Aros, Toronto, Remembrance Day 2003

[Nate Dorward]

Easily one of the worst-attended gigs I've been at for a while--13 people in the audience, only a bit more than double the size of the band (6). It was in St George the Martyr, a church space which flatters chambermusicky gigs but decimates jazz gigs; as the instrumentation was basically jazz (trumpet, tenor sax, violin, piano, bass, drums) I moved to the front. (The Globe & Mail reviewer complained in the Friday paper of the crappy sound. Well more fool him if he like most reviewers insisted in hanging out in the back. It was fine if you were up front.)

I thought the Aros gig was OK, liked bits, didn't like others. This was chamber-jazz of sorts--generally gentle tempos, a tasteful mix of jazz, classical (19th- & 20th-century classical) & selected world/ethnic musics (European strains & a fair bit of tango). When people like Dave Douglas & Marty Ehrlich started creating this kind of music back in the early 1990s I found it a real eyeopener, a refreshing example of how you could be smart & innovative & yet sound pretty & soulful. I found this group a bit of a latecomer to the mode, not all that fresh or interesting. It's a mix of Vancouver players--tenor saxophonist Rob Armus seems to be the leader, there's trumpeter John Korsrud too--& others I think mostly based in Amsterdam: the classical pianist Marion von Tilzer (co-leader), Anne Wood on violin, Sven Shuster on bass, & the marvelous Alan Purves (aka "Gunga") on drums. (He shares not just the last name but the same absolutely deadpan sense of humour with my Glaswegian friend Robin Purves.) Wood did OK in an inyerface Mark Feldman manner, except for her ghastly solo comprised entirely of arpeggios near the end of the first set. Von Tilzer can't frigging play jazz at all--you want to tell her to take her foot off the pedal & stop playing those cod-19th-c.-piano runs--but on the more salon-oriented stuff she was fine (e.g. a duet with Wood). Armus & Korsrud & Shuster seemed fine, basically straightforward jazz players, but Purves was the really interesting person. He did a long goofy solo piece in the Dutch tradition--bicycle-horns, plastic tubes & whatnot--which went on way too long, but was fun in parts, & as a member of the band he kept things from flagging too much. Still, it was an OK rather than terribly exciting or surprising evening of music. Canadian (& Dutch) tax-dollars well-spent? I'll pass on that question.

The band's first CD was apparently on BVHaast; they have a new one out on Songlines called Train Song, dated 2004 in fact though it's already available. Can't say I rushed out to snag a copy. What I'd suggest you'd do instead is try to grab a new disc from Trytone by an 8-piece band called Bite the Gnatze which includes Purves, with the title Wilde dans in een afgelegen berghut. It's kind of countrified New Dutch Swing, & it's pretty darn brilliant.

[Captain Hate]

Originally posted by Nate Dorward
The band's first CD was apparently on BVHaast

I've got it and it's pretty much like you described the concert; ok in parts but definitely not as good as most of my other BVHaasts. It got an overly favorable review in Cadence, which led to a friend of mine buying it and giving it to me.

[Nate Dorward]

Ah yes... Phillip McNally in Cadence: "Aros is tonal, swinging, inventive, new Jazz, and shouldn't be missed." The quote is proudly displayed on Aros's promotional website. (But I can't say I'd be buying something on the strength of its being "tonal"--I mean, nothing wrong with that but it doesn't seem all that special a selling-point....)

As it happens I'd largely gone because a fellow Coda reviewer, Jerry D'Souza, was enthusiastic about the group. (That, & also because it was virtually the last gig of any substance in town before the December/January doldrums--the mainstream jazz clubs in Toronto program their dullest stuff in the holiday months.)

Well, I'll hope to score better with the next (& last) gig in the series, by BraamDeJoodeVatcher (that's how they like to spell it). Sounds much more promising, & anything with Michael Vatcher is likely to be worth a taste.

[Jack Murphy]

I heard the Aros gig at the jazz gallery and thought it was very good. The sound of the room was boomy (maybe would have been better with more people in the audience to soak up the echo, this can be blamed on the promoter). I thought the compositions were quite original and performed well. Most groups from Holland tend to be silly.....I guess that's what the other two posts were hoping for. I personally am fed up with goofy theatrics from Dutch groups to please goofy loving audiences in Canada and was very pleased to hear a group with a different approach than the rest of the Dutch groups I've heard.

[Nate Dorward]

No, I'm not terribly enamoured of Dutch goofiness either. But still didn't like the concert much. One begins to pity the players, though, if so many of their gigs are so badly attended.