Review: UNESCO INTERNATIONAL JAZZ DAY WITH THE THOMAS VOSS BIG BAND at Dunstan Playhouse, Adelaide Festival Centre

Reviewed by Barry Lenny, Tuesday 30th April 2024.

This concert, the UNESCO International Jazz Day with the Thomas Voss Big Band, was held in Adelaide, Australia’s only UNESCO City of Music. The International Jazz Day is now in its thirteenth year. Sarah Bleby acknowledged the traditional owners of the land and continued to introduce the concert, mentioning also that the International Guitar Festival in coming up later in the year and mentioning a couple of events that will be part of that festival. She mentioned that the Adelaide Festival Centre is now 50 years old and reminded the audience that the Cabaret Festival is happening in June. The OzAsia Festival is also ahead. There is always something happening in this centre. She acknowledged the support of COMA, Creative Original Music Adelaide.

The opening band, the seven-piece Enne R. Project (pronounced N R), winner of the COMA Emerging Artist Award in 2023, is led by bassist/composer, Enne Rignanese, and the music came from the group’s two CDs, the first,  Aw, Tysm, focussing on autism, and the second, Pitter Patter, referencing transgender and non-binary sexualities. It began with an extended bass solo on Ohhh, I have autism, which was then followed quickly by But you don’t look autistic., featuring Dave McEvoy on piano, Alex Taylor on trombone, and Zed Crawford on drums. The title track from the second CD, Pitter Patter, also featured piano and bass, with trombone closing the number.

E r r o r was begun by the piano, then solos for Jackie Wilde on alto saxophone, Emile Ryjoch on tenor sax, Taylor on trombone, and closed on keyboards. Slowing the tempo, Double Empathy opened on with an emotive solo trombone, with Emile Ryjoch joining in on clarinet, and closed again on a trombone solo.

Putting down the bass for a moment, Enne announced the winner of the COMA Emerging Jazz Writer’s Award for 2024, Ciara Louise Ferguson. It is an award an award for a female, non-binary, or gender-diverse jazz writer/performer aged 35 or under, who is based in Adelaide. Enne explained how helpful winning it in 2023 had been for them.

Inercia, a fast-paced number with a Latin beat, had band members adding lyrics, in English and Spanish, with the audience invited to join in. The audience tried, and we struggled bravely, but fell by the wayside. Masquerade was next, a number in ¾ time, with everybody having a chance to play the melody, and solos from the bass, bass clarinet, and brasses. After a brief explanation of spoon theory, Spo0o0o0on began with the low instruments, bass clarinet, passing it to the bass and drums, then bringing in the full band, the trumpet taking the melody, and several players taking solos, with the bass taking it out.

There were many great tunes and arrangements in this set, but the sound mix had some balance problems. Zed Crawford is a hard driving drummer, with strong accents on snare and cymbals, generally overshadowing all but the bass. The intricacy of the work of the others was often difficult to hear over those two. The trombone and tenor sax generally cut through, but the other instruments sometimes tended to get lost in the mix, and for some strange reason, except when soloing, that often included Jackson Faulkner’s trumpet and flugelhorn, and Jackie Wilde’s bass clarinet. It was particularly unfortunate in the final number, Dysphoria, when vocalists, Chelsea Lee and Courteney Hooper arrived and had some very poignant lyrics to deliver that were partially obscured. I would love to hear that all again, with a better instrumental balance.

After the interval, the eighteen-member Thomas Voss Big Band, led by the trombonist/composer, presented a selection of his works and, fortunately, the balance between instruments was far better, every instrument crystal clear. The heyday of the large ensembles was, of course, the Big Band Era in the 1930s into the 1940s, when it became too expensive to maintain such bands, and smaller groups came to the fore. A few, such as Duke Ellington’s and Count Basie’s orchestras, continued for much longer, even touring to Australia in the 1970s, alongside smaller ensembles such as the Giants of Jazz, with Dizzy Gillespie and Thelonius Monk, all brought to Adelaide by Kym Bonython and playing to full houses at Apollo Stadium, for which we patrons were very grateful. They might not be economically viable now but the enthusiastic reception given to the Thomas Voss Big Band showed that they are still incredibly popular.

Voss only took a couple of solos himself during the evening, focussing on conducting his orchestra, and allowing others to carry the soloing. Dave McEvoy, on piano, led the way into the first number, Gone Postal, written to commemorate a long running dispute between his father and the postman. It was immediately clear that these musicians really know how to swing. Voss took the first solo, then trumpeter, Harrison Smith, took a turn, and Lachlan McGargill on tenor sax took the first of his solos for the night.

Slowing the tempo, Dave’s Lullaby was opened by Dave McEvoy on piano over very smooth accompaniment from the sax section. Tom Pulford also provided a fine solo on baritone sax with McEvoy leading the way out.

Reflecting his love of the outdoors and nature, Breathe featured a repeating rhythmic line on tom toms from drummer, Sam Millar, and introspective solos from Voss on trombone and Lazaro Numa on trumpet over a firm foundation from the others. Nick Mulder’s Child’s Play was next, as a tribute to that great trombonist who passed away not too long ago. It featured a great solo from Ben Finnis on guitar and provided the first drum solo in the set from Sam Millar, a well-thought-out piece of work, adding to his sensitive underscoring in which he was assisted by Bonnie Grynchuk on bass, that added a lot to the band’s music during this set.

Inspired by the book of the same name, Stoner was next, a gentle ballad that grew in intensity, then fell to a whisper, with Millar again featured on guitar. Voss uses dynamics to great effect in his compositions. Returning to his love of the outdoors, Ghost Town reflects on what has been lost, the many fauna that we once saw in Australia that is gone. McGargill was, once again, featured on tenor sax, with punctuations from other instruments, and the use of flutes and soprano sax gave a lighter feel to the piece. It should be mentioned that Voss has the trombones often using bucket mutes and, briefly, Harmon mutes, during the concert, adding different timbres.

Voss thanked the audience for coming and introduced each of the musicians before the final number. At every election, politicians place signs everywhere telling voters to “Vote 1” for their candidate. Sick of the sight of them, Voss wrote Vote (1) a short, quick tempo piece highlighting McEvoy on piano and Pulford on baritone sax. Nice work on brushes from drummer, Millar, was notable, too. I have been a jazz drummer since the late 1960s, and brush work has sometimes seemed like a lost art, so it is always a delight to see and hear somebody use them well.

Extended applause followed this final number and an encore wouldn’t have gone astray, but, none came. We’ll all just have to wait for the band’s next gig to hear more.