COVID-19 Lockdown: Day 2

Root 70’s Riomar kicked off the day. This is quartet’s album with a string trio and it had a darker vibe than I remembered (or maybe it was the cloudy skies and pouring rain, as the music brightened up along with the weather after lunch). If they ever return to the “Conceptual Works” series, may I suggest “Root 70 Plays Root 70”, featuring compositions from the band members’ other projects.

Then later in the day it was time for Magic Ocean Tree – an EP from The Woods. I’ve only managed to catch them live once and it was a fun evening. It’s taken me too long to pick up their two recordings. If you’re after groove-heavy, feel-good instrumental music, The Woods could be place to find it. It was a nice way to mellow out at the end of the day. Very rarely do I listen to music while at work so this is making a very pleasant change.

Swagman, Norm and The Woods

Swagman at Raumati Social Club (June 2019)

I’ve been totally slack keeping up to date with things here... time to catch up!

I'm trying to make a habit of catching Swagman's monthly gig at Raumati Social Club (the last Friday of the month). I really enjoy hearing a group working with a set of tunes over a period of time. This time around they included one or two news tunes too. It's been a while, so I'll be brief.... but a couple of memories are that the balance was a bit off - louder than usual and lack of clarity. And, Brent quoting Max Roach's "For Big Sid" during one of his solos over an ostinato from Joe and Gabe (I think Brent was surprised that someone picked up on it). 

Norman Meehan's farewell concert (June 2019)

The following night it was off to St Paul's Lutheran Church for Norman Meehan’s farewell concert (Norm is now based in NYC). The two sets featured pieces (old and new) from varying line-ups comprised of Norman (p) Hannah Griffin (vocal) Blair Latham (ts/b.clarinet/g) Lance Philip (d) Martin Riseley (v) Andrew Laking (b). Hannah seems to get better each time I hear her (admittedly only twice since I've been home) - I particularly enjoyed her duo with Martin Riseley. And when was the last time you heard someone double on tenor sax, bass clarinet and guitar? Blair managed it well (even playing all three on one tune). There was almost a house concert feel about the evening (maybe it was the cuppa tea and ginger nuts?).

The Woods at Raumati Social Club (July 2019)

The Woods play that dreaded mixture of jazz, world music and rock. It was the first time hearing this group (aside from a sneak peak on bandcamp a while back.... begs the question, “Why don’t I have their album yet?”) and once again, hearing original compositions being performed without sheet music is refreshing!

Hearing Blair twice in a week playing the unlikely combo of instruments, I couldn’t help giving Blair a little shit that he now has to lug around a guitar, pedals and an amp (he said that wasn’t lost on his bandmates either - after years of him hassling them for all their equipment). I have to give him credit for doubling on guitar in the same band as Joe! And his raspy tenor tone is the perfect fit sonically for this group.

I'm really glad to have caught Joe as much as I have since I’ve been home. I've probably mentioned it before, but I dig his relaxed intensity, and it makes it look easy. And and much as I enjoyed Tom’s playing on upright earlier in the evening, the electric pulled out a different quality in the group sound that really worked. By the second set the volume started getting a little out of balance with the room (I was sitting somewhere different too), with the bass getting a bit too buzzy but it seemed to settle down eventually. I haven't heard Rick Cranson all that much since I've been home. He knows when to turn up the power but didn’t overdo it. He did unleash over the vamp on final tune and the dynamic shift at the end was nailed by the entire band. The two sets flew by, and that's always a good sign.

Swagman at Raumati Social Club

Brent McFarlane (drums/perc) Joe Callwood (guitars/congas) Gabe Davidson (alto & bari sax/vibes/perc) form the trio Swagman. For sometime now they have been playing on the last Friday of the month at Raumati Social Club. After missing out last month due to clashing schedules, I finally got along last week. It made a nice change to hear two sets of original music without a piece of sheet music in site. I hadn’t heard Gabe play in many years, so it was great to hear him and have a catch up after the gig - it had been way too long. Joe might not be quite as visible as some guitarists on the NZ jazz scene but he's right up there nonetheless. I need to seek out more from him (add it to the list!). It was an enjoyable gig of groove heavy, textural music in the jazz/world music sphere, played to a packed house. Maybe it's not the best space for listening, as it gets pretty chatty and loud, but that didn't detract from me having a good night. I'm looking forward to catching them again soon.

NZ Music Month: Syzygy - Tongue Grooves

For Part 4 of my New Zealand Music Month posts (Part 1, Part 2 and Part 3), I've been revisiting an album I listened to a lot during my time at music school.

Syzygy: creative music ensemble - Tongue Grooves (Yellow Eye)
Jeff Henderson (as) Joe Callwood (g) John Bell (vibes) Paul Dyne (b/e.bass) Chris O’Connor (d)
Recorded in Wellington during 1996, I never managed to hear this group live. But later on I did get to hear the members in various other groups playing around Wellington (particularly from 1999 up until I headed to the U.S in 2004. And again between 2005-2009). This album may be a bit harder to track down than the other three albums I've written about this month. Originally I brought it from Slowboat Records and somewhere along my travels I lost it. But thanks to Gemm, I managed to get another copy from Slowboat.

Tongue Grooves has plenty of variety - the grinding "Pain and Darkness", straight ahead swinging "Nquitpausuckowashawmen",  the comedy of "Saydah's Tongue Groove", the mellow "Breathe Now", the high energy of "The Risk" and the angular "Demented #2" - but there is also continuity that glues the album together into a solid work. 

Mike Nock recordings aside, Tongue Grooves was the NZ jazz album I listened to the most during music school (C.L. Bob (live and recordings) got plenty of airtime too). It was rare that anyone ever mentioned NZ jazz around school (Paul, Chris and Jeff (briefly) taught me at the university, as did John but I don't remember having any classes with him). The curriculum didn't place any emphasis on NZ jazz and I cannot recall playing tunes by Kiwis (although there were a couple of big band charts by Alan Broadbent), nor can I remember our jazz history class spending any time on the NZ scene. I hope this changes.

Listening to Tongue Grooves this month has brought back memories of 1999 and listening in my bedroom overlooking the car park out back of The George. Nostalgia has kicked in and I want to check out more NZ jazz recordings from that time period. I'm sure there are plenty of NZ jazz albums from the 90s that I haven't heard but Tongue Grooves must still rank very highly. Next time I'm home I'll have to hit the used record stores to try and track some of them down.