Since 2008 on every June Queen’s Birthday weekend, I’ve made every effort to actively participate in the Merimbula Jazz Festival held at this most scenic town on the New South Wales south coast. The festival which has been in existence for thirty years holds a special place in my heart, in that, it signifies the virtual rebirth of my piano playing career that came to a pathetically short ending way back in the early seventies. Back then, after reaching the seventh grade of the AMEB classical piano examinations, I decided, at the ripe age of about fifteen, this was all too hard and particularly boring, deciding to try my hand at what was loosely called at the time, “fusion” music. This relatively new genre was all the rage with the likes of Wayne Shorter, Joseph Zawinul and Jaco Pastorius with their band Weather Report, amongst countless other great musicians producing very advanced, complex and thrilling music. The muso’s I associated with back then, Michael Watsford (very good guitarist), Jamie Rogers (went on to play bass with the popular band, Air Supply) and Frank Gambale (now an Internationally acclaimed guitar maestro who plays regurlarly with Chick Corea and other notables) were already pretty amazing players and, disappointingly, yours truly just didn’t have the temerity to work hard and learn the “chops” required to play at this level and quickly “dropped out” of the “musician” scene altogether. Bummer.
Then, about thirty five years later, one day circa 2007, my mother and father decided to give me their upright Kawai piano, changing my life for the better. I picked up the pieces of what I had retained over the years, started practising eagerly and regularly, and began playing basic trad chords behind my father’s more than capable 1959 Selmer Mark VI alto sax (he took it up at the very late age of fifty-six, circa 1985). Dad has always been a passionate “trad jazz” man. Blessed with a virtual encyclopedic memory and a great ear, Jim was an avid listener/collector of “hot” 1920’s/30’s jazz - or trad, as we call it today - Louis Armstrong, Bix Biederbeck, Johnny Dodds …. all the greats, the list almost endless. Never have I seen someone who could recall such minute detail as to who played this instrument on that album with who, when, where etc. He took his sax playing up with a vengeance, got lessons from local sax guru, Harry Luebke, then joined and, eventually, formed jazz bands, all the time, playing by “ear” …. he couldn’t read much music. Today, at 81 years young, he’s playing better than ever, can read dots (music) and apart from a slight degradation of that incredible memory, is still as bright as a button. The body (knees, hips mostly) is starting to show a few cracks but that doesn’t stop him from being active and extremely conscientious in every aspect of his life. A truly great man. But, I digress. Dad phoned from Merimbula on the Thursday night, one day prior to attending my first 2008 Merimbula festival (my 16 year daughter was performing with her college jazz band and needed her parents for transport down), asking if it was at all possible to bring a portable stage piano with me to back him at a restaurant residency, as his banjo, trumpet and trombone player had many scheduled slots in the festival program that clashed and were unable to play at both. With only a second or two’s thought, I said yes, hired a piano the next day, performed nervously and not all that well all weekend, but luckily, haven’t really looked back since, now leading and playing in some (and some not so) terrific bands (you need to assertive/proactive if you want gigs) at many leading jazz festivals, including the last three National Jazz Conventions, around the country.
So with work asking me to reduce the back-log of untaken leave, I decided to attend this year’s Merimbula festival taking an extra week to, firstly, travel through Central Victoria, doing a gig with members of the Double A Jazz Band at Bendigo, followed by going to a great gig in Melbourne at the Emerald Hotel by Joe Stephenson’s Rockets, visiting my uncle and his partner at Flinders for a few days (plenty of practice) and then lots more playing at Paynesville at a magnificent residence owned by a jazz colleague, overlooking the wonderful Gippsland Lakes, over the next couple of days. By the Thursday morning it was time to pack the gear and trudge along the Princes Highway (in absolutely atrocious weather, I might add) to a cold and bleak Merimbula. The good weather never really turned up for the event, but we weren’t there for the beach or outdoor gigs …. the jazz was mostly excellent and I didn’t meet a person over the entire festival who wasn’t having a great time, although Mum and Dad decided to announce they would no longer play at the restaurant and in programmed bands. If their health and mobility holds I’ll try and convince them to come out of retirement for a few cameo performances.
The following impressions are what I opened on my trip. A lot of older bottles from the cellar. Considering the amount of kilometres travelled over the period, most showed remarkably well and were well received by most who got to try them.
Trimbach 1989 CFE Riesling ...... extra good and just got better and better until there was no more .... incredible minerality and sublime tightly coiled fruit.
Marc Bredif 1985 Vouvray .... extra good (read as above) ..... this was incredibly fresh and vibrant with amazingly well-balanced acid cut.
Ch. Pichon Lalande 1983 .... sensational FWII .... got plenty left in the tank ... underpinning blackcurrant the perfect foil to some lovely olivy/earthy/cedary/funky stuff upstairs.
Ch. Coutet 1981 .... another very fine bottle, way better than the crappy one I opened a year ago .... underrated vintage ... but has to be drunk sooner than later.
Fritz Haag 1998 Juffer-Sonnenuhr Spatlese .... wonderful pre-dinner drink ... absurdly easy to drink ... silky with crystalline elegance and preposterously good, gently sweet fruit. Liquid sex in a glass.
Raveneau 2000 Grand Cru Valmur ... absurdly good .... another wine built for the long haul .... flintiest, most complex and just beautifully long and totally seductive.
Comte Armand 1993 Pommard Clos de Epeneaux .... very good, holding well but just a tad foursquare for some of us at the table on that particular night. Drink up.
Robert Chevillon 1996 Nuits-St.-Georges Les Cailles ... still quite tarry, a little chunky but with air time started to lose some of those big Chevillon tannins ..... needs another ten years and still might not be ready! Holds massive reserves of fruit and structure. Enjoyed it in a masochistic sort of way.
Marc Sorrel 1991 Le Greal Hermitage ... really, really good .... right in the zone, a class act compared to the two Burgundy's. A real elegant persona holding unbelievably good meatiness over mature leathery, mildly sweet syrah fruit. Oak underplayed and tannins just so fine. Really long in the mouth. An eye opener.
Louis Roederer 1996 Blanc de Blancs .... disappointing, definitely seen better days ... still very drinkable but some almond sherry oxidised notes appearing on the nose and palate.
Seppelt 1999 Dorrien Cabernet ... looks a little awkward compared to the last bottle opened with acutely disjointed acid and clunky tannins ... did get better with air but not up to the lofty standards this label usually delivers. Everyone loved it, except me.
Perrier-Jouet Grande N/V ..... decidedly lesser compared to the last bottle tried recently .... perhaps it was the glasses, perhaps the company ...... no ...... it was probably just me.
Gaja Langhe Conteisa 1998 ...... a very fine nebbiolo delivered in a refined mould, especially the laid back oak treatment ... no hurry but drinking well now. Good good.
Ch. Coutet 2001 ..... my first bottle of several purchased over a number of years .... exciting wine and for Coutet quite a dense, full, rich wine with enormous reserves of fruit and quite decadent spicy oak treatment. Lovely, but somehow I think it's more ready than not for consumption. If you have any, try one.
Yalumba Hand-Picked Riesling (Eden Valley) 2000 .... a most satisfying complete Aussie white with considerable time left.
Fritz Haag 1983 Juffer-Sonneuhr Auslese LGK ..... very close to wine of the trip .... left this to the last night .... unbelievable freshness, beautiful fruit, very much alive with incredible aromatics mouthfeel and amazing length. 96 points from me if a score is required to verify the greatness here. My last bottle.
Ch. Pichon-Lalande 1986 .... had this with eye fillet Chinese style and was disappointed with the unreadiness ...still quite hard in the mouth with amplified tannins. Extremely good aromatics, shame about the palate. Probably needs another 10-15 before being ready.
There were a few more but I don't recall too much about them. I returned with about half a dozen bottles unopened.
Nice report, DLo! Now where is that clip from your jazz tour?