Last night I lived the second moment -- in only a month -- where bliss comes to a small, hidden Australian capital to attenuate its isolation from the broader musical universe out there. The first was Jeff Beck's enlightening gig at the Perth Concert Hall, on Jan 21st. Now, part of the Perth International Arts Festival, King's Park hosted a gig led by John McLaughlin and Chick Corea, a couple of the most well-known jazz players of our time. John and Chick's Five Peace Band delivered an unforgettable concert, with a huge bonus: backing these two ever-shining stars, Brian Blade (drums) and Christian McBride (bass) provided the power for connecting heavenly bodies into constellations.
Christian McBride showed unbelievable virtuosity, while still fulfilling his task as bassist to aggregate coherently the fast-paced statements of his fellow musicians. He played both the upright bass and a five-string fretless bass guitar to the highest levels, keeping pace, tone and seamless precision when going to and fro one or the other, while cruising through that night's repertoire. He would definitely qualify as the fastest upright bass player in the world: the speed in which he carved out of the double bass extremely complex and melodious solos were hard to believe, not to say follow at naked eye!
Speaking of speed, John McLaughlin showed that he is still king. But his main quality that sticked out most during the concert was that of a maestro, rather than the virtuoso. More than once I found the other musicians, including Corea, looking for McLaughlin's reassuring smile. He seemed conscious of that role, and kept a sober, almost solemn posture on stage. This was quite a different percepetion I had from the previous time I saw McLaughlin, playing his guitar in a cross-legged lotus position for nearly two-hours, in the almost festive mood of the Remember Shakti concerts, chasing around vanishingly fast notes thrown in the air by his Indian bandmate, the virtuoso mandolinist U. Srinivas.
Despite the attraction that any Chick Corea and/or John McLaughlin concerts have in themselves, the main driving force that led me to King's Park that night was to hear and see drummer Brian Blade. I had become an unconditional fan of this bloke after seeing Blade playing/interpreting magnificently the pop-rock song "Not Fighting Any More", in a sequence of the film "Here is what is", by the Canadian guitarrist and producer Daniel Lanois.
Blade demonstrated his great ability and comfort in being the guy who comes in to connect the dots, and gravitate around shining stars giving them their ultimate soulful edge, and in a sense, strongest meaning. And feeling comfortable as the connecting guy, he was free to take every opportunity to throw in here and there bits and pieces of solos and phrases that were tantalizing.
Having such tight but flexible safety net as a backing left Chick Corea free to fulfill his double act of being the third rhythm section guy, and one of the starring soloists. Corea's magnificent musicality recalled images I built of his musical essence since the first time I saw him, in a workshop at the Free Jazz Festival, in the late-80's. Then, he told a small audience about his conceptual framework: musical blocks that could be sequenced, swapped, superposed in a three-dimensional structure which he could visualize, leading him to a creative space where he assembled his compositions and moved around in his solos.
That rich musical imagery again flooded my mind throughout the concert, and particularly when one of Corea's more recent compositions, "Hymn to Andromeda", was performed. That was definitely one of the highlights of the night, where the pianist's musical universe became unveiled to an audience that seemed to be floating from their picnic mats and camping chairs, blending nicely into the backdrop of a beautiful, starry night in King's Park. The tune also gave saxophonist Kenny Garrett an opportunity to shine above his generally subtle presence.
The second big moment of the concert also came near the end, when all Five Peace Band-mates attacked in unison the hypnotic phrases of Jackie McLean's funky hit "Dr. Jekyll" (also quoted here and there as "Jackle" or "Jackyll"). The public was in such a hypnotic state, that even a few kookaburras in nearby trees seemed to be singing in tune. The number was introduced as one of Miles Davis' favorite pieces from the times McLaughlin and Corea recorded Davis' Bitches Brew, in the early 70's.
In spite of an unexpected cold breeze that caught more than half the audience unprepared, the public left that night, nearly 3 hours of jazz later, in a state of stoked joy that is rare in a culturally-famished place like Perth. After living through all this, I now fear for the rest of the year!
No comments:
Post a Comment