Simon Tedeschi at WAAPA

I'm not sure if I want to meet Simon Tedeschi. He has had some harsh words to say about critics (although he's happy enough to quote positive press on his website!).

 Here he is writing in Limelight magazine:

"Some (critics) are rancorous oddballs, sleeping soundly through a concert but still able to write with remarkable acuity as if they had actually been there. Others are stuck in a strange academic funk-hole, writing as if afflicted with nasty sniffles at birth that they can never quite shake off. Yet others come from an impoverished musicological background, and usually have a pre-set yardstick everything is compared to.
Less commonly, there is a critic whose head and heart are in unison, armed with a critical facility that is instructive and direct, yet never postured or mirror-gazing."

Some are rancorous oddballs, sleeping soundly through a concert but still able to write with remarkable acuity as if they had actually been there. Others are stuck in a strange academic funk-hole, writing as if afflicted with nasty sniffles at birth that they can never quite shake off. Yet others come from an impoverished musicological background, and usually have a pre-set yardstick everything is compared to.
Less commonly, there is a critic whose head and heart are in unison, armed with a critical facility that is instructive and direct, yet never postured or mirror-gazing.
- See more at: http://www.limelightmagazine.com.au/Article/300757,simon-tedeschi-pans-the-critics.aspx#sthash.pM937YIm.dpuf

Some are rancorous oddballs, sleeping soundly through a concert but still able to write with remarkable acuity as if they had actually been there. Others are stuck in a strange academic funk-hole, writing as if afflicted with nasty sniffles at birth that they can never quite shake off. Yet others come from an impoverished musicological background, and usually have a pre-set yardstick everything is compared to.
Less commonly, there is a critic whose head and heart are in unison, armed with a critical facility that is instructive and direct, yet never postured or mirror-gazing.
- See more at: http://www.limelightmagazine.com.au/Article/300757,simon-tedeschi-pans-the-critics.aspx#sthash.pM937YIm.dpuf

Some are rancorous oddballs, sleeping soundly through a concert but still able to write with remarkable acuity as if they had actually been there. Others are stuck in a strange academic funk-hole, writing as if afflicted with nasty sniffles at birth that they can never quite shake off. Yet others come from an impoverished musicological background, and usually have a pre-set yardstick everything is compared to.
Less commonly, there is a critic whose head and heart are in unison, armed with a critical facility that is instructive and direct, yet never postured or mirror-gazing.
- See more at: http://www.limelightmagazine.com.au/Article/300757,simon-tedeschi-pans-the-critics.aspx#sthash.pM937YIm.dpuf

Some are rancorous oddballs, sleeping soundly through a concert but still able to write with remarkable acuity as if they had actually been there. Others are stuck in a strange academic funk-hole, writing as if afflicted with nasty sniffles at birth that they can never quite shake off. Yet others come from an impoverished musicological background, and usually have a pre-set yardstick everything is compared to.
Less commonly, there is a critic whose head and heart are in unison, armed with a critical facility that is instructive and direct, yet never postured or mirror-gazing.
- See more at: http://www.limelightmagazine.com.au/Article/300757,simon-tedeschi-pans-the-critics.aspx#sthash.pM937YIm.dpuf"

Tedeschi is one of Australia's most acclaimed and opinionated pianists. So it was with a little trepidation and some excitement that I attended his concert on Tuesday night. Read my review below to find out what happened!

Simon Tedeschi has been quoted in the press saying that in this cultural dark age an artist must do more than art. In his first of two sold-out recitals at the WA Academy of Performing Arts on Tuesday night he demonstrated what this might look like.

Firstly he engaged with the audience –a no brainer perhaps, but the ability to make genuine eye contact and engage in sincere, witty conversation is a definite skill. Secondly the extra-musical theme to his Gershwin and Me program (drawn from Tedeschi’s chart-topping Gershwin albums) meant he took the audience on a journey. The concert opened with the first rag Gershwin wrote and included his greatest hits alongside works by his contemporaries.

The classical fraternity have struggled with what to do with Gershwin – is he a classical or jazz composer, profound or populist? Tedeschi skipped over that debate and played the heart and soul out of the music. He navigated Gershwin’s rapid gear changes in a way that felt dramatic rather than frantic and - without appearing affected - made every note appear genuinely personal.

Arrangements by Percy Grainger of Gershwin’s Love Walked In was played with spacious tenderness while the madcap extremes of Grainger’s own In Dahomey were delivered with flamboyance. Gershwin’s Three Preludes bristled with technical confidence and the bluesy second Prelude contained a hushed intimate improvisation. These were heard alongside three piano roll transcriptions Lady Be Good, ‘S Wonderful and Strike Up the Band where Tedeschi’s light touch and noisy stride bass line created a fabulous honky tonk sound.

In jazz numbers by Dave Brubeck and Oscar Peterson Tedeschi demonstrated his ability to spin blues–drenched improvisations alongside the best jazz pianist.

A performance of the iconic Rhapsody in Blue with lingering silences, achingly sweet melodies and brash climaxes concluded a program that was a fascinating insight into both Gershwin and Tedeschi. Sadly there were no European counterparts; works by Rachmaninov and Debussy advertised on the program didn’t make it to the stage. Other than that when it comes to piano recitals I couldn’t ask for anything more!

This review copyright The West Australian 2016.

PIAF review: the golden sound of Wynton Marsalis

The last time I heard a sound that golden was when the Vienna Philharmonic Orchestra was in town. On Thursday night there was the same rarefied atmosphere as the sound of the iconic Jazz at Lincoln Center Orchestra blazed through the Perth Concert Hall. Wynton Marsalis’ big band was part way through an arrangement of Gershwin’s Rhapsody in Blue when the tender melody exploded into a series of thrilling brass and saxophone chords.

Duke Ellington’s Mood Indigo also took my breath away but for different reasons - its lethargic beauty was built from a conversation between clarinet, muted trumpet, trombone and rhythm section that was a model in impeccable balance, gentlemanly good taste and gobsmacking technique. I say gentlemanly because the line up was all male: five horn players who between them played nineteen different wind instruments, three trombones and four trumpets including Marsalis. The band leader is renowned for championing traditional jazz (a big deal in the 70’s when the jazz fraternity headed almost exclusively into experimental territory) which perhaps explains - but doesn’t excuse - the notable absence of women.

After interval the JLCO were embedded in the WA Symphony Orchestra for Marsalis’ Swing Symphony, a work tracing the evolution of the swing rhythm. The opening tune Maple Leaf Rag was introduced by no less than eight clarinets (five jazz clarinets plus three from the orchestral wind section) anchored by the laid back syncopation of drummer Ali Jackson. The versatile WASO swung hard alongside their jazz colleagues through a Charleston, a percussion-driven tango, Kansas City Swing and Sing Sing Sing.

Particularly memorable was a sultry saxophone solo shared with the entire cello section, the fast patter of Wynton Marsalis’ bebop solo, a mambo groove with the violas doubling the drums and the orchestral wind players conveying the twilight stillness of Ornette Coleman’s Sadness. The symphony rushed by in an intense 60 minutes; a rapid succession of jazz standards that left little space for digestion. But Marsalis' creative integration of the two bands, use of recurring motives and sprinkling of stunning solos created a work that was a weighty and fascinating orchestral journey through jazz.

This review copyright The West Australian 2016.