What a gig!

Last week I went to one of the greatest jazz gigs I've ever been to. The group was called the John Leigh Calder trio http://johnleighcalder.com/ and it was at unassuming little pub in Surrey Hills called the Hotel Clarendon http://www.hotelclarendon.com.au/. My friends and I arrived there at around 8:30 on Friday night and the band had just kicked off with their first number as we walked in. As soon as the band hit their first few chords we knew we were in for a good night. For a start the volume was right, so many times at these jazz gigs they keep the volume so low that it makes everything seem like lounge music. The volume at this gig was perfect it was enough so the sound engulfed and surrounded you, made you a part of it. There was no way you could be at this gig and be separate from it.

They had this rippin' saxophone player David Glyde sitting in for the night, he's a real old time player, in fact he actually played with the Beatles on Sgt Pepper's lonely hearts club band, and man could he solo! The notes rolled off his horn during his solos, building, building until they came at you like bullets. Pushing you back for cover and just when you think you can't take any more he'd throw in these real low blows, gut buster notes leaving you battered exhausted and almost on the floor. The pianist would then come in to pick up the pieces, he was the saviour after the earthquake. He played with an eternal smirk on his face making us trust him, making us think heres the sanity, the good natured love and kindness we expect from a simple jazz gig. Then he'd turn on us, dishing out barrage after barrage of block chords. Never letting us return to the reality that only moments ago had seemed so important. The real stuff, the stuff that makes life worth living was all right here.

The whole night seemed like an endless meditation, as if I'd opened up a direct channel to my soul, and the band had plugged right into it. Every note played hit me at an emotional and physical level. They played a slow blues, I almost wept, followed by a blazing fast version of Caravan which exhausted me physically, chased by a ballad which gave me time to recover, then i was knocked out again, the whole night went on like this. I spent the rest of the weekend trying to comprehend what had just happened, eventually giving up reasoning that it was something my rational mind could never understand.

I feel like the saxaphonist David Glyde was key to this almost spiritual experience (and the booze no doubt) his solos really took the band out there and I'm definitely looking forward to catching these guys again. They curently play every friday at the Hotel Clarendon in Surry Hills, Sydney http://www.hotelclarendon.com.au/ if you're in town i'd really recommend them. The sax guy isn't there every week but i'm sure they'll be great nonetheless, and it's free so there's really no excuse not to go!