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Hong Kong International Jazz Festival 2018
Jerry Bergonzi has developed the reputation as an 'insider’s' player, yet his approach is assertive but never unnecessarily abstract–unafraid, but not oblique.
Hong Kong City Hall Theatre; Hong Kong Cultural Centre
October 7-13, 2018
"There are so many beautiful players in the world... and so few listeners," announced
Jerry Bergonzi
saxophone, tenorb.1947
Playing the final night—and with a garish illustrated facial likeness plastered on every flyer —American sax titan Bergonzi was the de facto headliner and undisputed highlight, barreling through an 80-minute set which had the air of a rootsy masterclass in small group traditionalism in comparison with the preceding three nights of modern, world and fusion flavors. And it was an intensely distilled dose, the sound of a straight acoustic quartet playing with a ferocious confidence, painting an old-school Renaissance portrait in the big, bold brushstrokes and primary hues of Pop Art. Opener "Blue Cube" was a tectonic slumber, lumberingly driven by bassist
Johnny Åman
bass, acoustic
Bill Evans
piano1929 - 1980
Despite battling with a faulty octave key, 70-year-old Bergonzi's playing was sublime throughout, possessing the fluidity, power, grace and swagger of a prize fighter just getting warmed up. The first movement of his "The Seven Rays" suite, ripped asunder from the whole, brought out some of the tenor man's fiercest phrasing, unleashing furious flurries of triplets that left me thinking of
Sonny Rollins
saxophoneb.1930
Anders Mogensen
drumsCarl Winther
pianoPerhaps because of his enduring role as an educator, Bergonzi has developed the reputation as an "insider's" player, yet to these ears his approach is assertive but never unnecessarily abstract —unafraid, but not oblique. Moreover, the former
Dave Brubeck
piano1920 - 2012
It's perhaps fortunate that the band which proceeded Bergonzi on Saturday October 13 didn't feature a horn —with HKIJF welcoming the Asia debut of Canadian-American quartet B's Bees, who served a satisfying set that largely trod the hard bop idiom. At its centerpiece sat "Kanata," a monolithic, four-part suite composed by leader/drummer
Brandon Goodwin
drumsb.1983
Politics also splattered the canvas of the set's sole cover, a moody modal workout on
Charlie Haden
bass, acoustic1937 - 2014
Bill Frisell
guitar, electricb.1951
Thelonious Monk
piano1917 - 1982
Beyond this bop-based, North American closing double header, HKIJF offered a wholehearted tribute to that most symmetrical of improvisational vehicles —the ever-reinventing-itself jazz trio, with the first three of its six headline acts all strictly acoustic, but stridently forward-facing, European piano-bass-drums affairs.
Gorgeously colored by chiming piano percussion, cello-esque bowed bass and shimmering cymbal work, the
Kari Ikonen
pianob.1973
Drawing liberally from the trio's excellent third CD Wind, Frost & Radiation (Ozella, 2018) over Thursday's headline slot, the effortless lyrical opener "Kuro" is named after a valley in the north of Finland, while "Pripyat" hopes to evoke the Ukrainian ghost town left to the ravages of nature following the Chernobyl nuclear disaster of 1986 —spookily marked by bassist " data-original-title="" title="">Olli Rantala disorientingly descending a full octave in a slowly bowed meter.
A response to Debussy's impressionistic masterpiece "Prélude à l'après-midi d'un faune" —and opener of the Finnish trio's penultimate release Beauteous Tales and Offbeat Stories (Ozella Music, 2015)—pianist Kari Ikonen's "L'avant-Midi D'une Elfe," begins with rolling, lyrical keywork that calls to mind rippling rapids or shimmering raindrops. Apparently inspired by the seasonal winds which blow from the Sahara through West Africa and into the Gulf of Guinea, "Harmattan" is just Ikonen's most memorable use of string muting, striking a hypnotic African-flavored pentatonic riff, before transmorphing into a morbid, metal-esque strut. The dampened strings which again punctuate "Beatamente" meanwhile recall the regular chime of a clock, or perhaps a church bell.
Seasoned jazz fans may of course take all this reality-conjuring with more than a whiff of skepticism, knowing how difficult musicians typically find it to name instrumentals —and the endearing audience appeal of segueing between otherwise dense, challenging music with charming explanatory tales. On the face of his introduction, it's seems that Ikonen has never visited Pripyat (and one wonders if his familiarity with the winds of West Africa came from a documentary). But it's the art that counts, not the intent —and Ikonen, a former winner of Finland's Jazz Musician of the Year award, is a serious artist making work with a color and conviction worthy of any of today's leading European three-pieces, of which there was another to seep into.
If Ikonen's work recalls the countryside, then there's something about the city to Norwegian neighbors the Espen Berg Trio, whose own brand of Nordic airiness was driven by a distinctly urban pulse; one hears the clatter of public transport in the handclaps driving "XIII," angrily intercutting traffic in the disconnected threads of "Tredje," the whir of elevators, escalators and air conditioning in the softly shifting rhythmic patterns driving the pervading pulse of airy introspection.
Mating academia and artistry, pianist/leader
Espen Berg
pianob.1983
Brad Mehldau
pianob.1970
Playing the bulk of this year's CD B?lge (Odin Records, 2018), the edgily shifting sonics were navigated with organic ingenuity by fellow travelers, bassist
"
data-original-title="" title="">Bár?ur Reinert Poulsen and drummer "
data-original-title="" title="">Simon Olderskog Albertsen. Only the world premiere of a new piece called "Skrivarneset"—named, Berg later told us, after the remote spot on Vestv?g?y, part of Norway's Lofoten archipelago, where it was written this summer —broke the telepathic spell, while sporting a folkish theme which may hint at new pastoral flavors ripe for exploration. Rewinding 24 hours, it was something of a scheduling cruelty that saw Ikonen followed onto the stage by the Dusha Connection, a lesser piano trio not without promise, but whose relative inadequacies were only magnified by inviting such comparison. Young and choppy, there was a missing sense of identity in the Austrian group's overlong Asian premiere, which showed flashes of inspiration amid a generally directionless stroll.
The trio executed their modern-ish originals —generally roomy, undemanding minor key dirges —with more flair and conviction than the obligatory smatters of standards—including a troublingly brisk "Milestones"—yet most compelling were two deconstructed Slavic folksongs, "Mujo Kuje" and "Ajde Jano." Flitting between Old World meditations and traditional post-Bill Evans bop, one felt a group of players slightly adrift, neither fully committed to, nor fully realizing, either approach. Outshining his co-conspirators, one can imagine pianist " data-original-title="" title="">Maximilian Tschida—persuasive, passionate and articulate, with the air of the conservatoire still lingering on his fingers—flowering into a greater talent.
Friday's headline slot was surely the greatest hometown showcase yet afforded to HK-based, South African singer Talie Monin, who possesses a crisp, crystalline voice, studious approach and solid band led by guitarist Dan LaVelle—an American expat who has graduated from showcasing protégé Monin as a featured artist in his own group, to sharing headline duties, and now eventually stepping back as musical director of the singer's clunkily named World Jazz Compendium.
The quintet's breezy approach to "world jazz" drew on the singer's heritage with the funk-flavored Zulu-language call for peace "Afrasia" and dug into LaVelle's repertoire of Brazilian folksongs, while showcasing Monin's jazz chops with a stately "I Loves You, Porgy" and a gripping version of
Wayne Shorter
saxophone1933 - 2023
Backed by the " data-original-title="" title="">VSOP-aping NTBM —that stands for Not To Be Missed—HK-born guitarist
Tjoe man cheung
guitar, electricb.1984
Based around an electrified core trio of Cheung, bassist Scott Edwin Dodd and drummer Wong Yin Hong, NTBM's hard-riffing approach and tight dynamic shifts had that familiar feel of fusion played by rockers dabbling in jazz, rather than jazzers trying out rock —no bad thing, necessarily. But balance came from two able sax players—altoist Chak Seng Lam and stalwart CC Lee guesting on tenor—with the most thrilling moments when the reedsmen let loose over the pummeling tumult, unleashing crisscrossing improv lines in rough-edged tandem. Often stretching out at length, Cheung himself favored an angrily distorted tone which clearly divided the crowd of casual Sunday afternoon strollers.
Less contentious to passing ears were visiting Thai quintet Funktion, an endearingly energetic, shamelessly virtuosic instrumental act who spewed out the kind of groove-driven, up-tempo, "hard/smooth jazz" I figured had been buried in the 1980s. As dusk fell, the Hong Kong skyline unfolding behind the stage began to flicker into iconic illumination, part-starting duties were handed over to Columbian percussionist
Alonso Gonzalez & Jazz Latino
percussionTags
Live Reviews
Jerry Bergonzi
Rob Garratt
Hong Kong
Johnny ?man
Bill Evans
Sonny Rollins
Anders Mogensen
Carl Winther
Dave Brubeck
B's Bees
Brandon Goodwin
Alec Safy
Charlie Haden
Bill Frisell
Julien Sandiford
Joe Ferracuti
Kari Ikonen Trio
Olli Rantala
Kari Ikonen
Espen Berg Trio
Espen Berg
brad mehldau
Bár?ur Reinert Poulsen
Simon Olderskog Albertsen
Dusha Connection
Maximilian Tschida
Talie Monin
Dan LaVelle
Wayne Shorter
VSOP
Tjoe Man Cheung
CC Lee
Funktion
Alonso Gonzalez
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