Noria Letts: “I’ve got three hats; one that is jazz – you can cook something with jazz; the other is French gypsy jazz, which is extremely vibrant and happy; and the third one is when I go on stage and script the life of Edith Piaf in France.”
Tag: Bird’s Basement
If you have been even vaguely familiar with this here website, you probably know Zela Margossian. You know she is a pianist of spectacular prowess, a composer of hear-melting lyricism, and a musical explorer blending the many dialects of jazz with the classical tradition, and the musical heritage of her motherland, Armenia. You might even be aware of her journey in life, that brought her from Beirut to Sydney via Yerevan. Here, she chooses some of the tunes that have been her companions in that journey, leaving an imprint on her life, and influencing the way she creates her version of ‘ethno-jazz’.
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The audience was treated to Kurt Elling’s distinctive, creative vocalese, punctuated by the scintillating lyrical embellishments of guitarist Charlie Hunter as well as his masterful solos. It was a case of dual sheer artistry.
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“Music is definitely the best tool that we have to bring peace and form bridges among cultures and nations, joining us together as one whole family.”
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“My music is Jazz for social consciousness, it is music for #blackLivesmatter but not only that. It is music for white, brown, yellow, and purple lives too. I want my music to stir people of all races, creed, age, orientations… to be an empathic elixir to life.”
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The 17th annual Australian Jazz Bell Awards acknowledged and applauded excellence of creativity, recording, performance and presentation of jazz in Australia.
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“Music comes and goes,” Leo Genovese says. “[It] is not property, it doesn’t have an owner. It is air moving. It is magic, it is medicine. Even if you compose something, it is not yours, it is patrimony of every human. I know the law works different, but the cosmic law is another thing.”
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“Nancy Wilson’s tone, phrasing and interplay with the band on that record had a huge impact on me as a musician. After going deep into those tunes, I think that it’s allowed me to approach my own music in a different way, particularly how I tell my stories through song.”
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While Frank Gambale regularly unleashed a dazzling torrent of notes, the quality that lingered in my mind after the show was the melodic instinct that underpinned so much of his work.
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Upon first entering Bird’s Basement, I was immediately conscious of the crystalline sound of the piano, each unamplified note lingering in the space, untrammelled by its neighbours. The audience, in darkness, appeared hushed, as if intensely focused on the music: lyrical, melodic and restrained. As I was drawn into this music, I was conscious of its fragile delicacy, as Mark Isaacs mined the upper register, unafraid of summoning sheer beauty from his instrument.
