East with Eden - Falling for Jazz

by Zen Delta

When I was a kid, tall, blue-eyed babes with beautiful hair and skin were called 'vivacious' if they were models, and 'vulnerable' if they were actresses with the same qualities. It was crap of course to be so sexist and to pigeon-hole any girl or dump otherwise unseen and imagined qualities on her, but I kinda know what they meant.

Difficult to sum up in one word the qualities of a beautiful woman who when you see her for the first time, you just want to gather her up in your arms andเน‚โ‚ฌเธ†well, you know the rest!

There are girls like that who suddenly loom into view,and you have to close your mouth and quit drooling as your built-in babe detector over-rides rational behaviour and has you staring like the village idiot at someone you couldn't get close to in 100 years.

Don't matter how vulnerable she might be, your beer belly, receding hairline, bad teeth and Robert Redford wrinkles ain't gonna hook this or any other sighted babe!

Eden Atwood is one of those girls. You get talking to her and listening to her and suddenly you're back to the days when you were a lovestruck teenager obsessed with Marilyn Monroe in 'Some Like It Hot' or with Doris Day in one of her goofy movies.

Ms Atwood has that quality.

A powerful beauty which at first gently eludes you as you scope each other out, engage in polite introductions and attempt to make sensible conversation. But as the interview progresses, as she unfolds in full-on, intelligent conversation, her beauty manifests itself almost in a variety of personalities somehow, a quality which can hypnotise mere music hacks, her audiences and passing strangers.

And I fear she done hypnotise a few over the years, what with her movie-star good looks and effervescent personality.

The one we see anyway.

As she reveals herself in conversation and on stage, there is an honesty in the lady, and compassion and humour and intelligence, and for one so young, more than a hint of wisdom.

Combine those qualities with simple good looks and you find beauty as nature intended it to be.

Breathtaking and intoxicating!

But I digress! You want to know if she can sing and swing, fronting her band at the Sheraton Grande.

Eden favours ballads and sings with a passion and delivery reminiscent of days gone by, when jazz singers were jazz musicians too. And she has the groove thang nailed, for sure!

She evokes an era when 'jazz' singers were idolised by millions, with hours of worldwide radio play everyday, singing the hits of the day or killer arrangements of those same songs.

It was not named jazz then. What we call jazz today, was once just very good, very popular music, the songs played and arranged by the very best musicians of the day.

And that's where Eden Atwood comes from. That time when singers delivered a song - any song - with feeling, with passion, with expression, with heart. She works with a melody, often using her own arrangements, to remind you that you are listening to that most beautiful of jazz instruments - the human voice.

But the singer and her style are deceptive too. Neither grabs you by the throat immediately, but the subtlety and elegance of her delivery and careful, faultless phrasing pull you in, and in a very short time you know you are in the company of a special voice which knows exactly what is expected of it; a voice that has clearly paid its dues and comes to us from a place way, way down, deep in the heart of jazz.

Word has it that Eden knew from a very early age that she wanted to sing, and at the tender age of three, was doing just that with her father, the late, great Hub Atwood, a valve-trombone player, composer and arranger who worked with artists such as Frank Sinatra and Harry James. Her mother too encouraged Eden's love for popular standards of the day - tunes that she delivers with such authority, elegance and style today.

At age 19, Eden was drawn from her home in Montana, where she is still based today, to Chicago to savour the city's once-great jazz scene, gigging at the legendary Gold Star Sardine Bar, first as a fill in and later as a headliner.

Ever since, she has been touring and recording, and building a reputation today as one of the world's finest jazz voices.

And you can bear witness to that fact here in the Big Mango from 9 pm every night at the 'Living Room' at the Sheraton Grande, Sukhumvit.

Go fall in love!

Scotty Wright Trio be welcome in any Living Room!

-- by Zen Delta --

The last time I was dazzled by the performance of a visiting jazz guitarist here was when Bruce Foreman did three gigs in Bangkok about as many years ago. Bruce was a gentleman and the consumate jazz guitarist. Pat Martino, Joe Pass, Benson and others were suddenly in any room that Foreman played in, but of course his own talent and virtuosity shone through and told anyone listening he was the real deal...a 21 st century guitarist's guitarist.

The memory of Foreman's visit and the lasting impression he made on me and other jazz fans here, passed fleetingly through my mind as I prepared to go see the latest guitarist here in town at the Sheraton Grande's Living Room jazz gig, for the first time since she arrived here just a few weeks ago.

Mimi Fox and her Gibson 446 are in town , guesting with Scotty Wright's trio, which also features gifted percussionist Marten Formen, with Scotty on keys and velvet vocals.

And be clear on one thing. When Scotty's in charge of the gig, then there's gonna be some great music and you're gonna remember in a heartbeat why it was you loved jazz in the first place. Scotty lives and breathes the spirit of jazz, and he delivers the fine music jazz has to offer with style and musicianship and heart and soul. So, kinda stands to reason he's gonna need somebody special with that axe to nail a trio worth our time.

And we all knew Marten has the chops on drums and percussion from his years of study in Cuba and playing here in town. But how about the lady with the gee-tar? She gon' nail it?

When word was out that Scotty's trio was him on piano, accompanied by a percussionist and guitarist, we were impressed. That's not your standard jazz trio. No sir! No bass - stand-up or otherwise - no drums. So its not Oscar Peterson, or Keith Jarret or McCoy and the boys. Hmmm. Interesting! Like jazz should be!

But when you walk into the Living Room after 9.00 pm any night and you see for the first time that the lady we're all waiting to hear has her Gibson guitar stood in front of her on a stool, and she plays that sunburst 446, f-holed beauty kinda in the style of a contrabass, you ain't ready for that!

And your mouth drops a little bit open as you take it in. And it opens even further as you hear her playing. Them notes talks good. She's bad! She real bad!

And you've already decided that if it so happens she plays her guitar standing up so you can see her play, or to take the weight off her shoulder, or cause it's way cool, then that's fine by you. Cos she plays bad and you just got lucky and this is Scotty Wright's trio and they're here right in your face for three more months...and you are already celebrating in your head...and you have not even settled in your plush sofa yet nor ordered your first beer...and your hearing real jazz and one of the finest guitarists anywhere on this planet...and she playing with her axe standing up like a bass!

Maaan! Who says there's no jazz in this town?

It wasn't that he was some kind of jazz superstar before he arrived here in town, although it's fair to say he had made something of a name for himself in jazz music circles in the United States over the years.

But nothing of his career or any news of him really reached these shores before his arrival in November last year. Thus it is, that without news of his reputation or any advance warning, it has been entirely on his musicianship and finely honed talents that his reputation in Thailand as a jazz cat with chops to die for, has been built.

"And his very real charisma is born of a very special talent," one musician said, after puzzling over what it was that made Randy shine.

What we saw was what we got! Many a die-hard jazz fan and musician here was stunned by the man's virtuosity and sheer musicality. Stunning compositions, beautiful, inspired, often soulful arrangements, dazzling technical skills and that easy going manner which charmed jumpy band members, audiences and visiting musicians alike.

The first weeks after he arrived here were difficult for the maestro - who landed in Thailand amid a blaze of paid-for publicity - as he hurried to assemble a trio that could showcase his music and his massive talent. A hard taskmaster and uncompromising perfectionist, it took a couple of attempts before he had the musicians he thought could hack the gig and give him the support he needed to shine and to excel in front of new audiences, hearing him mostly for the first time.

His eye for detail, his ultra-high standards and his insistence that he play only with the best musicians available, paid off finally with the arrival of local rising jazz star Therdsak 'Pong' Wongvichien on bass and American-born Chris Sweeney on drums. Both are musicians that Randy was proud to boast were certainly without peers in Thailand, although a few players obviously might take exception to such fatherly chauvinism.

But of one thing there can be no doubt. This Randy Cannon Trio was 'hot' from day one. And they got hotter and tighter and better with every gig, and on their best nights, which was most nights, were nothing short of sensational, Randy dishing out lessons on the piano and keyboard reminiscent of jazz genius Oscar Peterson and other jazz greats at their very best.

Witnessing the man's mastery of the piano for more than three months, there can be little doubt that Randy Cannon has indeed joined the ranks of the jazz greats, and we were privileged to see him graduate to those lofty heights, right here in Bangkok. Right in front of our ears!