JAZZ VISIONS: Charmaine Ford Trio + Katie Noonan (Bris) with Zac Hurren, Cameron Deyell + George Garzone (USA) with The Mike Nock Trio
Charmaine Ford Trio 7.30 – 8.15pm
New Zealand-born pianist and composer Charmaine Ford will showcase her trio performing some fresh original material as well as some of her familiar favourites.
With a career still in its infancy, this 29-year-old piano virtuoso has accomplished more than most musicians do in a lifetime. Ford has blazed a trail of awards confirming she is indeed one of New Zealand’s most distinguished jazz musicians. She has released two self-penned albums, which showcase her extraordinary talent. Her sophomore release, Busy Silence was awarded Best Jazz Album 2007 at the New Zealand Music Awards, making Ford the first female instrumentalist to receive this accolade. Her debut album Blues for Guppy was also a finalist in the same category in 2004.
Playing professionally since her mid teens and composing since the age of six, Charmaine won several NZ awards including ‘Best Pianist’, and ‘Best Combo’ at the National Tauranga Jazz Festival Competitions and ‘Jazz Musician of the Year’ by the Auckland Jazz Workshop two years running. at age 19, Ford was awarded a Travel Grant Scholarship from ABRSM to study in London, working with, amongst others, Fred Hersch and Danilo Perez.
In addition to her staggering list of achievements, Charmaine appears on over 20 album recordings covering a wide variety of genres. Ford performs with utter conviction and has a distinctive sound, comprised of lyrical melodies synergized with idiosyncratic rhythmic diversity.
Charmaine Ford (piano) Brendan Clarke (bass) Dave Goodman (drums)
Katie Noonan with Zac Hurren + Cameron Deyell: Music from “Emperor’s Box” 8.20 – 9.10pm
Katie Noonan’s technical mastery and pure voice make her one of Australia’s most versatile and beloved vocalists. This multi award winning and five-times platinum selling songstress first received widespread praise as the angel-voiced songstress of indie-pop band George, she has since taken audiences on sublime excursions through jazz, pop and classical music.
Noonan’s affinity with jazz shone through the ARIA award winning album, Before Time Could Change Us. Recorded with revered pianist Paul Grabowsky, it captured the breathtaking beauty and emotion which characterises her work. In Noonan’s last album release, Blackbird, she collaborated with an historic ensemble of iconic jazz players including Joe Lovano, Ron Carter, Lewis Nash and John Scofield.
Her critically acclaimed new album Emperor’s Box features her wonderful band The Captains (Stu Hunter, Cameron Deyell and Declan Kelly) and The Australian Chamber Orchestra.
Tonight, she performs music from this fresh new recording in intimate duo format with leading guitarist, Cameron Deyell.
Originally from New Zealand, Cameron Deyell has also recently collaborated on Lior’s new album, and has also worked with Bertie Blackman, Mike Nock’s Big Small Band, The Freedivers and is a regular guest with the catholics. He has performed at many festivals including Times Square New York, Shanghai International Arts Festival, Tokyo Jazz Festival and Wangaratta Jazz Festival.
Noonan’s soaring, beautifully phrased high notes, ultra-musical communication of meaning and expressive use of the microphone and digitial technologies were stunning – The Australian
George Garzone with The Mike Nock Trio 9.30 – 10.30
Parallels with John Coltrane’s classic quartet are too lightly tossed around but this really did have something of that monumental, wave-like energy, the tenor by turns majestic and searing. Always there were four astute musical minds shaping that energy into intense communication – John Shand, Sydney Morning Herald
Considered one of the finest and most influential tenor saxophonists playing today, George Garzone follows up on his premiere Australian performances in 2009 with two concerts at the Everest Theatre with Mike Nock Trio and Mike Nock Project as part of Jazz Visions Festival. A unique opportunity to catch one of the international jazz greats in collaboration with one of Australia’s greatest pianist/composers and a rhythm section that has already notched up several performances with this exceptional tenor.
In a career spanning more than 35 years, George has performed all over the world with an impressive range of prominent artists including Chick Corea and Ron Carter. A member of the Joe Lovano Nonet, Garzone has also contributed to dozens of illustrious jazz recordings, some of which have won Grammy awards, including several with Lovano and Corea. As a leader, George’s best known outfit is his group The Fringe, which has a cult-like following in the US and after 36 years of performing, is one of the longest running groups in jazz history.
Garzone is also well-known as a sought-after jazz educator, currently teaching at the Berklee College of Music, New York, influencing new generations through his heavyweight conceptual idea – The Triadic Chromatic Approach. However, his performances are anything but academic, so don’t miss these extraordinary concerts with local legend Mike Nock at the piano.
More from Sydney Morning Herald:
COMMUNICATION requires a common language and an exchange of ideas. Jazz is a language that allows improvisers around the world to make music together but, for the communication to reach the next level, deeper, more intangible matters of taste, aesthetics, interaction, emotions and personality must be shared. For this reason there is always a risk when players are thrown together to make music, regardless of their prowess.
George Garzone, a Boston tenor saxophonist with a big reputation and an even bigger sound, was pitched into the midst of a Sydney trio led by a pianist whom Garzone had admired in his youth: Mike Nock. The ever more impressive Waples brothers – the bassist Ben and the drummer James – completed the mix.
They jumped in at the communication deep end, free-improvising for 35 minutes, during which we encountered different facets of Garzone’s playing: slinky, haunting (with Nock devising ominous harmonies), insistent, robust and downright blazing.
The gentle ‘Theme for Ernie’ spawned a glorious solo of inner rhymes and outer tenderness from Nock. ‘Tutti Italiani’, which opened the second set, contained a bass solo that was a beautifully organic expansion on Garzone’s ideas in the composition and launched the saxophonist into a higher orbit than previously.
Once up there he did not come down and the rest of the second set was exhilarating. It was as though Garzone had been waiting to see if the Sydneysiders could talk about the things that really mattered to him, and, once he found they could, he was off, fuelled by the most explosive and authoritative drumming I have heard James Waples provide.
