Going off at the Wall

         ALL THAT JAZZ

by Michael Foster

A Canberra group, featuring vocalist Gaye Reid, has received invitations to return to China after New Year’s performances in Beijing’s Sheraton Great Wall Hotel.

The band, which included Andrew Hackwill on alto sax, Andrew Piper on trumpet and flugelhorn, Tony Magee on piano, Col Bernau on guitar, Kevin Hailey on bass and Noddy Brassington on drums, played for a New Year’s Eve diplomatic party, hosted by Australia, in the hotel’s ballroom. It then played for a New Year’s Day brunch-time audience in the hotel’s atrium restaurant.

The event was attended by 470 people from the Australian embassy and agencies and their guests. It opened with the Beijing Film Orchestra playing themes from films made in the West, Hungarian folk tunes and Strauss waltzes.

The Canberrans then took over, offering danceable jazz before changing the mood with pop and rock from the 60’s and 70s which Reid does so well.

The next day the group offered solo piano, played by Magee on an unexpected Steinway grand “in reasonable tune”, then brackets in varying combinations. One with rhythm (without piano) sounded so good, there are thoughts of trying it here at home.

This audience included many Chinese and tourists from Australia, Europe and Scandinavia with 60 or 70 diners present most of the time.

The group has tentative bookings for a residency in mid-1996, for return performances in Beijing next New Year and in Singapore.

Originally published in The Canberra Times, January 1996