Cork Jazz Festival reviews: Marilyn Mazur, Michael Buckley, Amadou & Mariam
Amadou & Mariam at Cork Opera House as part of the Guinness Cork Jazz Festival. Picture: Darragh Kane
The American-born Danish percussionist Marilyn Mazur has a pedigree like few other artists who’ve come to Cork this year, having played with the likes of Jan Garbarek, Miles Davis, Wayne Shorter and many more over five decades. She’s here on the last leg of her Music Network tour of Ireland, flanked by Jakob Buchanan on flugelhorn, Makiko Hirabayahshi on piano, and Klavs Hovman on double bass. “Special 4” they call themselves, and it proves an accurate label through an expansive and engrossing show.
Mazur herself takes her place behind a host of bells, chimes, gongs, and other percussive geegaws, arranged hanging on frames around her drum kit. If she’s only partly in sight much of the time, she’s never out of mind, as she adds colour and range to the compositions.
We open with 'Reflections', Buchanan’s horn coming in foggily, in contrast to the sharp peal of bells, and short piano chords. Journey Waltz follows, from Hirabayahshi’s album 2009 Hide and Seek. It’s her turn to articulate the simple, insistent melody. They are no strangers to each other, then, this quartet, and it shows in the ensemble playing, which is the strongest feature here. There’s a subtle, responsive flow between them.
Nothing seems forced, and neither is there any formulaic, turn-taking soloing. Instead, it feels alive, as if they are listening and responding, focusing more on interplay and subtle shifts between melody and percussion, each element coming to the fore while remaining part of a harmonious whole.
Hirabayahshi’s versatility shines through on 'Kite', as she reaches into the piano, plucking the rich, deep lines from the bass strings as Buchanan draws what sounds like a semi-strangled whisper from the horn, and Mazur adds impish rattles and squeaks. “We travel through the world and see how life can be,” Mazur sings in her slightly raspy way. It’s a good description of what it feels like to be drawn into the soundscapes this foursome creates.
At times, it’s gentleness itself, as when Mazur emerges from behind the kit to tap a ceramic vase, coaxing echoing colours from this object-turned-instrument. Throughout, Buchanan’s tone on flugelhorn is remarkable for its control, the softness of his touch. But it’s really the group’s alchemy that is most memorable. Mazur sings of going into the silence, “where all distractions disappear”. Then, at last, “We can go anywhere.” Again, you feel she’s hit the nail on the head.
The Green Room at Cork Opera House has emerged in recent years as a festival go-to for good Irish jazz. This year it’s no different, with the Cork-based Paul Dunlea and Cormac McCarthy on the bill tonight. On Saturday night, in the 11pm slot it was the turn of Michael Buckley and his Ebb and Flow group.
Saxophonist Buckley is joined by Greg Felton on piano, Barry Donohue on bass, and Shane O’Donovan on drums. Buckley’s own compositions were particularly impressive, leaning into John Coltrane and Charles Lloyd a little but never sounding derivative.
It might not quite have been jazz, but the midnight show around the corner in the Opera House itself proved utterly irresistible, as the jam-packed venue rocked to the sounds of the veteran Malian couple Mariam Doumbia and Amadou Bagayoko. “Ca va bien?” is the oft-repeated question from the two. And the only possible answer is a loud “Ouais” as they serve up an infectious mix of Bambara-flavoured pop and funk, with Bagayoko’s driving guitar and Doumbia rhythmic vocals to the fore.
The whole Opera House seems to sway, creating an odd contrast with the band leaders, both of whom are blind since youth, and consequently are a still presence at the centre of a musical whirlwind. Perhaps as a compensation, bassist Yao Dembele is highly animated throughout, weaving around the stage. On keyboards, when not laying down funky synth lines, Charles Frederik Avo is the unofficial hype man.
Leaping into the air as he plays, or otherwise running around inciting the crowd – not that they needed much encouragement during this touching, inspiring, love-filled show.
