Jazz on the Green

On Friday afternoon, I was teaching.  A friend (a fellow muso) rang, and because I was teaching, I didn't answer.  They rang again.  I didn't answer.  They rang again - and, because it's holidays and I'm not so diligent in checking my diary during the holidays, I had a horrible thought of "Have I said yes to a gig and they're expecting me to be somewhere but I'm not there because I'm at home? AGH!!!".  So I answered the phone.  Thankfully, my fear was unfounded.  Even better, the call was to tell me to come along to Jazz on the Green that evening. 

Well, this changed things.  I am a creature of habit - that's the whole point of this blog, after all.  I wanted to go for a run, which would mean I would be rather late to Jazz.  But the more I thought about it, the more I wanted to go to Jazz.  The weather was in cahoots, and didn't allow my exercise clothes to dry (yes, everything I own was on the line).  Jazz won. 

This is something that happens fairly regularly, I discovered.  Every Friday for a few months at a time, the little square of grass bordered by QPAC the Cultural Centre bus stop is an outdoor concert venue.  Very laid back, there are rugs and very low seats provided.  There are stalls for food and drink (the area is licensed).  It starts at 5 and goes until... sometime.  All sorts of people were there - corporate types just finishing work, parents with some very young kids, arty types, music students, I guess other students too.  Very inclusive. 

As for the actual jazz... I heard they were a band from the Con (which makes sense).  They were reasonable.  The keyboard was just a bit jangly for my ears though, and it was all very loud - the sort of loud where you have to wait for a song to finish if you want to communicate with your friends.  In the interlude, there was piped music of jazz from an earlier era.  This had us all bopping along and happy, and able to communicate with each other at the same time (with actual words, not shouting, no lipreading required).  The first song after the interlude was an original.  I'm very rarely in the mood for soppy love songs (with questionable lyrics), and when they hit the gratuitous (but seemingly standard now, unfortunately) key change, I was outta there. 

Especially as Friday is (normally) my day off, I can see this Jazz thing happening more frequently in my life.

The Camerata Concert

I am a little bit embarrassed to admit this, but... last night was the first time I went to a Camerata of St John's concert not in the cathedral.  And wow, what a concert! 

It was rather long - and even longer because we had an applauding audience.  But it wasn't one of those 'sit down and listen to a symphony' concerts.  All the works were descriptive but quite varied.  We heard the Ravel Quartet in F Major arranged into a Chamber Symphony by Brisbane violinist Gail Aitken; Four Seasons of Buenos Aires by Piazzolla, arranged by Desyatnikov; a Cuban jazz pianist (this was the wild card, and I can't actually remember which jazz standard they performed); the world premiere of Impressions of Erin, by another Brisbane violinist (now composer in Hollywood) Cameron Patrick; and Appalachian Spring Suite by Aaron Copland.  See what I mean?  A huge programme!  And all with the guest soloist/leader Dale Barltrop, another Brisbane-born violinist.

I had a fabulous seat in the Conservatorium Theatre: A1.  Yep.  Even the guy on the door who took my ticket commented I had the premiere seat.  I do generally prefer to be a bit further back, but I think because it's such a small group I didn't feel I was just getting first violin sound, and it was so close you could see them breathing.

As another new thing - I actually bought some of the promotional merchandise during the interval.  I'd had a sneak peak during the week and couldn't resist.