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Whangarei Jazz & Blues Festival - October 2005 |
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Derek's Thoughts On The Festival.JPG)
The band have just returned from a weekend playing at the Whangarei Jazz & Blues Festival. Derek has jotted down a few thoughts on the trip. If anyone has any good photos from the festival, please get in touch and we'll post them here (in the meantime, here's the one lone picture we have from the festival, of the band playing at Ibanez Backpackers Bar. Sonia was obviously having a drink at the time! That's Matt Hennessey on the drums. Thanks to Ann Trappitt for send it in.): ************************************************************** There was a certain amount of discontent swirling around the Whangarei Festival this year (after it took a break in 2004), and I guess there'll be a lot of reassement done by the committee about the best approach to future events, but that's for the future. Right now we're all still buzzing after a great weekend of great music, and the wonderful time we had catching up with so many old friends. SATURDAY For the first time, rather than head up North early, we all travelled up from Tauranga on the Saturday and arrived in the middle of the afternoon, just in time to catch Ritmo Son in the Red Iguana Bar. They're from Kerikeri apparently and play some very spirited and enjoyable Cuban music. The lead singer has a fine voice and plays a weird guitar-like instrumment with (I think) three pairs of two strings each. It was hard to tell, because he was havuing a bad gig and they kept breaking. Nonetheless, the band (all eight or so of them) were a lot of fun. Next up were our old mates from the Darcy Perry Band, without their keyboard player but with the added attraction of a long tall Texan by the name of Lighting Red, who looked exactly like a long tall Texan called Lighting Red. He was actually very good - unforced and authentic and an interesting contrast to Darcy's usual hi-energy stage demeanor. Craig Bracken blew his always-impressive harp lines with style and the rhythm section (new drummer?) was very tight. We were up next and - along with Matt Hennessey on drums - had a most enjoyable set. Matt played like he'd been with the band for years and we debuted a new song about the flooding in New Orleans called "Home Of The Blues". The full set was: TOO MANY WORDS QUEEN JANE APPROXIMATELY ANY ROAD UP THINGS HAVE CHANGED HOME OF THE BLUES GLORY OF LOVE STRANGE ANGELS RAIDED THE JOINT Then we caught a little of Mike Nesbit's band: great to see Cliff Pawly back on upright bass after his health problems. There was only a small crowd, but the band sounded fantastic -everything a lover of trad jazz could hope for - and when guitar virtuoso Nigel Gavin joined them it lifted things to another level again. Before our set we caught a bit of Barry Charles with the Riverrockers down at Danger Danger. He still has the most astounding voice (with his 4 or 5 octaves or whatever ridiculous range he can sing - amazing!). Our set in Danger Danger was a bit odd, because Matt could only join us halfway (due to some committments with organising sound gear). It's a huge barn of a nightclub so it seemed strange starting with a pile of stripped-down stuff (and in that place it was hard to guage the crowd reaction, especially when there was intermittent cheering for the rugby on a big-screen, which I absolutely hate, particularly at jazz festivals), but we enjoyed it, and the only problem came when Sonia's trumpet self-destructed mid-gig and she had to switch to flugelhorn for the last few songs. Matt arrived for "Freight Train" and - with that big drums 'n' bass mix that nightclub soundmen so enjoy (we have little control of our sound at festivals!) - he sounded like John Bonham!. The set was: KEY TO THE HIGHWAY PLASTIC JESUS SATURDAY BLUES IT TAKES A LOT TO LAUGH, IT TAKES A TRAIN TO CRY DON'T GET AROUND MUCH ANY MORE FREIGHT TRAIN GOOD GRIEF BATTEN DOWN THE HATCHES ON A NIGHT LIKE THIS NEXT TIME YOU SEE ME Then we headed down to hear Nigel Gavin at G&T but - peculiarly, since it was only 10.00 on a Saturday night, and there were many people there - the bar decided to close and kick everyone out, cancelling Nigel's set. This seemed incredibly rude, if nothing else. When a musician of his calibre comes all that way to play, at least you can do is stay open for him and the punters (Nigel reckoned there were about about 40!). We made a note to boycott G&T the next day. Screw 'em. So we had an early night. Probably the first time I've ever been in bed before midnight at a jazz festival! SUNDAY We kicked things off at new venue Ibanez with a very laid back and loose session for a fairly small group of nonetheless enthusiastic listeners. Sonia had repaired her trumpet and - as you'd hope at mid-day - it was very relaxed and jovial. Since we started taking requsts after the first tune, I'm not sure what the exact set was (curse my ailing memory!), but it included: TOO MANY WORDS PLASTIC JESUS I WONDER WHY (I CAN'T GET NO SLEEP) ABSOLUTELY SWEET MARIE HOME OF THE BLUES BATON ROUGUE THINGS HAVE CHANGED TRYIN' TO GET TO HEAVEN HIGHWAY 61 REVISITED Then we stayed and caught a simply wonderful set from Gahu - a Pacific/African pollenation of grooves and melodies - with stunning interludes on the talking drum, brilliant guitar playing and just overall world class stuff. The band is so original and imaginative, and their arrangements so intelligent and interesting that they are a real pleasure to hear. Do catch them if you get a chance. Next up was Mike Garner and his band - including Warren Houston (who played with us a couple of times this month in the Bay of Plenty) on his amazing stripped down drum kit with stomp box. It's so small that it hardly qualifies as a "kit" anymore, but makes a great sound! Steve Evans was playing a new resontor guitar which he had made (and, after fiddling on it, I can confirm it was a lovely instrument. Oh to be able to afford on of Steve's beautiful beltona resonators! For more information on his Beltona resonator guitars see the "Friends of the band" section of our Links page). It was a busy weekend for Steve, who was also playing - even more traditionally - with Railway Pie. Mike's band sounded excellent: relaxed and enjoying themselves. Off to Rynoz next to - finally - be dazzled by Nigel Gavin. And what an amazing experience it was! Playing his (hand-made) seven string acoustic with a loop box to set up spontaneous rhythms and overlay, Nigel is quite simply up there with the very best in the world. I haven't got a clue how he does pretty much anything. The only sound in the room was from collective jaws hitting the floor. Trust me, you have never seen anything like him. He played stuff ranging from his own compositions to standards ("Sweet Sue"), Herbie Hancock tunes, and blues (I was priviledged to sit in and sing "Rolling And Tumbling" with him). Matt joined on Tablas for a couple of tunes, and it was duly astounding. Pretty much the highpoint of my wekend (if not month!). Then there was a rare chance to get an injection of the real old blues - the life-blood of the whole thing for me - as Railway Pie played at Dickens Inn. Only these guys and The Windy City Struggles play this type of music (Memphis Jug Band tunes and other songs of the '20sand '30s), and I don't know who I prefer. The Strugglers are a lot tighter and more proficient, but there is something so authenticly loose about Railway Pie that I just love it. Both Jack Craw (vocals/harp) and Jim Crawford (Vocals/guitar/banjo) - an old blues mentor of mine from way back - were in fine voice and the whole thing had a rambling shambolic quality to it that is perfect for the music. One minute Terry Toohill, Steve Evans and Jim are all on guitars, the next there are two banjos (why would you want two banjos at the same time? - who cares, that's what makes it like a real jam, as if you'd just stumbled into a band playing at some Mississippi BBQ in 1928!). No smooth edges here and the odd harmonically challenged moments make it all the sweeter. Joe Carbery sat in on sax and, later, the great Herman Otto on trombone, and I felt refreshed. Bloody wonderful! And off back to Ibanez for our last gig of the festival, which turned into a rip-roarer as Nigel Gavin joined us on guitar and we jammed long and hard. Nigel was amazing, the band rocked, and - all up - it was one of those one-off gigs that you wish someone had got on tape. A fantastic way to end a festival where, for us, music overcame any other problems and we truly had a blast. Thanks to all the people who made us so welcome - we hope you enjoyed it s much as we did. Here's the last set with the amazing Mr Gavin (we threw in the Brian Eno song, "Baby's On Fire" for Nigel as he used to play with Robert Fripp - told you he was amazing!): HIGHWAY 61 REVISITED GOOD GRIEF FREIGHT TRAIN THE BALLAD OF KOWHITERANGI BABY'S ON FIRE PLASTIC JESUS STRANGE ANGELS IT TAKES A LOT TO LAUGH, IT TAKES A TRAIN TO CRY THINGS HAVE CHANGED TRYIN' TO GET TO HEAVEN RAIDED THE JOINT
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