Jazz Fremantle was successful in securing a grant of $10,000 from the Commonwealth Government’s Live Music Australia Programme to run a series of youth jazz concerts at its venue at the Navy Club in Fremantle on three Saturdays in July and August. The purpose of these concerts has been to showcase the extraordinary young jazz talent there is in Western Australia as well as to promote Jazz Fremantle as a leading local venue for live jazz music.
THE WAYJO TUESDAY NIGHT ORCHESTRA – SATURDAY 7th AUGUST, 2021
The West Australian Youth Jazz Orchestra (WAYJO) is Australia’s leading youth jazz orchestra and one of the country’s cultural gems. It provides a unique experience for jazz musicians aged between 14 and 25 who are the absolute cream of young jazz players from Western Australia and beyond. Competition for places is fierce. Those who make it are among the nation’s best young players and are rewarded with career-defining experiences including, in normal times, touring, training, recording and performing with world-class guest artists. Little wonder, then, that when you go to a WAYJO session you get the best there is on offer from the big band genre – tight ensembles, inventive solos and an enthusiastic blend of the youth of the musicians and the proven quality of the music played. The last session on “Young Jazz On a Winter’s Day” featured WAYJO’s Tuesday Night Orchestra (named for the night on which they rehearse) under the talented direction of trumpeter Marty Pervan. It was a fitting conclusion to Jazz Fremantle’s youth concert series given that what WAYJO provides is all that a young jazz musician might aspire to.
The programme was as good as it gets with the work of many talented composers and arrangers featured. Many of the band’s musicians had an opportunity to solo and without in any way diminishing the contribution of others, mention should be made of the tenor sax of Camryn Thomason and the alto sax of Holly Forster, the trumpet of Blake Armstrong, the piano of Bob Tweedie and the guitar of Bryn Larkin. Also strongly featured was the band’s vocalist Jordan Boase who contributed songs in both sets. Things began with “Beast From the East from that talented Melburnian Ross Irwin and moved into Basie territory with “Corner Pocket”. Jordan Boase delighted the audience with his vocal stylings on “Lover Come Back To Me”, “If I Didn’t Care”, Joe Williams’ “Evil Man Blues” (arranged by Thad Jones), the Quincy Jones arrangement of “Tea For Two”, “I’ve Got the World On a String”, “Fly Me To the Moon” and “All Of Me”. Thad Jones’ “Groove Merchant” and a couple of Sammy Nestico tunes”Feelin’ Free” and “Magic Flea” completed the set.
More Jordan Boase vocals followed in the second set with “Bye Bye Blackbird” and “It Don’t Mean a Thing If It Ain’t Got That Swing”. We then had the Latin-tinged “Yatra Ta” arranged by Marty from the Tania Maria original and Thad Jones’ arrangement of “Get Out Of My Life, Woman” by Louisiana born Allen Toussaint and originally recorded by Lee Dorsey. The set had begun with “Epic” from the pen of another Melburnian, Tim Davies and, to continue the Latin theme, Dizzy Gillespie’s “Manteca” followed “Yatra Ta”. Bringing things home to WA was “Collision Of Clouds”, a beautifully atmospheric piece from WAAPA alumnus Alana MacPherson. The set concluded with “Later That Same Day”, another exquisite descriptive piece from Pittsburgh-based jazz educator Mike Tomaro. The encore took us back to the Latin groove with Cubanismo’s “Mambo UK”, which added a fine flourish to an afternoon of great big band jazz from musicians aged 18 or 19 under the direction of Marty Pervan. This was the last in the series of “Young Jazz On a Winter’s Day” sessions promoted by Jazz Fremantle with support from the Commonwealth Government’s Live Music Australia Programme. The sessions highlighted the extraordinary young jazz talent that exists in WA and points the way to an exceptionally positive jazz future in the State.
Full line-up of the WAYJO Tuesday Night Orchestra is as follows: Blake Armstrong, Brendan Arbuckle, Henry Bake, Matthew Knight (trumpet); Halle Mitchell, William Barrett, Taj Johnstone (trombone); Fred Horstman (bass trombone); Holly Forster, Abigail Brook (alto sax); Tim Andrews, Camryn Thomason (tenor sax); Ben Roseby (baritone sax); Bob Tweedie (piano); Bryn Larkin (guitar); Kieran Barnes (bass); Cameron Fermoyle (drums); Jordan Boase (vocals); Marty Pervan (director).
THE EQUILIBRIA TRIO – SATURDAY 7th AUGUST, 2021
The sessions on Saturday 7th August were organised by the West Australian Youth Jazz Orchestra (WAYJO) with the Equilibria Trio presenting the midday session at the Navy Club. All three members of the trio have been active members of WAYJO for three years and all three are currently students at WAAPA where they are able to study their passion, jazz, together. In fact so prestigious is the trio, that two of its members, bassist Cass Evans-Ocharern and drummer Cameron Fermoyle, were accepted into the Dave Brubeck Institue to spend a week studying with the best jazz students from all over the world.
A trio is a lonesome thing. The individual musicians are very exposed – there is nowhere to hide but there is a need to share the load. The great jazz piano trios (those of Oscar Peterson, Bill Evans and Keith Jarrett come to mind) are endlessly expressive, capable of filling any dead time with creative fills and the responsibility is shared between the three. So it is no mean task to fill two hours with great music that holds the attention and leaves you wanting more. And here is the surprise – the Equilibria Trio of 19 year-olds did just that. The small audience was enthralled by the sheer brilliance and quality of their delivery as they strode confidently through a progamme of great jazz themes and standards. If “Young Jazz On a Winter’s Day” is about anything, it is about giving these musicians profile and a platform on which to display their considerable wares. The three musicians in question are Luke Geha on piano and the aforementioned Cass Evans-Orcharen and Cameron Fermoyle on bass and drums. Luke’s piano playing is magical, quietly introverted and extensively mesmeric, while Cass’ bass playing provides the foundation and comes stunningly to life during innovative solos. Cameron’s deft work with sticks and brushes is inventive but grounded and the three musicians blend beautifully like the good friends that they are.
For a jazzman, the programme was masterful. Notwithstanding that, the set kicked off with a Luke Geha original “Stock Standard” but we were soon into familiar territory with Bill Evans’ “Emily” and the standards “It Could Happen To You”, “Skylark” and “I’ll Be Seeing You”. In between we had the creations of two bop and post-bop greats, Thelonious Monk’s “Evidence” and Tadd Dameron’s “Ladybird”. The first set ended with Chuck Wayne’s “Solar”. Surprisingly we were off into easy-listening territory with Henry Mancini’s “The Days of Wine and Roses” but it is such a beautiful melody and it was played magnificently. Erroll Garner’s “Misty” followed and there were solid and insightful interpretations of great standards – “On Green Dolphin Street”, “What Is This Things Called Love”, “There Will Never Be Another You” and that Disney oddity “Someday My Prince Will Come” which has become a part of the jazz canon. The set wrapped up with Miles’ “Nardis” and the ever-popular “My Funny Valentine”. This was great jazz by any standard but the standard here was very high indeed.
CBC FREMANTLE JAZZ ORCHESTRA AND JAZZ COMBO – SATURDAY 31st JULY, 2021
CBC Fremantle has been a part of our community for more than 120 years, educating young men in the tradition of Edmund Rice, a man of deep faith whose legacy has provided liberating education to thousands of children around the globe. Of, course, the educating of jazz musicians came much later and the jazz music programme at the College is now well-established and is producing young musicians of calibre who will hopefully carry their education forward into the full arena of jazz performance. At this concert, presented as part of Jazz Fremantle’s “Young Jazz On a Winter’s Day” we heard from the full CBC Jazz Orchestra first, followed by the Jazz Combo. Both groups played with great enthusiasm and a fair bit of skill, under the watchful direction of Shane Mancuso, the Head of the Arts Learning Area at the College and no mean saxophonist himself. And all this took place in front of a well packed Navy Club.
The CBC Jazz Orchestra began with the rarely heard “Bubbert’s Groove”, written by Mike Steinl in a shuffle style with a good bluesy feel. We heard the Mel Torme classic “Comin’ Home Baby” and Dean Martin’s “Sway” (with a great vocal from Kyan Mathews) as well as that funky soul original from Booker T. and the MGs, “Green Onions”. We weren’t surprised to here a couple of numbers from Disney movies, “The Bare Necessities” from the original cartoon “Jungle Book” and sung in that movie by Phil Harris and Bruce Reitherman, and, promoting the recent film “Cruella”, the theme “Cruella De Vil” from the riginal movie “101 Dalmatians”. Other featured tracks were Joe Zawinul’s “Mercy, Mercy, Mercy”, the croon tune “Come Fly With Me” (also featuring a fine and well-received vocal from Kyan Mathews) and a couple of Sammy Nestico originals, “Blues Machine” and “Good News”. The Jazz Orchestra set was completed by Van Morrison’s “Moondance”. Good, tight ensemble playing throughout and some promising solos lent this set an indication of the WA jazz world to come.
The CBC Jazz Combo (with a line-up of trumpet, trombone, 2 saxes, piano, guitar, bass guitar and drums) took us back to the era of bop and post bop with such memories as Herbie Hancock’s “Watermelon Man” and “Cantaloupe Island”, Nat Adderley’s “Work Song” and Bobby Timmons’ “Moanin'”. We also had the theme from Spike Lee’s 1990 movie “Mo’ Better Blues”, penned by the director himself, Average White Band’s “Pick Up the Pieces” and Andy Clark’s “Dr. Rockenstein’s Laboratory”. It is interesting to note that Mr. Clark was the sometime director of a high school band in the US. A highlight was the beautiful solo voicing of Brayden Pounder on tenor sax with “Blue Bossa” and “Autumn Leaves”. Brayden is certainly someone to watch. A surprise conclusion to the Jazz Combo set was “The Favourite” from the 1994 debut album of Australian acid jazz group D. I. G. (Directions In Groove). This was a fine couple of hours of good jazz and swing brought to us by a group of musicians whose ages ranged between 15 and 17 and I am certain even younger. There was tremendous enthusiasm, great dedication and a good deal of skill in these terrific performances. Full band line-up is given below. Watch out for these names!!
The CBC Jazz Orchestra: Ari McKay, Jasper Jeffery (trumpet); Cai Williams, Jacob Carello (trombone); Vincent Neesham, Alfie Cotter, Matthew Sapienza, Bailey De’Pannone, Brayden Pounder (saxes); Harrison Ricci, Seth Telling (piano); Luka Spanjic, Adrian Campana (guitar); William Brown, Josh Burke (bass guitar); Joel Folley, James Robartson, Adrian Menner, Ryner Westerhout (drums), Kyan Mathews (vocal); directed by Mr. Shane Mancuso.
The CBC Jazz Combo: Jasper Jeffery (trumpet); Jacob Carello (trombone); Brayden Pounder (tenor saxophone); Harrison Ricci (piano); Adrian Campana (guitar); Josh Burke (bass guitar); James Robartson, Ryner Westerhout (drums); joined by Mr. Shane Mancuso (sax).
THE WAAPA ENSEMBLE (aka A BUNCH OF MUSOS FROM WAAPA) – SATURDAY 31st JULY, 2021
This excellent and highly entertaining session from a septet from the Western Australia Academy for the Performing Arts (WAAPA) at Edith Cowan University really proved the efficacy of these youth jazz gigs. It is intended to be a showcase for young jazz musicians, signalling the future for the music in the State. These six young men and one young woman, bachelor students all (I believe), could have graced the Jazz Fremantle stage on any Sunday afternoon. They were exceptionally good, demonstrating that our music is in good hands and has a bright future. And they played unadulterated jazz, pure and simple. Mostly bop and hard bop with a spattering of gentle vocals, they took on some of the holiest of the bop melodies from some of the masters of jazz and left the gathered audience smiling with admiration and delight.
Led by guitarist Bryn Larkin, who let it be known that they had only really performed as a group before for assessment purposes at the Academy, the band took us through some well-known themes with a flourish and with respect to the founders. Singer Clancy Davidson stepped up to give us some smooth vocals on the softer side, evoking such jazz stalwarts as Blossom Dearie and Stacy Kent. There was “But Not For Me” and Jobim’s “Wave” and a beautiful version of the timeless classic “Body and Soul”. We were also given “I Hear a Rhapsody”, which some thought was written by George Gershwin but was, in fact, written by the unsung trio of George Fragos, Jack Baker and Dick Gasparre in 1941, and Duke Ellington’s sumptuous 1938 melody “Prelude To a Kiss”. Clancy combined with the band to integrate her voice into a soaring version of Return To Forever’s “500 Miles High”, and concluded with “There Will Never Be Another You” by whom I hope she meant me and every single person in the audience.
The rest was really a tribute to the greats – to Charlie Parker, to John Coltrane and to Dizzy Gillespie with some Art Blakey and McCoy Tyner added. From the Coltrane book came “My Favourite Things” and “Moment’s Notice”, beautifully delivered by the band. The title of Parker’s “Moose the Mooche” needed explanation and Bryn was reluctant to give it in deference to us tender souls but suffice it to say that the song is named after a drug dealer, maybe Parker’s own. “Confirmation”, also from Parker, was delivered as part of flurry of great bop hits, included the aforementioned “Moment’s Notice” and Art Blakey’s driving “Moanin'”. Gillespie’s “Woody’n You” is dedicated to Woody Herman with affection while McCoy Tyner’s seminal “Blues On the Corner” is part of a brilliant playbook that has influenced a generation of jazz pianists. These great bop tunes wafted over the Navy Club on an afternoon of sheer jazz delight. The musicians were top-notch. Led off by Bryn Larkin, incisive and creative on guitar and personable on the mike introducing the tracks, the others made their own waves, none more so than Bob Tweedie’s fine flourishes on piano and James Chapman, tight and insightful on trumpet. On a par were Roy Shean on second guitar, Cass-Evans Ocharern on bass and Cameron Fermoyle on drums, solid and intelligent in the ensemble and on solos. It is difficult to believe that the music played with such aplomb was written long before theses musicians were born, and yet here it was, fresh and new, played consummately by a group of young people who are the shape of things to come.
THE HALE JAZZ ORCHESTRA – SATURDAY 24TH JULY, 2021
The jazz programme at Hale School is one of the largest in the country with around 100 boys playing jazz in various ensembles from years 7 to 12. The Hale Jazz Orchestra, the programme’s premier ensemble, has been in existence for over 20 years and has played all around the country and overseas, with highlights including performances at the Perth International Jazz Festival and invitations to play with the New York Youth Jazz Orchestra at the iconic Jazz Standard Jazz Club in New York City. The Jazz Orchestra focuses on playing masterworks made famous by the great big bands in jazz, including Count Basie and Duke Ellington. The students love to play this exciting music.
Saturday’s programme was split into two, with a series of small groups in various combinations over the first half, followed in the second half by the full jazz orchestra. The session kicked off with an excellent guitar ensemble, the three guitars of Edward Drake, Liam Scott and Hale teacher and Jazz Fremantle favourite Mr. Gary Lee, followed by a saxophone quartet, evoking the famous World Saxophone Quartet, with the two altos of Thomas Bunton and Daniel Setiawan, the tenor of Mitchell Lourey and the baritone of Charlie Simmonds, producing tight ensemble playing and beautiful harmonies.. There were two sessions from the school’s Club 101, which meets on Thursday and Friday lunchtimes, reflecting the fact that the boys have to commit a lot of time to their playing which has to find its place among their academic studies and sports activities. The two 101 groups gave us good mainstream/modern jazz and the combined personnel were Dean McKay and Daniel Setiawan (alto sax), Mitchell Lourey (tenor sax), Digby House (baritone saz), Hale teacher Mr. Chris Foster (piano), Edward Drake (guitar), Liam Scott and Mr. Gary Lee (bass) and Ari Marshall and Hale’s Coordinator of Jazz Mr. Gavin Kerr (drums).
The second set was presented by the full Hale Jazz Orchestra and when you consider that the ages of the musicians ranged between 15 and 17, the quality of the music they produced was outstanding. They mastered complex arrangements to give us classic big-band renditions of well-known jazz tunes such as Miles Davis’ “Freddie Freeloader” and Herbie Hancock’s “Maiden Voyage”. There was a lovely version of “Softly As In a Morning Sunrise” from that long forgotten musical “The New Moon” (I recall a sugary semi-operatic duet by Nelson Eddy and Jeanette McDonald) which has successfully found its way into the jazz canon. Great solos from Laurence Wilson and Dean McKay on alto and Matthew Leverington and Matthew Beattie on trombone. There was a Sammy Nestico feature “Switch In Time” and one from another great big-band arranger Bill Holman, “Stereoso”. The Latin vibe was evoked through Tito Puente’s “Oye Como Va” and the encore was “Vine Street” or “Vine Street Rumble”, originally recorded by Count Basie in 1960. The band sounded so mature beyond their years and the set was directed by Mr. Gavin Kerr who coordinated the programme and was MC throughout. This was a great start to Young Jazz On a Winter’s Day and demonstrated a tremendous future for jazz in the State.
The full line-up of the Hale Jazz Orchestra is: Stefan Madden, Kiran Byles, Thomas Augustson, Mr. Martin Taylor (trumpet), Matthew Leverington, Matthew Beattie, Jack Hadlow (trombone), Alex Beattie (bass trombone), Dean McKay, Laurence Wilson, Joseph Setiawan, Ethan Judge (alto sax), Daan Bosboom, Thomas Bunton (tenor sax), Charlie Simmonds (baritone sax), Edward Drake (piano), Liam Scott (guitar), Gibson Reagen-Saunders (bass), Ari Marshall (drums).