BY ANGUS DAVISON
Joanna Wallfisch
Solo Australia Tour
MONA, 4 January
It’s been a big few years for Joanna Wallfisch. Since moving to New York in 2012 the British/Australian singer has toured with jazz greats including Winton Marsalis and released her critically acclaimed debut album ‘The Origin of Adjustable Things’. Her first solo Australian tour included a stop at Tasmania’s Museum of Old and New Art.
The concert began with ‘This is How You Make Me Feel’. Alone on the MONA main stage, Joanna used a loop pedal to layer clapping and wordless vocal patterns over which she then sang. Sam Anning (double bass) and Alan Gogoll (acoustic guitar) joined her for ‘Satin Grey’. This lilting and melancholic song tells a story from her earliest days in New York. ‘Lullaby Girl’ was beguiling with twisting, chromatic chord changes.
Joanna studied jazz performance at London’s Guildhall School of Music, and while jazz is her most obvious influence, her compositions and vocal delivery also indicate an awareness of classical music. The subtle folk inflections in her melodies are reminiscent of a particular strand of 20th Century art song exemplified by Vaughan Williams, Britten and Copland.
Most of Joanna’s songs have a lot of text. Words are packed in tight. Her enunciation is clear, and discerning the lyrics is never an issue. However, I occasionally found the lyrics very dense.
Sam and Alan, both respected musicians in their own right, provided accomplished support. But it was Joanna’s solo songs that resonated most. Her delivery is clear and controlled, free of the stylistic affectations of either jazz or classical singing. And I was best able to appreciate her skill when she was lightly accompanied, or singing against loops of her own voice.
The highlight of the concert was a rendition of ‘The Peacocks’ by Jimmy Rowles and Norma Winstone. To call it a cover would be an injustice. Joanna used the loop pedal to compose what essentially was a choral prelude to the song, which was rich and opulent yet also pure and restrained. When the prelude gave way to the song proper it was wonderfully sparse. Sam accompanied Joanna with the lightest of pizzicato accompaniments. This song was exceptionally beautiful.
Image supplied.
