(James Morrison)
Those who were in
attendance can count themselves very lucky to have experienced something very
special. (Review by Keith Millar)
The headline act at
the Standard Bank Jazz Festival in Grahamstown this year was James Morrison,
Australia’s greatest jazz musician, and his quartet. Regarded as the world’s most
versatile multi-instrumentalist, Morrison has performed on the trumpet, soprano,
alto, tenor,
and baritone saxophones, clarinet,
flugelhorn, bass trumpet, trombone,
euphonium, tuba, double bass, guitar
and piano.
During his career,
he has collaborated with many musical legends including the likes of Dizzy
Gillespie, Ray Charles, B B King,
Frank Sinatra, Ray Brown, George Benson and Quincy Jones. He is also an arranger and composer of
international renown.
Morrison’s first
love is big band jazz and for his second concert at the Festival, he and his
quartet appeared with the Festival Big Band. This group was assembled from some
of South Africa’s top jazz musicians and was led by Fredrik Noren, leader of
the Stockholm Jazz Orchestra.
Morrison restricted
himself on the night to playing only trumpet (his main instrument), trombone
and tenor sax.
The James Morrison
Quartet also features his sons, William on guitar and Harry on bass, along with
the very talented Patrick Danao on drums.
The DSG Hall was
packed to the rafters for this concert as many of the youngsters who were part
of the Standard Bank National Youth Jazz Festival squeezed in. It was a wildly
excited audience and they were treated to a Big Band Jazz master class.
Morrison is a phenomenal musician. His performance on all three instruments was
breath-taking and astonishing.
The rest of the
musicians seemed to feed off his energy and the synergy and skill they
displayed was staggering. All of them played superbly and took advantage of
their solo breaks to display wonderful skills. None more so than Bokani Dyer on
piano and Patrick Danao on drums.
The band played an
assortment of standards such as Georgia
On My Mind, All Of Me, I’m Getting Sentimental Over You, A Wonderful World and a rousing version
of Duke Ellington’s Caravan, plus
several of Morrison’s own compositions.
Morrison who is
also a radio and TV presenter (Top Gear,
believe it or not) is a most amusing host. He had the audience in stitches
while recounting his musical adventures or just dishing out one-liners. It was
better than some stand-up comedians.
That this was a
world class concert there can be no doubt. Those who were in attendance can
count themselves very lucky to have experienced something very special.
One can only hope
that James Morrison accepts the invitation to visit the National Arts festival
again next year. – Keith Millar
(To link direct to the
NAF site click on the large banner that runs across the top of this blog)
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