PUT 286-2 - 2008

All I know about this label is the phrase on the back cover which reads, "Jazz meets acoustic pop on this collection featuring exceptional vocalists from the US and Canada". Which is a pity, because the recording features some top class lady singers whose choice of songs is not best described as "Pop", but more identifiably as classy compositions by class composers sung by top of the class singers. If I tell you that Madeleine Peyroux does her Bille phrasing on Dance Me to the End of Love, Cassandra Wilson ecstatically moans Lover Come Back to Me, Stacey Kent chortles Shall We Dance and Etta Jones blows your mind with Since I Fell for You, perhaps you'll get an idea of what to expect. If the other six singers aren't so well known to an Australian audience, it's only because our Promoters aren't cool enough to bring them here on tour. As an easily digestible snack of mouth watering proportions, it should be in every erstwhile jazz singer's lunch box. I kid you not. Visit the website at www.putumayo.com

Reviewed by Ron Spain

FOOTSCRAY STATION WAY OUT WEST

Newmarket 3127 2

It was intriguing from the beginning; a CD with cover photos of a deserted railway station at night lit by tall lamps; rails gleaming silver in the dark, a band called Way Out West, and the title “Footscray Station”. What it turned out to be was the latest effort from Peter Knight (whose first disc “between two moments” captured attention), and his new band and guest artists. It is both innovative and exciting, gentle and evocative thanks to the use of three traditional Vietnamese instruments, the dan tranh, dan bau, and dan nhi, stringed instruments played and obviously venerated by Dung Nguyen. The opening,’Footscray Station Platform 1’ an atmospheric and moody pastiche of the hiss of train doors, the squeal of brakes and a chattering crowd, leads us into a scene redolent with train fumes and cigarette smoke. Ruminative and sophisticated music is woven into the tapestry of sound, and the stage is set for a vibrant meeting, a marriage between East and West. On track two,’Maribyrnong Sketch’, (Knight) Vietnamese strings introduce an insistent drum beat; this is typical of several of the tracks, exciting rhythms on percussion and drums overlaid by the delicate plaintive and haunting sounds of the Vietnamese instruments. Trumpet and bass add their part in a pleasant evocation of cultural closeness. Howard Cairns soloing on acoustic bass, Ray Pereira on percussion, Dung on Vietnamese zither round out the sound of “Way Out West” on ‘Platform 2’, ‘Amasya’ and ‘If I Knew Where You Were’. One of the many high-lights of the disc is ‘Is the Moon Really That Far Away?’ by Peter Knight, a wonderful poem sensitively spoken and sung by Martin Breeze, accompanied by Scott Lambie, drums, Leo Dale, alto flute, Paul Williamson, tenor sax, Howard Cairns, bass, Peter Knight, trumpet, and Dung Nguyen. Trumpet and sax blend in unison and in harmony with the voice in an original and expressive offering. The creative contribution of everyone involved in this CD is outstanding. This journey of exploration and experimentation is soulful and inspiring reflecting the desire to recreate the stimulating cultural mix of Melbourne’s inner Western suburbs. Some truly Australian jazz.

Reviewed by Pam Brow

Love Rhapsody - Emma Sidney
Move Records - MCD 211
14 Tracks - TPT 61:58 m:s

This debut CD from vocalist Emma Sidney was launched at Dizzy’s Jazz Bar in Richmond in July. She is accompanied by Todd Sidney, piano, Leon Heale, bass, Dean Cooper, drums & percussion, with Greg Clarkson and Ron Anderson, reeds & flutes or Reg Walsh, trumpet & flugelhorn backing Emma on some tracks. The 14 tracks cover a variety of jazz standards such as ‘You’d be so Nice To Come Home To’, ‘Nature Boy’, ‘Almost Like Being In Love’, ‘The Very Thought Of You’ to Lennon & McCartney’s ‘And I love Her’. Other tracks include Bonfa’s ‘A Day in the Life of a Fool’, ‘L-O-V-E’ Billie Holiday’s ‘Don’t Explain’ Ellington’s ‘Solitude’ and Emma’s own compositions, ‘Changeable Day’, ‘Lament’ and title track ‘Love Rhapsody’. Emma has a nice easy style whether swinging the standards or interpreting a slow ballad. The band give Emma good support as well as getting time to stretch out with the occasional solos. Todd Sidney did the tight arrangements on 11 tracks with Emma showing her versatility arranging ‘Love Rhapsody’ as well as co-production of the CD with Todd. A fine effort from all concerned and I’m sure this will be the first of many CDs from Emma

Reviewer Don Brow

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