Concert 3 – Wayne Kelly Trio

Sunday 18th June  at 2.00pm

JAZZ FOR A SUNDAY AFTERNOON IN YASS WITH THE WAYNE KELLY TRIO.

There’s already been a great jazz concert for a sunny Sunday afternoon and we had a our very own such special concert on a sunny afternoon in Yass on  Sunday, 18th June with the Wayne Kelly Trio, comprising Wayne Kelly on piano, Ben O’loghlin on double bass and Mark Sutton on drums and what a tour de force it was, as a feast of great, and mainly cool, jazz performed for the Yass Music Club.

The program was a mixture of both jazz standards and original compositions with a variety of moods, tempos, rhythms, melodies and harmonies which took us on a special musical journey to what Wayne hoped would be “a better place”.

The Trio’s program was presented in two sets, the first of which began with ‘Broadway’ by Wilbur Bird, Teddy McRae and Henri Woode, and in a style inspired by the Ahmad Jamal version and was a mood setter for what was to come.

It was followed by the wonderful Irving Berlin number, ‘How deep is the ocean’ and then to Wayne’s tribute to Hank Jones in ‘Mr Hank Jones followed by a special tribute, in a Latin mood, to the journey of a married couple where all is not smooth sailing and particularly dedicated to Wayne’s parents, Gordon and Therese in  ‘Together’.

The versatility of the group  was shown in its presentation of Wayne’s ‘Optimism’ with the piano in deep conversation with the double bass and drums each bouncing off the other.

A change of style came with ‘Just a closer walk’ combining New Orleans and Gospel in nice harmony and the set finished with the song, What’s New?’ written by Bob Haggart.

 

At interval a delicious afternoon tea was served by the Hospital Auxiliary and the raffle for Wayne’s latest CD ‘Wayne Plays the Duke’ donated by Wayne and which was won by Evol.

The second set began with Wayne at his most creative presenting three Duke Ellington favourites from his CD, ‘Creole Love Call’, ‘Satin Doll’ and ‘Prelude to a Kiss’ all with the magic of cool jazz with the subtleties of a master in his passionate exposition of them.

‘Little Dom’ and ‘Woden Sound’ gave Ben on double bass and Mark on drums some real opportunities to show their instrumental skills in their own compositions and Ben’s wooing of the bass  to his intentions were matched by Mark’s very considerable skills in a Krupa-like journey into percussion.

Between the soloists’ grabs was a funky Gospel number from Wayne, ‘Chill’, in which he again showed his love for Gospel and the enjoyment he shared in playing it was deep and sincere.

One of the stand outs for the concert was ‘Vanessa’ which Wayne had written in memory of ‘the late and awesome’ Vanessa, Mark’s wife who had recently died. It was a work of deep compassion and love and its sharing was poignant indeed.

The remarkable concert finished with a cruisy blues number ‘On the Bus’ also written by Wayne as a dedication to Mark’s daughter, Samantha.

The Wayne Kelly Trio did us proud with a brilliant and entertaining concert on a ‘sunny Sunday afternoon’ in Yass and the passion and skills of the group were very much appreciated.

The Music Club’s next concert, the Acacia Quartet is on on Sunday afternoon, 13th August and is designated as ‘The RAG Holmes Tribute Concert’ and we are delighted to be presenting such an outstanding group on this occasion. 

Their program will include the Haydn – String Quartet Op.77/1, Elena Kats-Chernin – From Anna

Magdalena’s Notebook and the Schubert – String Quartet No. 13 Op. 29 D804 ‘Rosamunde’ .

For our 65th Sapphire Jubilee Series in 2018, planning is well in hand for a spectacular program which will include Katz Chernin and Cislowska, Greta Bradman, Teddy Tahu Rhodes (TBC) and the RMC Band.

Brian Millett.

 

‘Wayne Kelly is one of the finest jazz pianists noted for his exciting, beautiful and always ‘swinging’ performances’.