Ascend the steps to the Hippo Bar and meet Way Out West – an eclectic
sextet that’s hard to pigeonhole. The fact that they appeared on
Wednesday night at the Hippo indicates they have some relation to jazz,
but this is music for music’s sake. Leading the band is Peter Knight on
trumpet, who keeps the band in groove with his towering presence,
sure-fire gestures and glances that tell the band a modulation is at
hand. Playing the saxophones is Adam Simmons – mainly on tenor, but he
did pull out some type of soprano sax for some evocative melodic
flights. A cursory look at the two horns might suggest this is another
Hancock-esque or Art Blakey like jazz combo, designed to get the party
moving and present the audience with familiar tunes or catchy riffs
done with verve. But, even accounting for the absence of a piano, this
is fresh and different.


Way Out West are based in Melbourne’s inner west, although are
increasingly spending less time there due to the demands of touring.
This is their third time in Canberra. As a Sydneysider I’m not familiar
with the cultural melting pot of Melbourne’s inner suburbs, although
after hearing this band, I consider myself an aspiring Melburnian and
deduce that Melbourne’s inner west must be at least as good as
Sydney’s.


Ray Pereira on percussion and Rajiv Jayaweera on drums were the
rhythmic heart of this gig. Rajiv has an economical kit – high hat,
crash and ride cymbals, snare, bass drum and a cute little “utility
drum” just above the snare. There are no toms and his playing is far
from cute. While Pereira lays down Afro-cuban rhythms on his congas
Jayaweera keeps a steady, supposedly conventional jazz rhythm that lays
the temporal groundwork for the music. On closer listening, Jayaweera’s
“world” influences – Indian and Latin – are apparent. He will play his
kit with hands, set up cross rhythms between the high hat and snare and
interject a well timed cymbal crash that splashes like a smooth
basketball-sized stone falling into a running stream. Rajiv’s solo in
the second set was particular inspiring – the absence of floor toms
ruled out the possibility of stomach-rumbling to rolls. Instead, he
resourcefully crafted a compelling solo with his snare and cymbals,
reminiscent of early Tony Williams. The texture of the solo went from
transparent to dense and forceful. All the while Pereira provided him
with driving support on the congas.


The rapport between Jayaweera and Pereira is an important feature of
the band. Pereira opened the first set with a solo intro on what looked
like a small tambourine and sounded like a miniature tabla. Pereira
obtained quite a range of sound by applying pressure on the drum skin
as he tapped it. By varying the pressure point he could bend the sound
by almost a fifth.


Pereira and Dung Nguyen combined at the end of the first set to play
one of their own compositions, perhaps written during a jam while the
other musicians were taking tea. This type of music is always free,
open and unpredictable. Nguyen is perhaps the chief stylist of Way Out
West. He plays the guitar and some traditional Vietnamese instruments:
the dan bau and dan tranh. His playing allows Way Out West to achieve
their distinctive blend of jazz-fusion and world music.


The dan bau appears to be related to the Chinese erhu, but is plucked
rather than bowed. A lever operated by Dung’s left hand changes the
pitch. He can bend notes to his heart’s content, taking us to the
jungle in the night or conjuring the mystery of a western ghost town.




Adam Simmons is particularly idiosyncratic on tenor sax. He lulls you
into a false sense of security, beginning his solos with conventional
bluesy lines. Then just when you think, cool – this is funky tenor
stuff – he launches into bellicose squeals, heartfelt yelps, frogs in
your throat growls, offhanded utterances and tones so high up the
register only a dog could hear them. Simmons gets a really dirty sound
out of his instrument; the type of tone that many believe is the only
way a tenor should be played. Rather than the “here I am, let me seduce
you with the straight talking sax” approach, Simmons employs the “hey
you – you think this rocks? Well what about this eeeeee; or this awwgg;
or check this out – yarnk yrank, cahhoooeee grisle grisle.” At other
times Simmons backs up Peter Knight’s trumpet musings with underlying
“harmonic Persian carpet notes” or lays out and smiles and dances with
the upper part of his body.


Although the structure of many of the pieces is modal, Knight’s
arranging allows for modulations, time shifts, texture variations and
interaction. He has lots of colour to draw upon in this sextet and
makes full use of it, turning his combo into a mini-big band.


Don’t let Way Out West surprise you. It’s easy to be lulled by the
exotic eastern melodies and coaxed into a false sense of security as if
you were a shepherd on the hills of Kashmir with your back turned
towards the Himalayas. Then, like a resounding avalanche, Rajiv will
smack the snare as loud as possible, your whole frame will shake, and
you will awake – excited, curious and apprehensive.


Wednesday’s gig coincided with the launch of their latest album, Old
Grooves for New Streets. Way Out West shouldn’t be compared to anyone,
but if you like Waiting for Guinness, Monsieur Camembert or Arabesque
and are looking for something with a more streetwise, worldly flavour,
you’ll do yourself no disservice by buying this album.


Oh, and did I mention the bass player? It seems that by providing the
very foundation on which the rest of a band builds lavish musical
sallies, by being inconspicuous yet powerful, bass players frequently
are taken for granted as just doing their job. If you focus your
attention on Howard Cairns’ bass lines you will be amply rewarded.
Cairns variation of the bass on beats three and four is particularly
notable. Composers, bass players and solo pianists can derive much
useful instruction by listening to how Cairns keeps momentum going and
maintains interest with his subtle rhythmic and pedal point variations.



Last word has to go to Ray Pereira, who taught the bar how to properly
shake a cocktail during a moody piece that climaxed with some almost
free and very adventurous jazz. These episodes were always used
sparingly and to release and express the growing latent tension. During
one of these spells Pereira began furiously shaking what looked like
some type of maraca, although it may indeed have been a cocktail shaker
filled with cardamon pods.


Way Out West are Peter Knight (trumpet), Adam Simmons (tenor sax), Dung
Nguyen (modified electric guitar, dan tranh (Vietnamese zither), dan
bau (single string plucked instrument), dan nhi (Vietnamese violin)),
Ray Pereira (percussion), Howard Cairns (acoustic bass), Rajiv
Jayaweera (drums).
http://canberrajazz.blogspot.com/2008/11/worldly-westies.html

http://www.raypereira.com