Listen & Be Heard Weekly Archives

Part II of II

(Our story so far: Boy meets girl. Boy marries girl. Girl teaches yoga. Girl and colleague fly to India to study at the Svastha Yoga and Ayurveda center in Chennai. Boy and girl have lunch with colleague and her spouse three days before the flight leaves. The foursome talks about Charles Mingus while waiting for the food. The couples go their separate ways after the meal.

And now, the thrilling conclusion to ?Lunch In Mill Valley.?)

After lunch Dariece and I decided to go to The Family Store, one of Mill Valley?s thrift shops, where she hoped to find some inexpensive T-shirts to wear during her classes. She went to look at clothing, I headed for the used books and CDs section of the store. The music for sale in most thrift shops is usually old copies of Frampton Comes Alive and selections from nearly-forgotten 1970s singer/songwriters who still manage to work steadily at county fairs and venues like Clear Lake?s Konocti Harbor. The Family Store?s stock of CDs was no different, except for a CD titled Evidence by a band called The Idea Of North.

I knew nothing about this CD. I knew nothing about the band. What was their idea of north? Directional? Were they referring to Jay North, TV?s Dennis The Menace? Oliver North, a different kind of TV menace? North To Alaska, Johnny Horton?s hit song from the John Wayne film of the same name? Was anything on the CD associated with Cary Grant being chased by a cropduster airplane in North By Northwest? Was there an idea at all?

The CD was in a basket with a ?CDs $1.50? sign attached to it. I decided to take a shot in the dark, spend the money, and find out for myself.

I found out that The Idea Of North is an outstanding a cappella group from Australia and Evidence is one of the most refreshing jazz vocal recordings I have heard since Take 6?s eponymous debut release from 1988. The big difference between the two recordings is The Idea Of North?s emphasis on music by jazz musicians or composers associated with jazz, while Take 6 performed mostly jazz-inspired versions of gospel music on the above-mentioned CD.

The CD begins with ?No More Blues,? an Antonio Carlos Jobim song that is a particular favorite of mine from Dizzy Gillespie?s version on his live ?Dizzy On The French Riviera? recording; in fact, two of The Idea Of March?s members, alto Naomi Crellin (who arranged this piece) and tenor Nick Begbie, recreate Lalo Schifrin?s piano solo from that performance, note for note. Andrew Piper?s bass voice holds down the low end, his lines are strong and imaginative, and a casual listener would be surprised that the bass parts were performd by a human voice.

The fourth and founding member of the group, soprano Trish Delaney-Brown, is all over this recording, singing beautifully, contributing her own compositions ?Simple Feast,? ?Rachel,? and ?We Will Find A Way,? puts music to Australian poet Henry Lawson?s ?After All? for the song of the same title, and lyrics to Michel Camilo?s ?Just Kidding.?

Camilo?s ?Just Kidding? is joined by songs by other jazz musicians and composers associated with jazz. The title track is the well-known Thelonius Monk piece; this version contains lyrics by James Morrison, who also plays flugelhorn on George and Ira Gershwin?s ?But Not For Me.? Horace Silver?s ?Sister Sadie? gets a vocalese workout filled with various ?sweeeeeeeee-doo-wee-atta-doo-wop? phrasing. Along with ?No More Blues,? Jobim is represented by ?Corcovado,? with English lyrics by the much-read and respected jazz critic Gene Lees. (One of Lees? best-known books is ?Waiting For Dizzy,? a series of essays about jazz musicians, including one on the titular John Birks Gillespie. Dizzy.) There is even a version of Stevie Wonder?s ??sn?t She Lovely,? complete with a vocalized chromatic harmonica effect by Begbie, which he uses to create his own imaginative solo instead of mimicking the original. It, like all of the above-mentioned tunes, is lovely.

Fans of Lambert, Hendricks, and Ross, Take 6, Manhattan Transfer, and a capella singing will love this CD. I have been playing it almost every day since bringing it home. A buck-fifty well spent.

For ordering and additional information, visit www.idea.com.au.

The Idea Of North is the 2003 winner of the Harmony Sweepstakes A Cappella Festival. The National Finals are held annually at the Marin Veterans? Auditorium in San Rafael. For information regarding this event, visit www.harmony-sweepstakes.com.

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