Monash Art Ensemble presents Beyond Borders @ Verbruggen Hall Sydney Conservatorium

Paul Grabowsky – photo by Matthew Denton

Given the moderate resources available to support jazz and improvised music in this country any cross-border movement of artists and ensembles is welcome. Interest is further amplified when the group heading north of the Murray River is of “big band” size and led by a composer, band leader and educator as esteemed as Paul Grabowsky. The presence of international guests Mark Helias (bass) and Nasheet Waits (drums), added further expectation to the good-sized number of attendees there to welcome their Melbourne cousins. This one-off visit to Sydney by the Monash Art Ensemble is part of a series of concerts celebrating the 50 year anniversary of the Sir Zelman Cowan School of Music at Monash University.

The performance kicked off with the Rob Burke Sextet presenting Bela (inspired by the music of Bela Bartok) by Burke which preceded Grabowsky’s Abandon. After a full horn introduction Bela rapidly moved to an enormous piano solo by Grabowsky which was difficult to hear as the piano was un-amplified and the bass and drums dominated. Designed as it is for acoustic classical music, the cavernous Verbruggen Hall muddied the mix somewhat although the quieter sections of Bela gave insights into the nuanced sensitivity of the band and Burke’s full toned tenor sax. This is a piece likely to benefit from repeated hearing in a more sympathetic acoustic.

Paul Grabowsky’s Abandon was written for this project. Driven initially by an angular, motor-rhythm groove for piano and bass, it featured a searing trumpet solo by Paul Williamson which morphed into a more mellow trombone reflection by Jordan Murray. One of the highlights of Abandon proved to be a stripped back duo between Helias on bass and Murray on trombone: their respective lines bounced casually off each other like mildly disjointed ejaculations between parallel travelers who, by chance, came to traverse the same meditative path.

Barney McAll with MAE – photo by Matthew Denton

The 15 piece Monash Art Ensemble (MAE) is a formidable assemblage which draws its members from the Zelman Cowan School of Music and the renowned Australian Art Orchestra.

Grabowsky gave MAE a full work out in his arrangements of Mark Helias’ Gnomes Walk and Knitting or Quitting. Helias shapes his musical influences through a broad and sophisticated compositional pallet. Gnomes Walk turned initially on a strong, defined groove which skilfully shifted into a horn section which evoked memories of a New Orleans funeral wake: a slow, slightly drunk waddle which served to show off the ensemble’s enormous depth of tone. A dirty-toned trumpet solo emerged followed by a raucous trombone. Lizzy Welsh’s tremolo/trill-dominated violin solo also impressed.

Knitting or Quitting is a significant work. It commenced with a still, mysterious introduction for clarinet and bass clarinets, the horns rubbing up against each other in delicious, clashing seconds with shifts in musical texture reminding the listener of classical composers such as Ligeti. In the same vein, one of the brass chorales would have done Messiaen proud while another complex section evoked the competing brass bands of Charles Ives’ early 20th century masterpiece, Three Places in New England.

Actual or imagined classical allusions aside, this is an improvised music ensemble and there were exciting solos from Waits (drums), Dasica (trumpet) and a rampant Helias amongst others. What an imaginative work this is with Grabowsky’s arrangement seemingly extracting the best from both the players and the musical material.

Nasheet Waits – photo by Matthew Denton

The second half premiered Zephyrus by Australian-born, New York-resident pianist, composer and band leader, Barney McCall.  Scored for the full MAE membership and well over 40 minutes in length, Zephyrus is a large-scale work of real ambition. One sign of just how extensive the piece is was the fact that the players regularly peeled off long, pasted together musical charts and carefully placed them on the floor before hurriedly organising the next set of pages ready for their following entry!

At its best, McCall’s compositional vision – like his piano playing – is generous, spacious and lyrical: this is an acute and mature musical intelligence. The piece opened with recorded bird songs which McCall added to live with a bird whistle and then looped electronically. A number of the ensemble members also had bird whistles which they drew on judiciously in various reprises as Zephyrus progressed.

Transitions between sections were mostly, but not always, smoothly handled although some musical ideas were not developed before the next one was introduced. The same sense was at times generated by the underlying grooves, which although individually attractive and interesting, followed on from one another with a regularity that occasionally challenged my concentration.

Similarly, I wondered at the role and purpose of individual solos and whether two bass solos really added more artistic value than one. But then perhaps the marriage between classical art music (though composed) and improvised art music (make up the solos as you go) is destined to make the listener – or some listeners – a little uncomfortable and even ambivalent. In making this comment I would note that McCall’s own piano solo was worth going a long way to hear, the reality of which amplifies the point I am making.

To summarise, there were some great moments and some highly impressive playing in this new work but I was not always convinced of two things. Firstly, that the organisational structure was strong enough to hold the rich flow of materials together and, secondly, that the piece would not benefit from some judicious editing to make it shorter and tighter. I make this comment advisedly, however, in that perhaps I was simply unable to take Zephyrus in on a single outing. Given a second or third hearing, MCall’s vision and the compositional tool kit behind it would possibly grow in impact. I would not want to put future listeners off from seeking out this work, however, as I in no way regretted being in the room to hear it premiered.

My closing comment is a non-musical one. This wonderful 15 piece professional and student ensemble featured only one woman, violinist Lizzy Welsh. As such, it had the same number of women as then Prime Minister Tony Abbott’s infamous first Cabinet or, to put it another way, one less male than the 15-strong Australian rugby team. The latter observation would have more sporting currency in New South Wales than Victoria of course, but gives pause for reflection. None of the featured artists, overseas’ visitors or composers was female. I know Australian jazz is working on gender disparity but there is a way to go yet.

The Monash Art Ensemble with international guests, Mark Helias (bass), Nasheet Waits (drums) and ex-pat Australian, Barney McCall (piano), presented BEYOND BORDERS at the Verbruggen Hall, Sydney Conservatorium last Thursday evening, October 1, 2015.