Music

Mary Margaret O’Hara makes rare appearance in Toronto
August 28, 2010

I’m not too sure what the heck happened at Lula Lounge this past Wednesday night, but whatever it was, it wasn’t dull. And I gather that’s the case whenever Mary Margaret O’Hara takes the stage, which is very rarely these days. Toronto’s Yvette Tollar, who was also singing that night, is the one responsible for putting the evening together and coaxing O’Hara out of her rabbit hole.

Mary Margaret O\’Hara

For anyone not familiar with O’Hara’s style, as I wasn’t until the other night, she’s known for her quirky, free-wheeling performances, interjecting witty asides and stream-of-consciousness commentaries mid-song. Her delivery, sense of humour and improvisational skills often reminded me of her famous sister, Catherine.

A performer like that needs solid yet risk-taking musicians to collaborate with and on Wednesday she had them in spades: guitarist Kevin Breit on guitar and vocals, Hugh Marsh on violin, Rich Brown on bass and Davide DiRenzo on drums.

The evening started out with a sparse, experimental piece and from there ranged across a gamut of styles. Breit and Tollar shared the vocals on Breit’s rootsy composition, Hang On, while O’Hara threw in musical quips about her grip not being as good as it used to be (so hang on).

Brown opened Compared to What with a wicked funky solo. The group’s jazzy cover of Joni Mitchell’s Edith and the Kingpin was one of the most mainstream tunes of the evening, unless you count Somewhere Over the Rainbow. But with O’Hara taking the lead on that one — playing with the tempo, back-phrasing into yesterday, leaping octaves and ending with an imitation of the Cowardly Lion — it was unlike any of the thousands of other versions we’ve all heard. The thing nearly went off the rails a few times, but credit goes to the band for saving it from being a train wreck.

Dan Ackroyd

Several guests took the stage during the evening including Tollar’s younger sister Allison Long (who has a lovely voice) and brother Ernie Tollar’s adorable wee daughter. Then for a complete change of pace, Dan Ackroyd got up on stage and blew the roof off the place with a Blues Brother’s style number. As well, Aidan Closs, who has collaborated with O’Hara in the past on some improvisational pieces, sat in on drums and sang a song about how women should take over the world, inducing lots of head nods from my (female) friends and me.

It took me a few days to digest everything I heard throughout the evening and that’s a good thing. I hope that Tollar puts together another show like it soon.

From the Women’s Post

Jazz in the city
June 20, 2008

Although it might not have seemed like it a couple of weeks ago, there are, in fact, many other things in this city for a hip, happening woman and her friends to do besides going to a certain movie and drinking cosmos. They can go see jazz and drink cosmos. Or have a beer, for that matter.

They can also, of course, play jazz. A review of the line-ups of the three major jazz festivals in this city would suggest that women are up to their bra straps in this once male-dominated art form.

So when I noticed that the Art of Jazz — a five-day celebration held at the Distillery District in the beginning of June — was devoting two afternoons to “Women in Jazz,” my first reaction was a tongue-in-cheek “Right on, sisters!” But then I got to thinking: This is 2008. So why are we still making the distinction between male and female musicians? It’s true that women have long been accepted as singers and, occasionally, piano players, but are they still struggling to carve a place for themselves as drummers, saxophonists, and bass players?

When it comes to playing jazz, are women still the odd man out? (Sorry, couldn’t resist at least one Sex and the City pun.)

Jane Bunnett is one of the founders of the Art of Jazz and a well-established sax player and bandleader, so I asked her what it’s like to be a woman in jazz these days, and if she finds herself being treated any differently from men. “Not really,” says Bunnett. “It’s all in the way you present and carry yourself. Jazz is a difficult music to learn, and if you’re a proficient player, you easily earn respect from your colleagues.”

When it comes to breaking out of the chick singer/piano player ghetto, Bunnett offers some success stories: “Take Cindy Blackman — she was Lenny Kravitz’s drummer for 11 years, but she is extremely well-respected in the jazz world. It’s one thing to see a woman playing the piano, but there’s something extremely riveting about seeing a female powerhouse like Cindy behind a drum set, propelling and leading a band.” (See my blog at womenspost.ca for a review of the Blackman show.)

A look through the TD Canada Trust Toronto Jazz Festival line-up tells me that women will be a strong presence during the 10-day extravaganza that takes over the city at the end of June. Although women are by no means as common as men, the ones who are appearing promise to be doing some really interesting stuff. Sliding Hammers, two trombone-playing sisters from Sweden, are innovating both by being female trombonists and by having two trombonists as lead instruments (and doing it in high heels!) I will personally be front and centre to see that. Jazz cellist Kye Marshall is another unusual feature of the festival, largely because cello is a rarity in jazz, but also because she straddles both classical and jazz genres.

“It’s interesting; in classical there used to be a predominance of men, but now it seems about 50/50,” says Marshall. “But in jazz the performers are almost all men. Women can do anything men can, musically, but musicians hire their friends, the guys they hang out with.”

So why aren’t more women going into jazz? “One of the main reasons is that there have been very few female role models,” Marshall says. “It helps to have a man to help you break into the business. I was lucky to have a mentor — Don Thompson — who made me realize that I could actually do this, play jazz!”

For a male perspective, I asked Bill King, musician, producer, journalist, and artistic director of the Beaches International Jazz Festival for his thoughts: “It’s a non-issue. Men have embraced the women players. Look at [bass players] Jodi Proznick and Brandi Disterheft. They just cleaned up at the National Jazz Awards and the Junos,” says King. “When a disc comes out with strong composition, good production, and great playing, it doesn’t matter whose face is on it. It’s what’s in the grooves that counts.”

Cathy Riches is a Toronto-based writer and reviewer who is in training for the upcoming music festival marathon.

June 14, 2009

Five hours, six guitarists, a gazillion notes

It seemed as if todo o mundo was in Yorkville for the Brazilian Guitar Marathon this past Saturday. The Luminato Festival of Arts + Creativity had set up a stage in the little park at Bellair Street, and a couple of blocks of Cumberland Avenue were blocked off to cars, turning the area into a mini, urban Tanglewood meets Carnavale. (Note to the Bloor-Yorkville BIA – let’s turn part of Yorkville into a pedestrian-only area every weekend in the summer.) The guitarists who had been brought in for the five-hour extravaganza are the cream of the nylon-string set in Brazil, and therefore the world. I’m not sure what it is about Brazilian musical culture that breeds such nimble-fingered musicians, but Antonio Carlos Jobim wasn’t kidding around when he said “Brazilians seem born with a guitar in their arms.”

The six guitarists on the program were from a mix of disciplines and the concert was designed to showcase them individually but also bring them together for fusions of fresh sounds. So when the darlings of the classical world Duo Assad (brothers Sérgio and Odair Assad) took the stage with seven-string phenom, Yamandu Costa, we got jazzy, percussive soloing over a lyrical Baroque piece.

Assad brothers

One of the other brilliant acts I caught that afternoon (in between taking respite from the sun and crowds to see old friends play at The Pilot Tavern during their regular Saturday afternoon jazz show) was agile singer/percussionist Luciana Souza and Romero Lubambo performing the gamut of samba, Jobim and Hermeto Pascoal, all at mind boggling tempos. The other players rounding out the afternoon were singer/guitarist Badi Assad (sister of Sérgio and Odair) and Celso Machado. Luminato deserves big kudos for putting together this phenomenal program of international performers and bringing them out of the concert halls and putting them on our streets for free.