Creative Risk Pays A Great Dividend

The Age

Tuesday December 13, 2005

JESSICA NICHOLAS, REVIEWER

MUSIC REVIEW: MELBOURNE WOMEN'S INTERNATIONAL JAZZ FESTIVAL Virna Sanzone; Belinda Moody's Epic Whispers. Bennetts Lane Jazz Lab, December 10. The festival continues until Thursday

ONE of the hallmarks of a good jazz festival is the formation of special projects that encourage risk-taking.

Bassist Belinda Moody leapt at the opportunity to try something new at this year's Melbourne Women's International Jazz Festival and spent five months writing and arranging an ambitious suite for jazz trio, string quartet and three vocalists.

Saturday's gig opened with a set by another vocalist, Sydney's Virna Sanzone. Formerly a backing singer with soul/funk artist Jackie Orszaczky, Sanzone is an assured performer whose voice has an appealing clarity and a natural lilt that becomes a seductive swagger on more upbeat tunes. Her delivery and repertoire, though, are more "jazzy" than jazz and on Saturday she rarely seemed to connect with the lyrics on a heart level.

Singer Carl Pannuzzo, on the other hand, is all heart. When he sings - as he did with Belinda Moody's "Epic Whispers" ensemble - he invests himself in every line, his voice moving freely and almost unconsciously as it forms unusual shapes and textures.

Moody's suite itself was highly unusual, with melodies that refused to follow formulaic structures and harmonies that pulled against the melody in subtle (and occasionally overt) ways. This presented the vocalists with some significant challenges, all of which they tackled with remarkable grace.

Alison Wedding's duet with Emma Gilmartin was particularly impressive, their twin vocal lines merging and harmonising persuasively over the slippery, dissonant voicings of the string quartet.

From the back of the stage, Moody's effortlessly clear basslines and rhythms steered the players through the suite's shifting moods, opening up spaces for individual solos while maintaining a clear ensemble direction. Her rhythm section companions (pianist Luke Howard and Ronny Ferella) were both marvellously flexible and all the performers clearly appreciated the beauty and complexity of Moody's writing and arranging.

After three years based in Japan, Moody will now spend more time back in Australia. On the basis of Saturday's performance, Melbourne audiences have a lot to look forward to.

For full program details, visit www.mwijf.org

© 2005 The Age

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