Guelph Jazz blow by blow

[zero]

I am covering this Guelph Jazz tit to tit. Really getting some great stuff and a lot of taped interviews and out there insights from heavy cats. So dope!

Going to Sao Paolo Underground tonight, Jaydawg just showed up and is ditching on littlefeat - it's going to be heavy. We're at Pete (weirdness) and Tash's and gearing up for a Huge double bill with Bill Dixon and Joelle Leandre then Hard Rubber Orchestra and the Sao Paolo late night. Torngat tore gat last night in the late night pole position. Tigther than dirt.

[Jaimoe]

Hit up than Steve Coleman gig: http://www.allmusic.com/cg/amg.dll?p=amg&sql=11:kxkzikb6bb79~T1

[Jakis]

Ill be at the bell orchestre concert tomorrow night and really can't wait. Cheers!!!

[Jay Funk Dawg]

I'm perplexed that they called this a "jazz festival" most of what I have been hearing avante-garde music...

The Bill Dixon/Joëlle Léandre duo show was not what I was expecting; Bill is supposed to be this legend of Free Jazz, but I though Joelle was the only intriguing part of the show, after Bill showed all he could do within the first 10 minutes of the 40 min performance, it was Joelle who keep the music alive.

With a lot of the experimental/avante garde music, I feel that it's a meditation; you sit and listen to these interesting extended piece sounds and you can't help but close your eyes and feel the music.

Sao Paolo Underground and Hard Rubber Orchestra were very good. I also enjoyed the after-party jam at the Cornerstone (great small veggie resturant); Geordie Haley (formerly fron New Brunswick) was leading the jams.. Colin Fisher from Sing That Yell That Spell and Passenger/Chipolte drummer Sam Cino also sat in.

It was great running into Luke (Zero) I hadn't spent any time with him for a long time.. as we had been friends in Halifax, way back in 1999 - 2001. Great to see ya buddy! Nice to meet you again Pete aka Weirdness; I hope to catch you again soon. (party!) I also hung out with Jim of Passenger, who had just got back from a gig to catch the tail end of the jam.

Most of all I really enjoyed Guelph's atmostphere.. it's such a nice cute and warm town, I'd certainly consider living there...

[adambrot]

I just saw Torngat and Bell Orchestre at the Elgin Church last night in Ottawa. It was an amazing venue and (as usual) stellar performances by both bands. We all went back to a Bell Orch. parent's place afterwards for a wine and cheese wind-down and party-up while they prepared mentally and logistically for the upcoming Guelph Jazz fest. Looks like it's going to be a good one too! Let us know how it was....

cheers

adambrot

[Deeps]

I hope you simply just sent your parents over to Zero's place.

I'm sure they'd have all sorts of good stories about their new friend.

Hope the fest was fun. I was recording this weekend and working on a couple other side projects so was unable to join in the city's festivities.

Hope you all had a good time.

[zero]

Right now I am sort of reeling from having like tiny pine needles pricked in my ear over and over again for five days. That and by the end the decorum (ultra quiet, ultra pompous, lot's of glowering looks and mini-sermons) was just painful and obstinate. The volunteers, coordinators and few staff of the festival are all really uppity, lame, wannabe social climbers with a few exceptions and their blind allegiance to this cult of avant garde personality is supremely vexing.

I had an awful time trying to function as a journalist all weekend, largely due to being judged on past behaviour in my role as a coordinator. The frustration is the fest is now flush with cash from Desjardins sponsorship but in my time we had little to no resources to work with and I had to pull a lot of rabbits out of hats just to feed the artists. This new breed of volunteer coordinators thought they new me from Job (which they did not) and had no respect for someone just trying to be passionate about the festival (AN EXTREMELY DIFFICULT FESTIVAL TO LOVE) and tell its story.

Unfortunately now for me the story is how this is NOT A JAZZ festival, how precious dollars in terms of sponsorship are sopped up precluding anyone else in the community from actually doing a JAZZ festival (forget about Scofield, Frisell, MMW, Jacob Fred, The Slip or any highly credible artist we love at this fest because they are fucking idiots who think the Emperor Is Fully Clothed). I'm just going to promote my own shows during the festival next year as people do in the around town series. As far as anyone knows that is the Jazz festival.

People attending the concerts throughout the colloquium and the paid high ticket events are mostly from out of town, visiting listeners, academics, musicians and the like. I love the international community, the free exchange of ideas and opinions, the wealth of talent in one place, the opportunity to speak french and feel truly Canadian- all that I love. Otherwise it is a total fucking waste of time and funding dollars (especially University dollars since hardly any students attend). Nobody we know would want to subject themself to the uppityness that pervades these performances and the fact that I haven't been able to say a single thing about the music yet speaks to that.

The only fun shows- here the idea is not to have fun, be sustained, feel an emotional connection as much as be challenged- were FAB Trio (which was off the FUNOMETER - Joe Fonda, Barry Altschul and Billy Bang) and Paul Plimley/Tommy Babbin/Hamid Drake on a double bill. Sao Paolo underground was seriously Malandore (streetwise). Hylozoists were immaculate. Seriously those were the only shows I'd say I 'enjoyed' although I was seriously stimulated by a lot of others.

Bell Orchestre was a little iffy to me to be honest. Too art school without the Talking Heads clout to back it up. Just schmaltzy cutesy poopsy with no real balls although my balls were tingling over the pixie on the violin in the mega short white summer dress. I much preferred Pietro Amato in Torngat (oddly both as a person and musician) who played sublimely and were likely the festival highlight for me although I haven't quite thought it through.

Bill Dixon and Joelle Leandre was a flop. Bill Dixon is a legend and a blowhard and he really burned his bridges in Canada (at previous appearances at Victoriaville lambasting the Canadian jazz press in a painfully embarassing press conference and performance where he played over William Parker, Cecil Taylor and Tony Oxley). He just is a major wet blanket and people were really glad when he and his domineering wife Sharon were gone. Steve Coleman and Five Elements unfortunately played a too long program (2hr. 2min.) on the second half of a double bill at the River Run and it just lost it's way if it ever found it. Although the drummer Marcus something (who just came off a run with Chick Corea) is a shit hot new school ninja on the kit and trumpeter Jonathan Finlayson's playing was inspired.

Those were the big stinkers and big winners some of which I've misplaced for the moment. Oh of course the final show last night with autorickshaw, Dr. Trichy Sankaran and Kevin Breit was what the entire festival should be like, challenging, fun, easy going, contemplative and light hearted. The best performances struck that balance and the worst did not.

[Deeps]

Pretty much confirmed some thoughts I had always had on this festival.

Never been and never felt compelled to go.

Every year it came around I thought, what's the deal with pushing jazz into churches and off the beaten path venues when jazz was supposed to be for the people?

Ticket prices?

It always seemed a little suspect to be hoarding and hiding the talent that should be in the square of this great city, and bellowing from every dive in the place.

Fuck uppity jazz, it's burying itself alive.

Anyway sounds like the Cornerstone thing was kinda groovy and I'm glad Autorickshaw put on a good show for you.

Cheers

[zero]

Thanks for the confirmation. Deeps I think what we have to do is leverage off of the festival and promote our own shows that weekend. I am looking very hard at doing a Garth Hudson and Kevin Breit double bill myself (Kevin's on board and Garth shouldn't be too hard) next year at one of the Churches. The venues suck and are uppity. The coordinators suck and are uppity. It's just not jazz in almost every sense of the word. But... as far as most people now the kid playing on the street and the Cornerstone gigs ARE the jazz festival. So I figure we roll in and book those gigs and as far as people know they are at the actual jazz festival and they don't have to deal with those douchebags.

[phishtaper]

I will be the first one to admit that when it comes to Jazzfests, Im as technically knowledgable as a stone. I never know when the "song" ends and when to begin clapping. I have no idea who has played with whom, or who invented what style. So, I just show up without much thought. This year I got three very different performances, all on the Saturday. And I enjoyed them all.

The 10:30am Paul Plimley (piano), Tommy Babin (bass) and Hamid Drake (drums) performance at the beautiful little Guelph Youth Music Center was well worth getting out of bed for. Drake has become THE festival favourite over the past few years and for good reason. He's not only a brilliant and inventive improvizationalist, he's just plain fun to watch. (Who 'plays' the cymbal stand?!) Babin provided solid and groovy support on bass, but the highlight of the show was the quirky and, at times, comically frantic playing of Plimley. Smiling from ear to ear throughout the show, bed-headed and casually beltless, Plimley treated us to melody, dissonance, and some mighty fine piano string plucking, complete with a slide. Together, these three competent musicians provided a fun start to the day.

The main Saturday night performance at the Guelph River Run Center featured a double bill with György Szabados (piano) & Vladimir Tarasov (drums) and then Steve Coleman & The Five Elements. Szabados and Tarasov, both making their debut performances in North America were wondrous to see. Hungarian and Lithuanian musical legends, respectively, these two 60- or 70-somethings gave us a lesson in unorthodox and free form improv. Szabadoz looked like he just stepped out of WWII, spine completely erect, surgically attacking and massaging the keys (and strings as well - what's with jazz pianists who like to get INSIDE the piano?). Tarasov was an offbeat, grandfather-type drummer with Einstein hair who you just couldnt help but love. A starkly beautiful performance, and one that the artists themselves seemed quite grateful for.

Next came saxophonist Steve Coleman & The Five Elements. Arranged in a semi-circle, each with a music stand (what exactly are they reading?), and half in bare feet, 'youth' came out and took over the stage for the second half of the evening. Featuring a collective of a female vocalist, trumpet, trombone, bass, drums, Coleman has surrounded himself with some very talented young artists. Some interesting and catchy playing, but my empty stomach got the better of me and I didnt stay till the end - which went on a bit too long from what I understand.

Finally, I hauled my tired butt over to the late night performance of Bell Orchestre in the basement of the adjacent church. Knowing that the players were part of the Arcade Fire scene was promising. But, alas, the dimness of the basement, their matching white outfits, their ethereal sound, and jaunt through the audience proved to be a little too much (or too little) for me, so I only stayed an hour. Interestingly, even the kids standing along the side walls stood motionless. Not that the tunage was all that dancey, but it seemed as if someone had mischievously gassed the audience with muscle relaxant. Or maybe it was the Pad Thai noodles they were serving.

And speaking of muscle relaxant - I understand the criticism that the festival is 'uppity', but really, what jazzfest isnt? It is what it is - people attend for all sorts of reasons (and from quite far away if the license plates in the parking lots are any indication). And I, for one, am just glad that I can catch these sorts of shows only a few blocks from my own bed, without having to fly down to New Orleans or fight the 401 to Montreal.

All in all, a B+ (mostly for Paul Plimley).

Cheers!

[Deeps]

Thanks for your take on it PhishTaper.

[zero]

Yeah Taper is dead on about the Plimley/Babbin/Drake show. Tony Babbin is a Devandra Banhardt looking dude who is a fixture in the Vancouver jazz community in groups like Primal Orbit. This was a much better context for him and Hamid made a wondrous mix and the playing on the cymbal stand was brilliant amongst all of it. Plimley also played 16 bars of 3rd Stone From The Sun and then decayed the melody on piano. He did not wake up that morning and decide to play it- we had a fascinating conversation about it the transcript of which I will release.

What has to be said though is that the real muscular likely festival highlight (other than Bik Bent Braam) was the FAB Trio with Joe Fonda, Barry Altschul and Billy Bang. Bang was phenomenal on the violin working stuff I have never dreamed of and high stepping around like Billy Preston. Altschul is best known for his work with Circle (one of if not the most technically adept free jazz groups ever including Cecil Taylor and Chick Corea) and Fonda as a varied sideman. Plimley/Babbin/Drake and FAB were the hands down most decidedly jazz, at least trios, and the most enduring and enjoyable. A very welcome contrast against so much ear blistering dissonance.

I'm not quite sure what you mean about every jazz festival is uppity. I mean Halifax isn't Toronto isn't. People have an expectation when they go to what they believe is a jazz festival that they are going to experience a range of things but adjectives like fun, engaging, enjoyable and light hearted come to mind. Some performances at GJF were of that nature but so so many were just plain challenging or likely vexing. It served for me as a sort of sorbet course between meals to cleanse my musical palette. Seeing Hidden Cameras last night in Guelph, they had the same affect that Bell Orchestre had on Taper and I, was a welcome change I just didn't 'get' what people were so into. I wonder if I plundered bum if I would get it though. Really it was fascinating to think why does someone identify with this when I don't even though the musicianship, lyricism and dynamics were faultless.

My frustration is largely with the festival coordinators and their wannabe social climber uppitiness. This wouldn't be evident to the general public and reflects my history with them. My sense though is again that individuals like ourselves should take on the risk and reward of promoting shows that weekend ourselves. The argument I'm making is that this is basically one bearded beret wearing academic's wet dream and cult of personality. Programmers typically program what they like but Ajay Heble has almost none of the populist touch of Sam Baijal at Hillside. This festival was so challenging, inspiring, joy and tear inducing, brilliant and really uncompromising. I don't know that anyone I know would want to return to that pretentious environment or see these pretentious artists. It doesn't need to be this way and by calling this Guelph's Jazz Festival it precludes the possibililty of an actual jazz festival in Guelph (in terms of sopping up sponsorship and funding dollars).

[phishtaper]

agreed, Zero. thankfully, im not involved in the politics or administration. ive volunteered in the past and I know people who help run things, but have never held any "position". so in that, you and I have different experiences, no doubt. i like to simply attend and drink in the various spirits. my previous post was more to just share my thoughts on the performances themselves, not the festival, per se. sounds like the Bang performance was great - Im sorry I missed it.

re: uppity - yeah, I overstated my thoughts and should have said that all jazzfests have elements of uppitiness (or is that simply "up"? ) but at the GJF, because of its relatively (very) small size, the up is more overt, both in terms of other attendees and programming. i still think that up is at all jazzfests, but normally, plebes like me who dont wanna pay $450 to see Ella Fitzgerald at The Openning Gala or attend stuffy workshops which take place at many other jazzfests (Toronto and New Orleans included), aren't exposed to up all that much there. at GJF, one cannot help but be exposed to up, its pervasive (and likely intentional).

agreed, the GJF programming is not intended to be popular - i think thats an intentionally carved niche. perhaps they should just change the name of it to the Guelph Terribly Challenging, Not Always Enjoyable, But Probably Memorable and Provocative, Avant Garde Sound Festival But hey, people still talk about the world-infamous Sainkho Namtchylak fiasco from 2004.

... besides, what is a "Jazz Festival" anyway? Purists in Toronto have complained about MMW being included in the TJF for years. And my best ever show at a New Orleans Jazz and Heritage Festival was actually Mars Volta in a small late-night theater show - not exactly a 'jazz' band

I wonder if the powers that be read this.

[zero]

I was right in the middle - dead smack centre- of the Sainkho blowout. My fallout with the fest had a great deal to do with talking frankly about that event on Karl Wilson (formerly of the Globe's) Zoilus blog (it's still my number one google hit despite everything I've done).

It's funny you say UP because I have been thinking that this is basically Haute Musique, like haute couture or haute cuisine. Up as opposed to base (low). Small portions, big price points, great materials, intense presentation....

[phishtaper]

It's funny you say UP because I have been thinking that this is basically Haute Musique, like haute couture or haute cuisine. Up as opposed to base (low). Small portions, big price points, great materials, intense presentation....

... and to think I went to the Albion for dinner! basse cuisine, indeed. i didnt realize it was the irony that made my burger and fries so delicious.

[zero]

Humour.

Back on the music tip I have been thinking a great deal about Torngat. I conducted my first bilingual interview with them the transcript of which I will also release here or elsewhere. They are fascinating guys and their music is very epochal. Comme un petit epoque. It made me think a lot about my own family, Quebecois heritage, oddly my anglo heritage- essentially personal ancestry which is not irrelevant to their trip I believe. Really really beautiful group and music. A trio with the sort of chops and heart that makes the Slip so great.