An Australian night of LC's music
Posted: Wed Apr 18, 2007 6:16 am
I am back from a great long weekend in Sydney, the highlight of which was seeing Monsieur Camembert perform a night of Leonard Cohen music. The band plays jazz, gypsy swing and world fusion and has some great musicians including Edouard Bronson on saxes/clarinet/flute, Marcello Maio on accordion/piano, Santiago on lead guitar, Mark Harris on double bass and Jess Ciampa on drums. They are all skilled musicians and their respective solos were a highlight of the evening. Yaron Hallis, the lead singer on guitar, linked a fine selection of songs with some of Cohen's poetry. The atmosphere of homage to the great man was extended by audio fragments of Cohen himself introducing songs or performers and various video clips illuminating the wall before the show and during the short break.
Yaron delivered Cohen’s songs with knowledge and passion and this would have been enough for me but the riches were multiplied. The group was joined by guest singers Abby Dobson, Carla Werner, Ngaiire Joseph and Elana Stone, all well respected singers in their own right. I recognised Abby from her previous life with Leonardo’s Bride and she brought a pop style to her versions of Suzanne and Hallelujah. I was also really impressed by Elana whose incredible jazz voice illuminated Who by Fire. I heard that Ngaiire was an unsuccessful contestant on Australian Idol (which only confirms my opinion of that show) but she invested such emotion into Light as a Breeze it was like a different song. Carla’s interpretation of The Guests also had me listening to that song anew. That is what I loved about the night, the glimpsing again of that feeling of hearing all these well loved songs for the first time. Other highlights were the lively rendition of Memories (with all the singers and musicians on the crowded stage) and they literally had the audience in tears with Dance Me To The End Of Love, apparently it has been their most requested song for years.
The Vanguard is a jewel of a venue, like an old Victorian terrace I used to live in, with its blood red walls, intimate lighting and excellent food and wine. I loved that they didn’t pick all the obvious songs to cover during the nearly three hours of rich music. However there was also a higher purpose for the event and something you might all be interested in: they recorded the songs over three nights for a CD that will be released on the 23rd June. If you’re interested a sample Jazz Police is on their myspace page at the moment.
http://profile.myspace.com/index.cfm?fu ... =102898849
Yaron delivered Cohen’s songs with knowledge and passion and this would have been enough for me but the riches were multiplied. The group was joined by guest singers Abby Dobson, Carla Werner, Ngaiire Joseph and Elana Stone, all well respected singers in their own right. I recognised Abby from her previous life with Leonardo’s Bride and she brought a pop style to her versions of Suzanne and Hallelujah. I was also really impressed by Elana whose incredible jazz voice illuminated Who by Fire. I heard that Ngaiire was an unsuccessful contestant on Australian Idol (which only confirms my opinion of that show) but she invested such emotion into Light as a Breeze it was like a different song. Carla’s interpretation of The Guests also had me listening to that song anew. That is what I loved about the night, the glimpsing again of that feeling of hearing all these well loved songs for the first time. Other highlights were the lively rendition of Memories (with all the singers and musicians on the crowded stage) and they literally had the audience in tears with Dance Me To The End Of Love, apparently it has been their most requested song for years.
The Vanguard is a jewel of a venue, like an old Victorian terrace I used to live in, with its blood red walls, intimate lighting and excellent food and wine. I loved that they didn’t pick all the obvious songs to cover during the nearly three hours of rich music. However there was also a higher purpose for the event and something you might all be interested in: they recorded the songs over three nights for a CD that will be released on the 23rd June. If you’re interested a sample Jazz Police is on their myspace page at the moment.
http://profile.myspace.com/index.cfm?fu ... =102898849
! Word of mouth seems to be in your favour 
.