"Soaring tribute to jazzman Bird"
TESTIMONY: The Legend of Charlie Parker is an audiovisual feast of music, poetry, film and staging. Developed originally for ABC radio's Soundstage in 1999, Testimony charts the life of jazz legend Charlie ``Bird'' Parker by way of 14 sonnets by Pulitzer prize-winning writer Yusef Komunyakaa, and music by Australian jazz saxophone virtuoso Sandy Evans.
In its stage version, there was a lot more than just music and words to illustrate Parker's colourful life. A three-storey scaffold, with seven compartments on each level, housed the majority of the Australian Art Orchestra, directed by Paul Grabowsky, with the drums, double basses and piano on the stage. The scaffold also served as a screen for the images, projected on to a translucent white blind, which didn't always go up and down on cue. With an array of interesting, often powerful visuals running throughout the piece, it was sometimes hard to follow their relationship with the music and accompanying words. But this may have been due to the unpredictable Opera House acoustics.
As well as vocal soloists Kristen Cornwell, Kate Swadling, Dan Barnett, Jackie Orszaczky, Toni Allayiallis, Tanya Sparke, Shelley Scown, Tina Harrod, Joe Lane, Michelle Morgan and Lily Dior to convey the words, there was video narration by Bobby C. For the most part, reverberation and balance anomalies prevented full comprehension of the story being told. A pity, because when this acoustic fog lifted, Bobby C's delivery of Komunyakaa's poetry was mesmerising.
The Australian Art Orchestra played with plenty of bop and then some -- standouts were Carl Dewhurst on guitar and Paul Cutlan on clarinet. Of the vocal soloists, Sparke's gut-wrenching Camarillo Pt 2, which ended the first half, was a showstopper. Fine performances also from veteran bebopper Lane and Dior.
The lighting was expressive and set the mood nicely for each piece -- with just a few synchronisation glitches spotlighting soloists. But one thing lacking in the overall production was a sense of wardrobe style. For a fully staged performance, the motley dressing of the orchestra was noticeable.
Sandy Evans's musical score draws together different styles of jazz, working in Parker classics such as Moose the Mooch, Relaxin' at Camarillo and Dewey Square, and showcases her skill as a musical storyteller. The result is a composition of immense depth, humanity and expression.
- The Australian (Hilary Shrubb), 18.01.02
