Jazz Reviews Toronto 2006
Essay Preview: Jazz Reviews Toronto 2006
Report this essay
Review 1 – rinsethealgorithm – Sept 29, 2006
Rich Brown (E. Bass), Rob Brown (drums), Robi Botos (keys) – Trane Studio
Ive seen rinsethealgorithm several times. Each time there is a different energy and vibe that brings a different life to the music that is being performed. From the moment that they start to groove (and they start to groove quickly) you know that youre in for a good performance. Its not just the groove, the riff, the melody and harmonies that they choose, its their interaction, and its their apparent extrasensory perception to one another. Its like how when one player goes bop, the other player instinctively, whether he knows it or not, answers with a bip.
Rich Brown is a monster on his electric six string bass. I marvel at his ability to somehow make his fretted instrument sing with a vibrato purer than that of a classical singers without any assistance from an effects pedal. His methodology in playing bass seems to be driven by the principle that the bass is an instrument capable of great agility like any other instrument. With that principle in mind he weaves in and out of the chordal foundation of the music like water current weaves through lake reeds. Never allowing his audience to believe that the bass is a stagnant instrument whose sole purpose is to ride the tonic and accentuate the II, V, I.
Robi Botos, another giant of the Canadian jazz music scene is a phenomenal keyboardist. To the stage he brings incredible dexterity and innovation and also a wit and charm that makes him a very affectionate entertainer. I suppose that his ability to play, adjust and improvise on the fly makes him one of the most sought after pianists in Toronto. He seamlessly moves from heavy swing to reggae to ballad to bossa.
The band played quite a few original songs, Constellation 149, dedicated to the stars of the local musicians union, Forward Motion Hibiscus and Black Nimbus to name a few. Rich is a poignant artist who paints beautiful musical images with his artistic voice
Review 2 – John Ferguson (pianist), Amy Beckford (singer) – October 22, 2006
Maggies “Jazz” Club – London, ON
While in London visiting my parents last year I stopped by Maggies to catch a jazz show in the city before I went back to Toronto. I asked a friend of mine who was playing that night and she exclaimed John Ferguson and Amy Beckford. Not knowing the treat that I was in for I happily paid my $10 cover, ordered a rye and ginger and sat down to watch the show.
When you first walk up to Maggies, you may notice that the business marquee has a picture of a woman silhouetted in white against a midnight blue background smiling as she holds a clarinet in her hand. That to me seemed like an indicator that whoever was in here performing would have to know their stuff because this was an establishment built or leased for the purpose of making quality music.
Now, here comes the funny and slightly ironic twist. When you walk through the door the first thing that you notice are white leather seats which match the white decorative candles which match the bone white plates and the white light fixtures which go with the white framed mirrors which altogether complement the white jazz that poured from this white establishment.
Going to York has made me accustomed to the butchering of jazz music. But this.. this was something to behold. The worse part about this singer was not that she didnt know what she was doing (oh, and she didnt), but that she didnt know what she was doing AND she was proudly parading this ignorance as jazz. This is particularly bad because its not like London is the centre of the cultured universe as it is. Most Londoners dont know the difference between lets say Miles Davis and Gregory Isaacs. So if Amys calling her vocal stylings jazz.. its jazz.
Amy Beckford may be one of the most horrible singers I have seen in my life. Was it the 4-bar count-ins (Not the 4-bar intros.. the 4-bar count-ins)? The apparent free time feel that she chose to use for every song (swing, ballad, bossa.. didnt matter. It was Amys night and she was gonna make it rubato).. or was it when she forgot her lyrics when singing They Cant Take That Away From Me and started humming and then came back into the bridge chuckling saying “Whatever! (tee hee hee) Its JAZZ!” Its who?!
Their set (the one I stayed for) consisted of well-known favourites. Summertime, Autumn Leaves, Misty, They Cant Take That Away…, Lullaby of Birdland, Mood Indigo (Oh. My. God.) and Fly Me to the Moon. Now, I wouldnt have minded these predictable selections so much had it not been for the singer. I mean, its London, you gotta cater to your crowd, give the people the standards that they can sing-along to. I get it. But, the singer.
I will commend her on her tuning, I didnt hear anything that was wonky in her straight melodic approach. I imagine she was probably at some point a classical voice major at Western who stepped over to the dark side of jazz music.. but instead of stepping over she just sort of put her big toe in, as if testing cold lake water. The pianist was also pretty poor. His idea of comping was playing way louder than he should, while completely ignoring Amys desire to free time everything, while also adding the occasional dominant seventh chord (where there should have been a major seventh chord played) and vise versa.
I have seen good jazz in London and with the construction of the John Labatt centre, the city has had some heavyweight singers stop by. Aretha Franklin, Ray Charles and Oscar Peterson to name a few have all performed in London. In fact, James Brown was even supposed to go there this month. But until the city invests in arts culture other than theatre and trains good musicians in genres other than classical music, they will be forced to continue to rely on outside artists to present quality concerts that everyone can enjoy.
Sophia Pearlman – Monday November ?, 2006
The Reservoir Lounge
Im hard on vocalists because I like to think I know what a good vocalist should sound like. Sophia Pearlman is the first singer Ive ever seen who