McNeill’s drug is singing

Press, 14 March 1984, Page 19

McNeill’s drug is singing

By

BRAD TATTERSFIELD

Christchurch Festival

Malcolm McNeill, a Christchurch singer with an international reputation, performs his craft because he has to. “Singing is an urgency for me. I start biting my fingernails and shuffling around if I haven’t been doing it for a while,” he says. It is hard to imagine Malcolm McNeill, a relaxed and likeable person, ever getting wound up about anything, but his dedication and desire for perfection in his work are unmistakeable. “My interest in singing revolves around getting it right,” he says. The singer performs in order to achieve those "magic moments” when a rapport between himself and the audience is established. "I get a kick out of it when something has worked, something has been shared. That’s what it’s all about — it’s like a drug, it keeps you coming back.” After 20 years of performing, those magic moments are still coming thick and fast for Malcolm McNeill. He has been regarded as New Zealand’s foremost jazz vocalist in the past, having worked with Cleo Laine and John Dankworth, Mike Nock, the Mike Sammes singers and the Manhattan Transfer among others. Yet Mr McNeill says his musical interests are broader than that now — last Sunday, for example, he performed 300-year-old Elizabethan songs with harp accompaniment at the Robert McDougall Art Gallery. “I like working with jazz musicians because of their musical understanding and ability, yet I think Elizabethan songs are prompted

by the same impulse,” he says. He shuns “pop” music precisely because it lacks that impulse. “Pop music comes from a formula, or recipe, that is initially exciting but loses its effect once you become used to the recipe. For me, music must be made by people, real individuals — it has to come from the heart.” Malcolm McNeill says his style is unique, but is most akin to Cleo Laine, who he says draws from a wide variety of musical sources. He worked with Laine and her husband, John Dankworth, at their Wavendon theatre in England. “They are not exclusive about what they like. They are influenced by everything from jazz to classical to Ravi Shankar, and have artists such as Yehudi Menuhin visiting there.” He toured with John Dankworth’s band, and worked at the prestigious Ronny Scott’s jazz club in London. Although he has been working in London for the past six years, Malcolm McNeill is now a resident of Sydney, where he is singing at the Hilton and trying to build up an Australian following. He is loyal to his small but faithful New Zealand following, and has returned frequently to perform here while living overseas. He regards his concerts at the State Trinity Theatre in Christchurch as some of the high points of his career. “The South Pacific is be-

coming more and more important in the musical world, and Americans and Britons are interested in coming here to record. New Zealand could become an important base for art in the world, if we had a more enlightened and imaginative government that didn’t stamp a 40 per cent sales tax on albums.” His future desire is to be based in New Zealand and be able to travel to a ready-made Australian audience. Yet like so many other talented New Zealand performers, he must first “make it” overseas before being able to pick and choose his ideal habitat. “You run the risk of overexposure by performing solely in a country of three million people,” he says. He is half-way through recording an album for the Australian Broadcasting Commission at present, composed of material mainly from the 19405. “It’s a similar concept to Linda Ronstadt’s album, ‘What’s New’,” he said. Mr McNeill considers his audience as middle-of-the-road, reasonably intelligent “without being high-brow,” and interested in good music. The sort of people, in fact, that he likes. “I have had to work hard to create an audience here, and I’m trying to do the same thing in Australia. The New Zealand public are fairly choosey — if you can convince them you are good, then you are doing well.” He feels his distinctive style has something to offer

the music scene, although confesses to having doubted that sometimes throughout his long career. Mr McNeill feels demand for quality in music among the listening public has remained the same over the years, but there has been fluctuation in the conviction of those organising the business. Balancing the books,

rather than the creative experience, too often becomes the overriding factor. “Too many accountants, and not enough creative people, are in charge of decisions. This trend in music is a reflection of a world-wide movement,” he says. “Quality music fills a real need, and I would like to think I am part of that need.”

He returns to Australia at the end of this week, after making a radio programme for Radio New Zealand. He describes himself as “quiet but tenacious,” and that tenacity reflects in his attitude to his work. “I’m in it because I want to be, and my main ambition is to get better at it