Razzle Jazz concert

Press, 27 June 1983, Page 8

Razzle Jazz concert

Midwinter Razzle Jazz Concert at the Centre Gallery, June 26. Reviewed by Philip Norman. The organisational brilliance of the Midwinter Razzle did not exactly dazzle at the jazz concert last evening. With only one power point available, a pocket handkerchief stage that barely held the instruments without the players, lighting that consisted solely of the overhead fluorescents and a stark unsoftened setting, the musicians were seriously disadvantaged. Some would have it that it does not matter how or where jazz is performed, it is the music that counts. This I cannot agree with. If jazz is to be played in a concert setting successfully, certain minimum standards of presentation need to be met. Besides the problems above, the musicians are at fault here too. A printed programme, of course, is not necessary if

the items are clearly introduced. Inaudible mumblings are of no use at all and become irritating. The sight of musicians huddled in conference wondering what to play next breaks all continuity in a performance, as does the spectacle of a player desperately searching through a folder for the right chord chart. If jazz musicians want to widen their audience beyond the faithful few, they must get their act together better than was in evidence last evening. This was a great pity, for the music presented was often of a good quality, and in places remarkably imaginative. The trio of Keith Petch (guitar), Jevan Telford (bass), and Ted Meager (drums) in particular shone for the preparation they had put into their arrangements. This group also attempted a foray into post-1960s jazz, showing a willingness to

experiment with new sounds, something that Christchurch jazz in general is not noted for. Even so, the strict four-in-the-bar feel was never far away. A quintet of Harley Scott (guitar), Dennis Bryson (reeds), Gerry Marston (trumpet), Peter Hindmarsh (bass), and Derek Knibb (drums) gave a good account, if a little rigid at times, of a bracket of standards. The clear, bright trumpet of Gerry Marston was a feature of this. Murray Warner (piano), accompanied by Ted Meager and Jevan Telford, followed with a warm and relaxed bracket, taking its lead from the very tasteful piano work. Murray Warner’s confident yet gently understated playing was a highlight of the concert, as was Ted Meager’s brushwork and the tricksy (though always too loud) bass work of Jevan Telford.