Thoughts on Wang, anyone?

[dorkay]

Being about as far from Wangaratta as you can get, I'd love to hear about what went down this year. Honest appraisals about what were highlights/disappointments/scandals etc. would be a treat. Help me imagine I was there!

[dodgy]

It's been hell listening to all that music. I'm pretty buggered, so imagine what the musicians and organisers are like. I've just sent off almost 800 words to the Herald Sun ... it will probably be cut in half. But I'll post the full version on ausjazz.net once it is in print ... may give some idea. Jessica in The Age and John Clare and John McBeath will be or have filed.

My top three gigs were Ambrose Akinmusire on trumpet in Linda Oh's Trio, the hymns of Thomas Tallis as improvised upon by Andrew Robson, Sandy Evans, James Greening and Steve Elphick, and a tie for third between a heap. Wished I'd caught Tim Stevens Trio, Ish Ish, The Hoodangers, Allan Browne's Aust jazz Band and more of Scott Tinkler with Simon Barker.

Seemed quieter this year, but I doubt many would have been too disappointed.

[johnmcall]

One Highlight for me was Carlos Barbaros Quartet "'Bad Boy" being a standout ..

[dodgy]

In case it's of interest, here's the uncut version of my review of the Wangaratta festival, after going to 22 gigs (not staying the full term in some, unfortunately).

I'll be gradually posting pics and a few notes about the gigs on www.ausjazz.net over the next month (realistically it won't happen as soon as it should, but I have 1068 images to wade through).

ausjazz.net/2009/11/04/wangaratta-jazz-2009-%e2%80%94-review/

Full marks to AJ for another great line-up.

[pan]

The crowd was down on last year, which was down on 2007, when lots of punters queued for gigs by Dave Holland, only to be locked out. So the smaller capacity of the stunning new performing arts centre wasn't tested on it's maiden voyage. The addition of catering within the main venue added another line of security, which only made it more difficult to move between festival sectors. Food and beverage had to be consumed within the precinct it was purchased, which made for faster inebriation, as drinks were sculled before entering the venue, rather than sustaining the punter throughout a set. Maybe it was the oppressive heat, but the warm glow of the locals' commitment to this gem of a festival seemed supplanted by a formal security presence that was at odds with the setting. Wang needs to find ways to knit the three precincts (Ford St, Reid St and Blues tent) together, not segregate them.

To the music. Unlike the last cuppla years, there were few Eureka moments from the stage (for me at least) this year. My favourite set was Stinkler's hybrid Art Orchestra gig on Friday - and I only caught the last fifteen minutes. I feel lucky to have walked in on a Phil Slater muted solo that referenced a didgeridoo to connect the moment to the ancient land we bake on.

Equally adept at capturing a broad sweep of time and culture in his music is Simon Barker. His duet with Stinkler on Saturday had more groove than Motown.

Ari Hoenig's set in St Pat's Hall on Friday was also superb, but for the ear-bleeding volume in the front of house mix. A cuppla snare cracks had me seeking shelter at the back of the room. Ari's singing drums though, playing the head on Moanin', was something to behold.

Highlights of the sets I caught on Saturday were Barney McAll's Sylent Running and Gian Slater's silver space suit. The tension between the lyric in Sylent ("I don't want this to be drawn out") and the long silences in between was palpable. With songs like this by Gian, the band may have to stretch it's name to include Gian Slater - a star turn, only just starting to burn.

Barney then backed up two Sylent Running sets with a star turn of his own in the Wilson-Magnusson Quintet's late set in the raucous St. Pat's Hall.

I might be an old fart, but the sound in the WPAC Hall and St Pat's Hall on Friday and Saturday, was uncomfortably loud - even when the music wasn't. Thankfully, the sound guys seemed to get the message by Sunday.

Sunday, for me, belonged to two vastly different acts. The Carsten Daerr trio from Germany shredded the history of the piano trio (not unlike Triosk a few years ago), merging rock beats and reggae plonking straight onto piano strings. I want to hear more. The other highlight of my sweaty Sunday was the Andrew Robson Tallis Hymns set in the Cathedral. I've been waiting to hear these tunes in this setting, ever since the album was released. Adrian never fails to program acts in the cathedral that really suit this sublime space.

Of course, Sunday also belonged to Zac Hurren, who won the National Jazz Award. His sax wasn't going to get him into the final on a bleary-eyed Sunday morning, but his humour and wit did not fail him. Other notable semi-final sets were put in by eventual finalists Phil Noy and Jacam Manricks, along with Willow Nielson and James Annesley. But only three go to the final - I would hate to be a judge. By the afternoon, Zac had his horn working, as well his humour, and absolutely claimed the stage in the new WPAC Hall and the prize. Great show.

The new venue was a stellar success, but it will not ensure the future of this festival. This is more a function of the people who attend - both onstage and in the audience, and the grace of the people of the wonderful city of Wangaratta. A heightened formal security presence has none of the charm of the informal army of volunteers that have helped make this festival so special for the last twenty years. And it won't protect the shiny new asset - this will be done via the ongoing patronage and vigilance of the local people.

[trumpetguy]

thanks Pan
The thing that has always concerned me as a performer at Wang is the overlap of performances. Too often people leave 75% of the way through a performance in order to get to the next venue in a timely manner. Perhaps a gap time between concerts and across venues could help - even if that means reducing the number of acts that are presented (CAN'T BELIEVE I'M SAYING THAT!) - it is a bit disconcerting to have people walk out on your set with a tune or 2 still to play.
Having said that it is always a fantastic festival - the best in the country I believe - wasn't there this year but it sounded like a great one.

[erin]

My favourites were Barney's Sylent Running, Band of Five Names, Tinkler/Barker duo and Linda Oh. The new venue was great. The national jazz awards were also very good to watch.
Was the program smaller this year? It seemed like there were less performances. A few times there were 2 or 3 things on at once(or overlapping) that I wanted to see. Is this for crowd control? because the crowd was not a problem this year even with the smaller venue. Most times I would wait for the line-up to go in and then walk in at the last minute and take one of the many available 'gold' seats. The performance would then be followed by a 2 hour break in programming. There was stuff on at the blues tent but it was a fair hike away. I only made it over there once during the whole festival.
I don't mind the lack of 'big' names in the program because it is nice to discover new people but I wonder if this might have something to do with lower audience numbers. I do know people that didn't come because there wasn't a head-liner that they were dying to see.

Don't get me wrong. I love Wang and had a great time this year. The festival just had a slightly different vibe this time. Was the security presence and constant bag checking really necessary?

[aj]

hey all, thanks for the feedback.......please keep it coming ; and if there are any issues that you feel strongly about, please email to [e-mail]

I have actually had a few people ask why the program was smaller this year ; in fact, there were the same number of concerts on the Saturday & Sunday as last year. The format was juggled a little. In some cases, this was to provide a more workable break between concerts (especially in the WPAC, where the audio guys & backstage crew work a 15-hour day). In some cases, it was an attempt to encourage patrons to commit to one gig or another for the whole set, rather than catching 30 minutes here & 20 minutes there. I'd prefer people didn't do that, but of course you can't stop them from doing it. (And yes, I often did it myself!)

[pan]

I forgot to mention that the Carlo Barbaro Quartet totally rocked on Sunday night - so true to the Freeboppers spirit, but totally their own thing. Bad Boy was a highlight of the set for me too. Funny, that the only Freebopper not at Wang last weekend was the bad boy himself - Mark Simmonds. But Fire got a run in the car on the drive home - one of the truly great Australian jazz albums.

[aj]

Funny you should say that : I played Fire (via my ipod) as I drove to Wang alst week.

[jec]

Aj, I must say that I was initially disappointed with the lineup of the 20th anniversary when I first saw it with no real big name headliner. However sitting there on friday night watching Charles Tolliver take command of the Mothership I was remminded about what really makes this a great festival & that is discovering great new music I wouldn't otherwise know about. And I think a lot of credit for that must go to Adrian. Unfortunatley this year I attended the festival with my 2 young sons. The 9yr old is musically adventurous and can sit through an hr gig, the 6yr old however if he doesnt like the music will not sit through it. I therefore only saw a quarter of what I wanted to see. I really enjoy the breadth of the festival which has vocalists, fairly mainstream acts but also acts like Pateras, baxter, Brown (who were fantastic) & Guts and Simon Barker doing their duo work which perhaps appeal to a much smaller audience. I really loved the Linda Oh trio & cant wait to see the future of those players especially the trumpeter. I thought the carsten daer trio was far too derivitive of E.S.T and I didnt realyy get into it. Overall the festival did have a slightly different feel & I agree with the need to somehow link the different performance areas to make it more cohesive. There are some obvious teething issues with the new centre and some of the ways in which it was run. However, I felt like a guest in the town and didnt let any of those issues affect my weekend. I'm sure these small issues will be ironed out. I look forward to next years festival which I will attend regardless of who plays as I know it will be fantatic as usual. Any chance of bringing Dave Douglas out again, John Surman, Zorn, Henri Texier, Nels Cline, Robert Mazurek, Ingrid Laubrock, Evan Parker, Brad Melhdau or Anthony Braxton to name a few? Bit of an incomplete wishlist of mine. Thanks to you AJ & all the organisers and volunteers!

[aj]

Cheers jec.........thanks for the wishlist....there are some I CAN exclude, like John Zorn who told me a couple of years ago he'd want US $30,000 per concert.

[jec]

Did you tell him he's dreaming?

[aj]

Pretty much ; but he didn't seem to care!

[trumpetguy]

How about crowning the competition winner the King of Wang?
The award could become known as the Wangkings!