By Karen Aney (The Cascade) – Email
Print Edition: February 22, 2012
The Reach Gallery in Abbotsford has an ongoing “Live @ the Reach” concert series in which they feature an eclectic mix of performances. The most recent performance was on Saturday, February 18, featuring the Longhand Trio.
The venue is a wonderful setting for an intimate concert. The high ceilings and open areas allow for fairly good acoustics, though rattling central air that doesn’t detract from viewing art definitely didn’t add to a musical concert.
The music itself began on a slightly dubious note. Russell Scholberg played the saw, while Skye Brooks set a backbeat with erratic strikes on his drum kit. Tony Wilson added to the mix with his guitar, but it wasn’t strummed in a traditional way – instead, it was plucked placidly, the metal strip twined in the strings creating a solid yet gentle sound. The soundscape created was somewhat ethereal, yet seemed to suggest an entirely different type of sound than the remainder of the concert. While the sounds certainly served to establish the fact that all three were deeply talented musicians, it’s rather stark difference from the rest of the pieces was somewhat startling and misleading.
While misleading, the sound was unquestionably unique. Though it could possibly be recreated by a computer program, seeing such sounds produced live is a wonderful experience. Another truly unique aspect of the concert was Wilson’s guitar playing. He displayed a broad range of talent, from traditional jazz licks to a completely unique sound that nonetheless fit. Though it’s difficult to describe, his playing was reminiscent of a harp player. The cacophony of notes twinkled as his fingers danced over the strings, seemingly uninhibited by traditional technique or restrictions. He plays as if uninhibited by the traditional restrictions of the instrument, and that resulted in a sound beautiful in its unique nature.
The bulk of the concert struck a happy medium between those who listen to jazz for the excessively long individual solos and those who listen to jazz hoping to hear something slightly more creative than contemporary sounds. The highlight for much of the audience seemed to be their take on recognizable tunes. The first of these was a take on The Beatles’ “Hide Your Love Away.” While the prospect of taking on such a beloved songbook is daunting for many musicians, the Longhand Trio approached it with a fresh view. Rather than reinventing the melody, it seemed to serve as a detailed chord progression that they expanded on at will. While chunks of the original melody were injected at key moments in the song, the artists each took the opportunity to impart their own talented voice into the piece. It was a truly unique and successful method, met with great joy by the audience.
Though that and other remakes were successful, it was an original composition by Wilson that was truly the high point of the evening. It was written for Tempest Gale, a young woman and former student of his that was murdered on Hornby Island. The story of its inspiration was heart-breaking, but the song itself was contemplative and lovely. The underlying melody was reminiscent of a heartbeat, but the countermelodies took large departures from it. This, along with varying rhythms and tempos made for an extremely complex piece – one that, presumably, echoed the life of its inspiration.
The Longhand Trio is a clearly talented and undeniably unique group of musicians. To hear them for yourself, check them out on Myspace. For more information on events at The Reach, check out their website.
