Chamber Jam

Photo by Christine Yeong. 

Chamber Jam, a regular gig at the Ellington Jazz Club in Perth, is always worth going to. It features mainly classical musicians, most of whom are either just starting out or trying something new and wonderful. This month we had three classical ensembles playing a variety of arrangements.

The evening started out conventionally enough, with Duo Caliente. Guitarist Duncan Gardiner and flautist Rebecca Guy have been playing together for ten years, and have attained that kind of comfortable relationship that old friends and partners achieve. They gave us a fairly conventional set of Spanish style music, comprising ‘Parable 1’ by Jacques Ibert; three pieces from Popular Brazilian Music by Celso Machado; ‘Entr’Acte’ by Ibert; ‘Palermo’ (from Suite Buenos Aires) by Maximo Diego Pujol; ‘Flamingo Tango’ (Duncan’s own composition, and very nice, too!) and ‘Libertango’ by Astor Piazzolla. A well-balanced choice of material: a tad predictable, perhaps, but well-played, easy listening from start to finish from a pair of reliable, talented musicians.

While they were playing, performance painter Phil Doncon was beavering away at a huge canvas, a brush in each hand, as he sought to depict the versatility of the Spanish repertoire and of Duo Caliente. He came up with a magnificent creation in yellow and purple. It is fascinating to watch Doncon work – a piece can start out depicting seagulls and boats and end up with a forest. None of the work is strictly pictorial, though. Rather, Doncon goes for atmosphere and semi-abstract representations of the spirit of the group that is playing. His creations are always in demand after a performance and are auctioned. Duo Caliente count themselves lucky to have been able to acquire ‘their’ picture this time.

A short break to replenish snacks and drinks, and then Très Classique took the stage. This ensemble is a really a collective of floating artists who get together in various combinations to fuse classical instruments with popular and contemporary styles, performing music from a diverse and extensive repertoire ranging from Bach to the Black Eyed Peas. The line up on Chamber Jam night was Tresna Stampalia on flute, Stephanie Nicholls on oboe and Emma Vanderwal on cello. For a couple of numbers they were joined by guest drummer Ben Vanderwal.

They gave us a varied program, starting with Haydn’s ‘London Trio No 1’, followed by a lovely rendition of Morricone’s much-loved ‘Gabriels Oboe’. Equally good listening was the intriguing 3^rd movement of Villa-Lobos’s duo for flute and cello, ‘The Jet Whistle’, which explores and even pushes the boundaries of the ranges of both instruments and of the technical abilities of the players, too. Stampalia and Vandewal rose to the challenge. Next, Rutter’s Pie Jesu’s lovely harmonies soothed our ears – a nice contrast to the Jet Whistle – and the final presentation, the famous Tijuana Brass number, ‘The Spanish Flea’ (written by drummer Julius Wechter) which built to a wonderful climax, largely due to Ben Vanderwal’s drumming expertise. His military tattoo made that flea sound both menacing and heroic! That was so good we demanded an encore, and we got it with a superb arrangement of Leonard Cohen’s ‘Hallelujah’. A nice conclusion to a very satisfying act.

After the second break, the final group was rearing to go. ISQ is an ‘alternative’ string quartet with added drum-kit, specialising in rock and pop music. If you can’t imagine what Daft Punk, Radiohead or Britney Spears would sound like played by two violins, a viola and a cello, just add drums. Better still, go and hear ISQ. They’re good. But then, with Rachael Aquilina (first violin), Pascale Whiting (second violin), Bourby Webster (viola) and Emma and Ben Vanderwal on cello and drum kit respectively, this group can’t help but sound good.

The success of this group owes much to their highly original arrangements and well as their expertise. For this program they selected ‘Get lucky’ (Daft Punk) ‘Airbag’ (Radiohead), ‘Africa’ (Toto) ‘God only knows’ (Beach Boys), Arthur Hamilton’s classic ‘Cry me a River’, the amazing Metallica number ‘Master of Puppets’ with Michael Jacksons ‘Thriller’ as a conclusion.

Rating: 4 out of 5 stars