Concert
Sandro Zerafa
Manoel Theatre
The concert by Maltese jazz guitarist Sandro Zerafa did not only show his mastery of jazz guitar but also his proficiency as a composer.
The programme proved to be a fresh and interesting one- John Anthony Fsadni
The event was held to launch his new album Urban Poetics.
He was accompanied by pianist Laurent Coq from France, bassist Yoni Zelnik from Israel and drummer Karl Jannuska from Canada.
To add to the cosmopolitan dimension of the band was the international flavour of Mr Zerafa’s writing, which employed numerous styles and techniques ranging from African polyrhythms to the carnival marches and bossa nova of Brazil.
The programme proved to be a fresh and interesting one.
The title-piece, Urban Poetics, made use of complex rhythms, yet elegant and without any exaggeration, thereby preserving the clean quality of Mr Zerafa’s guitar-playing andthe piano’s tranquil shadowing of the melody.
The structure of the piece shifted from piano solo to quartet and back, at one point entering the realm of bebop.
The second item, not recorded in the album, was an untitled piece with a straight-quaver, ballad-like feel, very unlike the previous piece.
The elegance of the quartet’s playing was followed by Mr Zerafa’s blunt comment that he simply could not find a suitable title.
In fact, he showed his sense of humour during the concert through funny comments while introducing the items.
The music too seems to have been written in the same good spirits.
The short introductory piano tune in Blurred Vision is a funny, bouncing passage, later taken up by the bass.
However, funny does not mean easy; the following polyrhythms were reminiscent of Africa and Cuba, or Brazilian musicians’ occasional use of the bembe rhythm in samba.
This same sense of humour was also evident in Goose, where the guitar played a happy, optimistic melody set against modulating, mostly major chords while the rest of the rhythm section kept a steady, almost exaggerated pulse throughout the tune’s head and much of the soloing.
Very notable in this piece was the double bassist’s superb solo.
The piano often reminded the listener of Bill Evans’ lyricism, at other times Thelonius Monk’s energy, yet the dominant feel was that of French jazz; Michel Petrucciani came to mind.
In Milton the guitar duplicated the double bass on its lower strings, a technique common in baixaria, the traditional Brazilian treatment of the bass line.
The concluding section of the piece was in the style of a Brazilian carnival march.
The drummer alone introduced Kilgore Trout, and this introduction foreshadowed his prominent role in the rest of the number.
Once more the piano shadowed the guitar throughout most of the head, but the real protagonist in this one was the drummer.
Apart from providing rhythmic counterpoint to the bassist’s solo immediately after the head, his soloing consisted of unpredictable, almost speech-like syncopated rhythmic passages, carefully orchestrated among the drum kit’s constituents.
Mr Zerafa’s excellent performance was enhanced by Mr Jannuska’s mastery of polyrhythms, Mr Zelnik’s technical virtuosity on the double bass, and Mr Coq’s beautiful piano voicings.