reviews - festival reviews

MIRI INTERNATIONAL JAZZ FESTIVAL

Sarawak, Malaysia, Borneo. May 14-15 2010.

The Miri International Jazz Festival, featured 8 bands performing over two evenings in an open air setting at the rear of the Parkcity Everly Hotel, only 5 minutes drive from Miri. Miri is a resort town and oil town servicing rigs out in the South China Sea. It is located 27 kilometres from the Sultanate of Brunei and a 2 hour flight from Kuala Lumpur.
Now in its 5th year the Festival, organised by the Sarawak Tourism Board, was started following a very successful annual Rainforest World Music Festival now in its 12th year held in July near Kuching. The Artistic Director of that event, Randy Raine-Reush, also put together this year's Jazz Festival program. The Festival is still in its development phase with more changes to come next year with the aim of expanding the audience and increasing tourism to the area.
The international music and tourism media were out in force with around fifty in attendance for the event. Press conferences were held each morning of the festival with ready access to band leaders.
On Friday May 14 Mellow Motif, from Thailand, were the first to take to the open air stage with vocalist/jazz educator Natasha Patamapong and her quartet presenting a selection of jazz standards with some innovative twists. An up tempo version of On The Street Where You Live, started the set, then a Latin Lady is a Tramp, a swinging Joy Spring, a frantic Happy Talk, and a Brazilian O Pato. Airmail Special, the Ella Fitzgerald scat rendition, before an encore of Night and Day got the Festival off to a memorable start.
By contrast the next band led by guitarist Jeremy Tordjman, from Switzerland, was more onto the jazz/rock fusion mode. A searing Smoke that Groove, a slower Mr Cool and Nostalgia of the Future, and an electronic fuzz induced Mr Fuzz, the title track of Tordjman's latest CD, showed Tordjman's influences including guitarists Allan Holdsworth, Mike Stern, Frank Gambale as well as Jimmie Hendrix.
Norbert Sussemihl's New Orleans All Stars, a six piece dixieland line-up, featuring musicians from Germany, USA and Denmark took to the stage. They started the set with a New Orleans feel on Second Line and Hop Stop Blues, followed by Lover Come Back to Me and later Takin' a Chance on Love, with a mainstream feel. Sweet Emma and Cuban Beat Calypso, added to the variety of rhythms played. A Dixieland favourite High Society, the popular funeral tune Didn't He Ramble and an encore of Fats Domino's I'm Walkin' closed a varied and most entertaining set.
Michael Shrieve's Spellbinders from Seatle, USA, provided another switch in style. Shrieve played drums with Santana at Woodstock and the band reflected his background with an exhibition of driving drumming, pulsating Hammond B3, muted trumpet and funky bass lines. The jazz fusion mix had the audience movin' and groovin' through to the encore of Jungle Strut.
On Saturday May 15 the winds blew in a heavy surf from the South China Sea with weather more suited to a surf carnival than a jazz festival. By the time the first band got to the stage rain had settled in. Indonesian band Simak Dialog were first onto the stage with a fusion of Indonesian rhythms, from traditional drums, gongs from three percussionists accompanied by piano, guitar and bass in a contemporary style. Almost in the World music category. The crowd gradually moved toward the stage, responding to the infectious rhythms, unperturbed by the rain, armed with umbrellas, plastic coats.
Amina Figarova and her Sextet, from Holland was next an the stand. With a front line of flute trumpet/flugel and tenor saxophone, the band played originals by Amina Figarova a very forceful pianist. Ensemble passages stating the head were in unison, but all provided inspired solos.
Brazilian violinist Ricardo Herz, a dynamic performer played a selection of tunes from composers such as Dominguinhos/Gilberto Gil, Milton Nascimento, Edo Lubo/Capinam and Garoto, as well as his own compositions Mourinho, Samba Funk and Sete Anões with his quartet. His energetic solo improvisation using electronic loops was most impressive.
The rain stopped as the headline act, The James Cotton Blues Band from USA, came on to the stage. Grammy award winner James 'Superharp' Cotton, a blues harmonica player who was raised by Sonny Boy Williamson, toured with Howlin' Wolf as a teenager and played with Muddy Waters, later forming his own band. Guitarist/vocalist Thomas Holland was the anchorman with some fine guitar work and vocals on Let the Good Times Roll and a slow blues before introducing Cotton to the stage. Cotton and the band then wowed the audience with some full on blues and roots followed by some good old Rock Roll on Got My Mojo Working and Hucklebuck which had the enthusiastic audience joining in.
In a Grand Finale several of the musicians from the other bands joined James Cotton and his band on stage jamming on a blues for about half an hour bringing to an end an exiting night's performance. A firework display put the final touch to a stunning two day festival. Around 6,000 people were expected to attend the Festival with many coming from Brunei, Sabah, Kuching and Kuala Lumpur as well as many overseas visitors.
The Festival presented an eclectic program of jazz, blues, fusion and contemporary styles with well thought out programming of bands for style and content making for a very successful event in an idyllic setting. Both nights had great sound and lighting with 3 large video screens making for top viewing of close-ups wherever you were around the extensive hotel grounds. The organising committee did a sterling job of bringing all the musicians, media and technical crew to this far outpost in the middle of the South China Sea. The Hotel management and staff should also be congratulated for providing top class accommodation, service and meals. Thanks also go to the Sarawak Tourism Board for making the trip possible.

If you want to check out the bands go to www.mirijazzfestival.com

Reviewed by Don Brow - Editor Jazzscene

RHYTHM ROCKS ROCK

The Norfolk Jet Jazz Festival, Norfolk Island,

Ran from the 5th to 11th December 2004.

This year’s line-up included The Don Burrows Quartet with singer Catherine Hunter, Galapagos Duck, George Washingmachine, (Sydney) Jazz Factory (Noosa), Down South Quartet, (Merimbula), Stringmansassy (Brisbane), and Jazz Alternative, Franky & Johnny (Newcastle).
The venues for the event were the South Pacific Resort, Hillcrest Hotel, Colonial Hotel, RSL Club, Norfolk Island Brewery and the Leagues Club within or close to the Burnt Pine Township. Arriving on Sunday 5th December I was in time to go to the first session of the George Washingmachine Trio at the Colonial Restaurant. The Trio of George, violin, vocals, with guitarist Jim Purnell and Brendon Clark, bass, provided consistent, swinging, quality and entertaining jazz at the Colonist throughout the week highlighted by excellent playing from Jim Purnell.
Jazz Breakfast on Monday at the Hillcrest Hotel, featuring the Down South Quartet with Bob Porter , reeds/vocals, Bill Maclean, banjo, Jon Moffatt Tuba and Walter Brunton, washboard, playing some happy dixieland standards got the day off to a fine start. The Quartet also had the job of playing at the airport to welcome the visitors throughout the week. There was time to get the feel of the Island until 6pm with bands programmed at the South Pacific, (Jazz Factory), the RSL, (Galapagos Duck) and at the Colonial (George WM). I managed to catch up with The Duck and Jazz Factory as the venues were in close proximity. The Duck have had several changes to their line up over the years. Old hands Greg Foster, trombone and John Conley, electric bass, where joined by Matt Baker, piano/vocals, Rodney Ford, drums/vocals and Adrian Cunningham, sax/clarinet. They seemed to take a while to settle down to the old Duck sound and a couple of their sessions were spoiled by PA problems. The lighting and stage setting could also have been improved.
Jazz Factory, a tight trad/dixieland unit with leader Richard Stevens, tuba, John Murray, trombone, Ian Denovan, trumpet/vocals, Peter Strohkorb, clarinet/soprano sax, and Greg Garrett, banjo/vocals kept their audiences entertained at the evening sessions as well as around the pool at lunchtimes with some slick arrangements of 1920s to 40s jazz. Stringmansassy, a duo with Kacey Patrick, vocals and Aaron Hopper on guitar (reminiscent of US duo Tuck & Patti), were one of the highlights of the Festival with performances at The Norfolk Island Brewery, the only pub on the island. Although some of their original material had a jazzy feel, it was hard to categorise it all as jazz. They did however do justice to many jazz standards, bossas, Beatles and Sting songs with Kasey‘s brilliant uninhibited vocals and vocalise and Aaron’s outstanding guitar playing winning the mainly jazz audiences over.
The “Jazz Alternative” Franky & Johnny (a pair of recycled Rockers from the 60s) were well supported at the Leagues Club throughout the week. They certainly covered a fair range of musical styles and were able to cover most requests thrown at them from Fats Waller to Roy Orbison to Beachboys with a professional presentation.
Many of the sessions were held around meal times resulting in high background chatter which detracted from some of the performances.
Towards the end of the week there was some “sitting in” with George WM and band members joining the Duck and Jazz Factory and the Down South Quartet getting together adding to the Festival feel.
A Marquee, set up at the historic Kingston Jail site, was used for a concert on Wednesday night with Down South Quartet, Jazz Factory, Stringmansassy and George Washingmachine with about 400 in attendance. The “Don Burrows Quartet Spectacular” was held in the Marquee on Thursday night with Galapagos Duck as the warm up act for Don Burrows Quartet with vocalist Catherine Hunter. Both bands performed well despite a few problems with sound and power surges. My general feeling was that there were not enough bands performing to cover a the week long festival. Each band played in the same venue, apart from the public concerts. Perhaps bands could be moved around the venues to add a bit of variety.
Various festival packages were available with some flights arriving on Saturday and Sunday with one on Wednesday just in time for the two concerts in the Marquee and the Friday night programmed sessions. Overall it was a great experience and an opportunity to hear some good jazz, and catch up with the musicians, with plenty of time left over to explore Norfolk Island.
Norfolk Island is only a couple of hours flight from Sydney but when you step off the plane you are transported into a different era. It had the feel of 1960s New Zealand. An open road speed limit of 50 kph, 40 in the township and 30 along the beachfront took some getting used to but with freerange cattle, geese, ducks and chooks plus the associated road hazards I could understand why. With less than 250km of roads on the Island you can cover almost all roads, sights, and historic areas in a two or three days. Many of the Jazz visitors also found time to go to local tourist events during the week. There was also a concert in the Marquee on Friday which featured local musicians and songwriters.
Only 8km by 5km the Island has a chequered history being a penal colony in the late 1700s and early 1800s and home to some of the descendants of the Bounty mutineers who settled there from the Pitcairn Island in 1856 with many of the names still featured in the population of 1,800 current residents.
Thanks go to Norfolk Jet for air transport from Sydney, Poinciana Cottages for providing fantastic accommodation and Aloha Car Rental for providing me with a car and to the friendly Norfolk Islanders I met who made my stay most enjoyable.

Reviewed by Don Brow
Editor - Jazz Scene

Manly International Jazz Festival, Sydney, Australia - 2002

Jazz Festivals proliferate from coast-to-coast and fortunate are we for this fact, but it does make it increasingly difficult to decide in which the hard won time and finances should be invested. One not to he missed is the Manly International Jazz Festival, celebrating it's 25th anniversary this year with a programme comprising seventy performances by five hundred musicians on five stages. Then there were the fringe events in several clubs, restaurants, hotels and churches, plus roving bands and the sometimes exemplary street corner sessions that were hard to go past. Add the unsurpassed ambience of Manly, with its food, beverages and assorted traders and you have what is certainly a Five Senses Feast of a Festival.
All styles of jazz music are sensibly programmed so that either eclectic or insular tastes can be indulged without missing too much of the audio attractions and the best of the bands are programmed on more than one day. The international bands were outstanding, with special mention made of the 20-piece Big Wing Jazz Orchestra from Japan and the Enrico Crivellaro Trio from Italy, both of whom pulled massive crowds to their sets. The former were making their third visit to Manly and delighted their audience with a programme of tightly arranged, swinging music derived from various eras. Of particular comment were their fine pianist, torchy vocalist and "the battle of the tenors". Enrico Crivellaro is an exciting young musician who was recently voted Best Swing Guitarist of the Year. His trio were completed by a stunning Hammond B3 organist and a drummer who is surely the exemplar for all drummers playing today. Jazz, Blues and R'n'B to delight the soul, (see their CD revue page 4 of this issue).
Traditional jazz was well represented by many bands, including the Fifth Avenue Jazz Band from the USA, the Louisiana Shakers from Melbourne and the New Wolverine Jazz Orchestra from Sydney. The Zenith New Orleans Jazz Band, also from Sydney, have recently returned from a tour of the Americas, where they were unbelievably asked, "what sort of music is it that you are playing"! Don Burrows and Bob Barnard were taking care of business as they always do so well, while modernists were in the good hands of such us "the legend", Bernie McGann, Errol Buddle and Wanderlust. When the 10-piece called Sandunga swung into their Cuban and Latin-American arrangements, there wasn't a foot not prompted to rhythmic movement and many instant fans would have taken the ferry to the 10th Fiesta for more of the same exciting music at Darling Harbour. School bands were featured at the harbour end of The Corso and several of these included the future musicians of Australian Jazz - Praise be!
Don't let another October long-weekend go by without booking an unparalleled holiday in the City of Excitement, with the Manly International Jazz Festival high on your agenda. Congratulations to the Committee and sponsors. You've got it right.

Reviewer, Ron Spain

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