Mark and I ventured out tonight to the Brisbane Powerhouse (about which Kate writes in appropriately celebratory mode) for the first instalment of the free program in the Spark Bar that’s part of Cool Jazz, Hot Nights.
We saw the fabulous Megan Washington as a guest vocalist with the Mark Isaacs Trio, who are there all weekend.
Join Megan’s upcoming gigs email list, and check out her Myspace music page for some samples and downloads. I can’t get the first song to play all the way through to hear her cover of Nick Cave’s Red Right Hand, but I’m sure that will be remedied when my broadband recovers from its 64k-ification on 1 October.
But she’s just fabulous. All the reviews seem to harp on the theme that she’s only 20. Deal, Timeoff writers. She reminded us of, oh Lord, so many great singers, and fully deserves the appelation of “Indie Chanteuse”. And her stage presence is remarkable. Think Audrey Horne from Twin Peaks played by P J Harvey instead of Sherilyn Fenn. Then close your eyes and listen to Megan’s voice…
<img src="http://larvatusprodeo.net/wp-content/uploads/2006/09/megan2.JPG"
Wow.
What. A. Voice.
Can’t wait for her to tour here…
And it’s in Brisbane, and I didn’t even see it.
Then again, I got to make $9.50 busking without a permit, over half an hour, in the valley tonight. Surely that amounts to something.
Kim — So, ya think if I rush out and FedEx Megan an engagement ring, that’ll at least hold my place in line for the near-term? Or am I gonna have to fly over there and propose in person?
The Bard: “…I got to make $9.50 busking without a permit, over half an hour, in the valley tonight. Surely that amounts to something.”
Well it’s certainly a lot better than I could do. The one and only time I made a mad attempt at ‘busking’ was when a buddy and me drunkenly borrowed another friend’s saxophone, took it out in the street, and decided to try playing it in public (with appropriate interpretive dance and yowling), despite the fact that neither of us knew how. A homeless guy (this really happened) was our only patron: he gave us a dollar to shut up and go away.
I don’t know whether I’d ever want to close my eyes on Ms Washington here …
There’s a passage in one of Stravinsky’s books where he ridicules people who go to ballets and operas and close their eyes to hear the music. He found that ridiculous – if I remember correctly, he thought the idea that you could shut out the world, and just leave the music, was a lie. And it’s worth remembering that some of his most complicated and famous music was written for operas and ballets.
I think he had a point.
Definitely one to keep an eye on. To be honest, the guitar (esp in the middle section) impressed me more than the voice, which is clearly the raw, evolving voice of a 20 year old
Sorry Kim.
And what’s with the dizzying side to side, speaker to speaker effect at the end??
j_p_z – judging by the level of admiration directed at young Megan at the gig, I think the latter.
TimT – point taken. I think the image occurred to me because Megan herself had her eyes closed a lot of the time she was singing. I myself was trying hard to be a good audience member and look at Mark Isaacs or the bass player when they were doing solos, but found my gaze drifting back to Megan – dancing away in P J Harvey/Audrey Horne style at the side of the stage.
Ps – everyone should note that there are three mp3 samples on her myspace page. Click on the links to hear the other two apart from the default one that plays when you go there.
Oh, oh, oh, i take it all back. Just been to the MySpace page.
There are very few people who could take Radioheads Fake Plastic Trees, strip it back to simple piano and vocals and come away with credit. And i’ll extend her as much credit as she wants for that performance. In contrast to what I said before, the assuredness and uniqueness of her voice reminds me of none other than Nina Simone.
I see she lists Brad Mehldau as an influence, and you can see his fingerprints all over the Piano stuff. If you liked it you can check out this video of his performance of antoher Radiohead song ,Exit Music for a Film. There’s also Nick Drake and Paul Simon covers on there. Warning: Involves serious (ie: discordant) jazz improvisation.
She was certainly very spiffy. I’ll be looking out for future gigs.