JZ More Than Jazz Concert Series: The Voice of Jazz – Universal Quartet
April 12th, 2009 at the Shanghai Oriental Art Center
Kites are flying above Pudong on an inspirationally sunny Sunday afternoon and I am headed to the Shanghai Oriental Art Center for the JZ More Than Jazz concert series. Today’s show features the mesmerizing chanteuse Jessica Maurer from Paris, whose vibrating tonsils first impressed me at JZ about a month ago. The quartet also includes French saxophonist Quentin Paquignon, Brazilian guitarist and singer Tinho Pereira, and Brazilian percussionist Leonardo Susi.
Our little gang is just in time for the gong at 2:58 pm. The band comes on and promises original tunes for the first set followed by originals and covers in the second. The first song begins and I’m dumbfounded by the poor audio quality at the Center. The singer’s voice, skating easily up and down the soft romantic melody, is horrifically compromised by static. Typical crappy Shanghai audio quality. I might as well be at the Glamour Bar. The djembe is mic'd funny as well, but the percussionist himself captivates me immediately, a mad magician with a toolbox of mysterious music-making contraptions. He keeps a chilled out beat accented by sleigh bells and a metal shaker and his left foot is occupied by ankle bells rather than the usual bass drum pedal.
The next song is ‘Today’, written for the Sichuan earthquake as Jessica explains in her soft accented English. The guitarist strums a hopeful rhythm, while the percussionist’s singing bowl casts a haunting tone. Audio has improved and the singer’s voice soars clean over the song, reminding me of Sade and Si*Se woven together by her own spellbinding power. The light soprano sax solo pulls at your heartstrings, in contrast to the heavy brass of the baritone sax he was mastering in the first song. They move on to ‘Uncivilized’, “a funny one” as the singer calls it. The Mad Magician mans a blue tufted cymbal smacker and I'm wondering where the thick wooden beat is coming, only to realize he's actually playing the box that he's sitting on, mic'd from the back. Form and function, well done! I’m later informed by the percussionist that the “box” is actually the cajón, a Brazilian instrument. Ah right, not just a wooden box then. Doh. I find my right leg has taken on a life of its own and I'm heel-tapping alternating beats with the singer. The band’s own volume control is great and they bring the song to a soft close.
The fourth song starts with the gentle call of the baritone sax, a part originally written for the Chinese erhu. "Don't ever lose your soul, don't give up your innocence, and if you let it go, you'll find peace in yourself…” The perfect cathartic tune for those break-ups of yore. The singer’s voice is acrobatic, bending around notes and tiptoeing along the tightrope of delicate riffs. Again an engaging solo by Mr. Saxophone. Mad Magician’s shaking a hollow wooden cylinder with a wire sticking out of one end and striking a long metal tube that creates an eerie echo. Catchiest tune yet, this one, and a likely hit single candidate. I wonder if these guys are signed?
‘You Set Me Free’ skips to a faster beat and the singer flexes along the melody, as does the sax on its solos, which never get boring. The percussionist is going nuts, drumming on his cajón, before switching back to the soft skin of the djembe. Next up in the playlist is a mix of pop and tango, ‘Nicolas’. The singer tells Nicolas’ story in a fluid voice, blending with the guitarist’s harmony during the chorus. Then the saxophone, oh that sax!, takes us down a dark alley, across an intricate bridge and delivers us back to the voice. His baritone sax sounds like a cello here, coaxing dancers to that first imperceptible step of the tango to the wild flourishes of skirt ruffle on Italian chest hair, and with the end solo, he leads us through the shadowy piazza and disappears around the corner.
After intermission, I creep up to the second row for better acoustics and a closer view of the Magician's ‘mugical’ toys. The singer strums the guitar herself on ‘It's Easy To Hide’, claiming she can't play but she's doing fine so far. This darker tune has a persistent bass-note that's getting me all revved up. The song belongs in a movie scene: wide angle, long dusty highway, black Cadillac, tanned arm dangling a cigarette out the driver’s window, and that lonesome howl of the soprano sax as the camera pans up the arm and focuses on the contemplative eyes of a kick ass Laura Dern. For example.
‘Letter’ is a soulfully blue tune, and the singer’s voice takes you behind her eyes for a moment and you know you're supposed to be sad about something. The soprano sax picks up where her voice trails off without skipping a beat, and vice versa. "There's a tear in my heart, in my soul, in my mind..." No kidding, woman, stop you're gonna make me cry! Next up is a Brazilian song written by the guitarist. It kicks in with an up-swinging beat, then surprise, surprise the man's got a voice on him, too! Smoked honey leading you to happier times. The tempo gets a solid kick in the pants before rolling back into the verse. "I keep a picture of you hanging on a wall..." He later tells me that this is one of the tracks on his upcoming album, “Handmade”.
The covers begin and I'm a bit sad to be moving away from the originals, but the singer magically cajoles a delicate sweetness out of ‘You Are So Beautiful To Me’, a song I typically find way too saccharine. Seal's ‘Crazy’ is next and it's been years since I've heard this little piece of genius. The band brings a fresh edge to the song and through the covers you sense the singer's range even more than in the originals. There's a dedication to unique representation of something already done that seems to unleash her voice. Mad Magician gets the whole audience clapping to rhythm by the close and it seems like everybody is enjoying the show. Wish we were on the beach or at least outdoors somewhere, a perfect match for this soulful, relaxing music. Where's my Patron Silver and tonic with a twist of lemon? The Oriental Hall has nice acoustics but the ambience is a overly stiff and this lady keeps flashing a bright green neon sign demanding “No Cameras” whenever someone tries to get cheeky. Watching us like a hawk, she is.
Next song is introduced as a rearranged house dance track and I'm all smiles when it begins: "Lady, hear me tonight, 'cause my feeling is just so right when we dance in the moonlight, can't you see you're my daylight..." Singer's got a great voice for this clean bossa nova version, not the fuzzy Bebel Gilberto type, but something just a tad smoother. Then it’s the last song, boo! ‘I Don't Know’ begins with a rolling guitar rhythm that sounds familiar but I can't quite pinpoint. All I know is I'm comfortable and happy and not ready to leave yet. Singer brings in a nice little solo and every note is precise, a precursor to the soprano sax riff that follows. The show comes to a close and it’s been a wonderful afternoon, to say the least. Can’t wait to see these guys again, hopefully in a more relaxed atmosphere next time.
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Universal Quartet is...
Jessica Maurer can be found regularly at CJW in Xintiandi Mondays and JZ on Wednesdays singing funk, jazz, and soul like a champ.
Quentin Paquignon plays all four kinds of sax and regularly brings out the tenor and alto with his reggae band Lions of Puxi at JZ and Brown Sugar.
Tinho Pereira’s album “Handmade” comes out in a month or so and he regularly plays with the Latin band Shanghai Latin Project, which is also being featured in next month’s JZ More Than Jazz concert series. An all-around guitarist, other than acoustic and electric guitar he also plays electric and baby bass (that’s the thing that looks like an over-sized popsicle stick with strings).
Leonardo Susi is often found breaking it down at JZ. His treasure trove today included the djembe, Brazilian cajón, the repenique, thunder (wire thingamajiggy), a flexitone, a vibratone (metal echo maker), a frogtone, ankle bells, and sleigh bells. Awesome. If not for the sounds, at least for the crazy list of words I’m able to throw in here.
- Article originally posted on Urbanatomy Shanghai
