Gb
Full Member
Posts: 132
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Post by Gb on May 13, 2007 0:23:24 GMT 10
i went to the hamer hall gig tonight...
again, the sound was absolutely unbearable and the music was far from inspirational. pharoah was ok - i enjoyed it i guess, but the sound made it hard for me to get into it. i liked his dancing.
mccoy tyner gig was appalling. sorry, but mccoy has really lost his touch - fair enough as he is 70, but still hard to sit through nonetheless. his drummer would have to go down as one of the most offensive players i have ever seen live... his solo's were horrible. dave liebman was out of place with that band. he is a very strong voice though. i enjoyed his soprano playing.
i think i liked it better when the melb jazz festival had less money and they could only bring 1 guy out and they had to play with a killer melbourne band instead! that was cool. oh yeah, and they couldn't afford any of these expensive shit guys - they used to get really good players who are relatively unknown. much better.
how 'bout you?
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Post by ironguts on May 13, 2007 8:59:02 GMT 10
I wouldn't have put it so nicely, but I agree totally. It almost becomes a weird form of voyeurism when some one has lost it but everyone wants to watch. It's a shame MT hasn't been put out to pasture, he probably doesn't have the money he deserves for the great music he has created, in order to retire.
Sure Liebs and PS sounded good, considering the Hall sound, but what is it with the bands, or at least drummers, surely there must be more players to choose from in the states. Both were shit in their own special way. Couldn't hear the bass so who knows? The piano was feeding back and was out of tune, christ, I'd be real pissed off if I paid for the tix!!
Yeah Gb, less money might be better. Though I popped into Bennetts to see the band from Isreal, made the Hamer Hall gigs look fantastic!
Go the Fringe! So much good music and a real variety too.
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Post by ironguts on May 13, 2007 9:05:47 GMT 10
actually, I remember, the Didge was the best thing of the night for me, carn Ausy!! Just wish the other guys shut up and just Pharaoh and the didge played.
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Post by vickibonet on May 13, 2007 10:37:41 GMT 10
Turned down comps as I suspected the above. I'm glad I didn't go. I loathe Hamer Hall for jazz gigs, as the sound is usually bad. Seems there are a lot of artists who end up touring to pay their medical bills. A sad thing. The last time I saw McCoy live he was thriving, I'll keep that memory instead.
The Fringe was great, I enjoyed nearly everything I heard. I have one teensy criticism: Nortchote Social Club sucks as a venue for we middle-aged jazz nerds. Second half of Big Arse Sunday was marred for my pals and I by bouncers repeatedly arguing with the people who wanted to sit on the floor. Sticky carpet is never a good look (or smell) but the sound was good and the line up great fun.
There was some good Aussie stuff in the main festival. I was traveling a lot so missed a bit but Doug De Vries, Joe Chindamo, Sam Anning and Nigel McClean played some exceptionally beautiful music at BMW edge in the Romantic Project and my pals enjoyed Mike Nock's set too.
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Post by ironguts on May 13, 2007 10:38:35 GMT 10
Oh, another thing, maybe Jazz is not dead, it's just very old and should be put in a nursing home?
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Post by alimcg on May 13, 2007 11:35:36 GMT 10
Gb, you are too kind. I thought even Liebman sounded ordinary - all just sax shit. Then again, if I had to play with that kind of rhythm section I'd struggle too. McCoy's drummer just made me plain uncomfortable. I couldn't actually watch him. I can't remember the last time I saw a drummer look so ill-at-ease on the kit.
Yamandu Costa on the other hand - wow. If only Albert Dadon hadn't stood right in front of me, completely blocking my view for so long.
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Post by vickibonet on May 13, 2007 12:01:38 GMT 10
Oh, another thing, maybe Jazz is not dead, it's just very old and should be put in a nursing home? Yeah, Guts jazz isn't dead. Just to prove it our "dedicated Jazz venue" is featuring Dragon next month in celebration of the art form we love so much. |
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Post by alimcg on May 13, 2007 12:10:59 GMT 10
Pharoah's dance was aptly described as the "Mr Whippy doing a poo" dance.
And the sound sucked. Not helped by some very heavy piano peddle use, and an interesting choice of synth sounds in the first set.
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ds
New Member
Posts: 12 
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Post by ds on May 13, 2007 15:10:34 GMT 10
i scored comps to the firday night gig and only saw mccoy's set. that was very disappointing... to see one of your idols play like that... it just completely broke my heart
at least last night in comparison, while still very very very very very very very very very very far from being "good", was O.K. and at least they were in a better mood. but yeah. still disappointed at what i saw/heard. listened to coltrane's sun ship on the flight back home... made me even more upset.
wouldn't mccoy be able to get a job in one of the jazz programs at a college over in the states? sure it's obvious he can't play anymore but he has done/experienced a lot, surely he'd have a lot of wisdom to pass on.
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Post by punter on May 13, 2007 20:25:52 GMT 10
I went to Malthouse to hear MSO Metropolis Series, in particular to hear Anthony Pateras' new piece QQ... sounds like I made the right call. QQ was fucking excellent and the rest of the program interesting as well; enjoyed Sculthorpe's Sun Music. But really, Pateras has got something pretty heavy going on, the players seemed to get into it too. A few titters when the percussionists started using bits of sandpaper and plastic bags but in general the audience appeared to dig it, good to hear some adventurous music played for an appreciative full house.
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dq
New Member
Posts: 21
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Post by dq on May 14, 2007 0:38:17 GMT 10
I had 3rd row tickets and was mainly getting stage sound, which sounded good, except for the feedback on the piano. Other than that, I thought it was great. McCoy does that comping thing and that's McCoy! His left hand works hard and the sound guy didn't accomodate for it. But yeah, he is in his 70's and I hope you guys are playing like that when your that age.
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Post by trumpetguy on May 14, 2007 9:52:23 GMT 10
I went on Friday and I actually paid for 2 tix - $260 in total!!
The sound was crap - couldn't hear the bass or piano (real drag considering who the pianist was) It was also sad to see so many people walk out through the set (from quite early on) with such a legend on stage. I intended to boycott the festival (in no small part because of Albert's comments in The Age a few months back)but was convinced to go to this gig. I saw McCoy years ago at Montsalvat - it was incredible, I really wish now that I'd left it at that.
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Post by ironguts on May 14, 2007 10:53:39 GMT 10
It's an interesting thought that when you say ' he's great for that age'. When we start using those terms our viewing of the performance becomes one of a weird voyeurism. Like seeing Cafiso play and saying ' he's so good for a 15 year old'
Personally I think it's either good or crap. I don't care if they're old or young. I saw Doc Cheatham play in NY and he was 80. It didn't matter, he was fucking amazing and played shit like no one else could play. He had an understanding of himself and the music beyond the limitations his of age, he blew me away that day.
I felt sad not that Mccoy didn't have the chops, more that he chose to play with that band and tried to do shit he couldn't do. It's a shame that he felt he needed to do certain things to be what either we or he thought he was. I don't care about him loosing chops, I care about him loosing music, that's sad.
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Post by alimcg on May 14, 2007 11:41:33 GMT 10
There was an article in The Age a week or so ago (I think it was in Insight on May 5) and McCoy said that he didn't practice anymore, which explains a couple of things, but I agree with guts here, it was the band he chose that probably had the most damaging effect on the music. Having said that, I though his bass player was ok (well, from the little bass that we could hear anyway). Two other examples of guys getting on who may have lost a little bit of their chops, but lost none of their music - Max Roach, Wayne Shorter and Elvin Jones. In fact, Wayne is 5 years older than McCoy.
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Post by alimcg on May 14, 2007 11:42:28 GMT 10
When are we going to hear from aj on this one? I saw him at the gig...
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