Jack Hutton and Friends - Always Charmers

                    Bob Livingston, Jack Hutton, Ric Giorgi, Brian Bauer, Will Wilson

Resplendent and timeless in their signature concert garb, five of the finest in the fields of ragtime, jazz, swing and beyond returned to the Gravenhurst Opera House on Friday 20 July 2012. Jack Hutton at the piano, Will Wilson on banjo and guitar, Ric Giorgi on bass, Bob Livingston on trombone and Brian Bauer, the clarinetist with the largest collection of saxophones known to Muskoka, or anywhere else, charmed an appreciative audience with mostly familiar tunes, and one that was nearly unknown.

Just as Brian Bauer collects clarinets, saxophones, weird sounds and terrible jokes, Jack Hutton gathers around him authentic players, multi-talented in all directions, and able to swing, literally and figuratively, from instrument to instrument to voice, and from style to style. Wag Bauer, an incurable punster, wants us to know that he is “cymbal-minded”. I want him and you to know just how effective are those well-timed, brassy, foot-activated clashes. Perfect punctuation.

As I relaxed and enjoyed this concert the word that came to me out of nowhere was, “Groovy”. Just what did that term from the twenties, revived in the sixties and seventies actually imply? I guess it means any number of experiences for musicians and audience.

For me, it meant: comfortable and refreshing for us refugees from a gruelling heatwave. Mellow, but a kind of mellow that keeps the listener entertained and alert for the unexpected.

Rounded tones from Bob Livingston’s masterly trombone underpinned a sparkling blend of sound. The sparkles sprang from all and any of the instruments, as the rhythms changed, with turns of a melody and travel in time. Flying fingers on piano or banjo painted with fresh colours time-honoured tunes like “Honeysuckle Rose”, “Just One Of Those Things“ and “If They Asked Me I Could Write A Book”. The clarinet in itself is a multi-lingual instrument. The bass abounds in tonalities.

Their final selection sounded rich and symphonic - as the five rounded out a delightful evening with a glorious burst of melody. Jack writes of “Tickletoe” by Lester Young:

“Only Will Wilson and Brian had ever heard this before. It was the very first time we had ever played it as a group, which is one of the things that makes this group special – constantly re-discovering gems from the past.”

The day after the concert, as this review took shape, I happened on an internet article that went on and on about “the groove”. All fascinating, but I sat up and took notice at this comment, lightly edited by me for comfortable reading:

“When a groove is established among players, the musical whole becomes greater than the sum of its parts, enabling them to experience something beyond themselves which no one of them can create alone.”

That neatly describes what happens when Jack Hutton and friends get together.

Links:

Will Wilson’s new CD: inquire at: guitarbanjoman@gmail.com 

Article on the groove:http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Groove_(music)

http://www.bala.net/museum/

http://www.gravenhurstoperahouse.com/

Alfie Zappacosta, Contemporary Minstrel

 ZAPPACOSTA AND FRIENDS PERFORM ZAPPACOSTA HITS


by Helen  Heubi

Hear singer song-writer Alfie Zappacosta once, and chances are you’ll want to chance more of his romance. This was evident at the Gravenhurst Opera House on the evening of Wednesday 14 July. From the opening chords on Alfie’s guitar, audience members recognized songs they knew, and applauded in warm anticipation. They had experienced this music and artist before, and so they already knew that you never know what nuances, colours and fireworks he will invest in any particular composition of his, any time. On Wednesday evening, the mood, announced by Alfie at the beginning, was romantic.

Colour comes first to mind as I revisit last night’s performance, from the subtlest tones of guitar, viola, accordion, keyboards and voice to rich tapestries of melody interwoven by rhythm, to rhapsodic explosions of high intensity. Half the time I didn’t know where the three musicians on stage were going with their improvisations, and even then, it didn’t matter. That, according to keyboard virtuoso Ross Wooldrige, is Alfie’s intention - to send spirits floating on a plane of infinite possibilities.

Claudio Vena’s viola was a perfect voice to work intricate patterns with Alfie Zappacosta’s amazing instrument - his flexible voice with its wide range in pitch and flavours.

The Zappacosta voice is probably what singing teachers have in mind when they try to get pupils to realize. “Your voice isn’t just a voice; it’s your instrument.” Alfie Zappacosta’s 1984 Juno award recognized him as “Most Promising Male Vocalist”. Another Juno in 1988 was for the "Album of The Year".

During a career of more than 30 years, and still going strong, Zappacosta has been known as “rock to some, smooth to others, AC to many. Alfie is established enough that he's just Alfie - an incredibly gifted talent beyond any genre tag”, to quote his website, which continues: “In 1995, Zappacosta left his pop stardom behind to pursue a more intimate style of writing and performing. 

“The roots of his new sound started when Zappacosta began playing solo before crowds at a Toronto club. Playing only guitar, he explored new harmonies and melodies, later combining rootsy elements such as harmonica and accordion, which eventually manifested itself in a contemporary Jazz/AC sound.” 

Zappacosta derives his own creations from a deep well of invention that is as personal as it is universal. The concert in Gravenhurst was one of many based entirely on his own compositions, like “Passion”, “When I Fall in Love Again” and my personal favourite “Adelina”. Some of his hits are collaborations. “Nothing Could Stand in Your Way”, which he sang last night, was written with David Foster.

His American Music Award is for contribuing “Overload” to “Dirty Dancing”. He has played the lead in “Jesus Christ Superstar” and Che Guevara in “Evita” and the lead in “Hair”. He has several films to his credit, has performed for troops in Afghanistan and added his voice to the African famine relief project “Tears Are Not Enough”. Even this brief list cannot encapsulate the Alfie who appeared on the Gravenhurst Opera House Stage.

The poet, composer, musician and singer has written, “I wanted to get back into a form of music that I knew I was not only capable of doing but also a style of music that would fulfill me both artistically and spiritually. I realized that chasing down fads is really a losing proposition.”

This courageous manifesto works for Alfie Zappacosta, and worked on stage and for the audience of the Gravenhurst Opera House on Wednesday evening. I want him back, so that I and my friends can experience anew the magic that he and his colleagues weave out of the air together.

For more on this artist, with list of his CD’s, see his website:

http://iamzappacosta.com

A reminder of the Gravenhurst Opera House link:

http://www.gravenhurstoperahouse.com/