Tell Me
By Stephen Ewart
Review by Michael Cooke
Surfing the radio stations these days, one is assaulted with a bland and bewildering potpourri of golden oldies: hip hop, migraine-inducing dance music, pastiches of 70s "classics", pretty boy/girl barbershop quartets and aspiring Barbara Streisands competing as to who can trill the highest note over a concoction of clichés.
So to our jaded and pummelled ears, Stephen Ewart's new album is freshness itself. It has echoes of the past, without being pastiche.
Ewart has played in a number of bands, some of the more prominent being Jo Jo Zep, Paul Kelly, Tinsley Waterhouse and Swinging Sidewalks.
The album is produced and arranged and the songs are co-written by David Williams, who made his name producing Weddings, Parties, Anything and engineering some tracks on the Shine soundtrack.
No wonder the album displays a mastery of musical styles: jazz, rock and dance. Overlaying these is a sublime percussion sound, with the trombone giving texture, emotion and encouragement to the lyrics and music.
This is an album for the discerning, meeting us in an original and challenging way — but not so challenging that the melody and emotion are lost.
The title track, "Tell Me", is a jaunty love ballad with strong bass line. The next track is a paradoxical mixture of upbeat percussion with a melancholic trombone and is aptly called "Modern Living".
"Today's Blues" articulates the perennial drama of coupledom, the inability to communicate feelings. On this track the trombone eloquently expresses the sadness of it all.
To lift the mood, the music quickens pace to play on the oldest theme: one person wants to go, the other wants them to stay. The words are those of the latter; the music flies with the one who wants to leave. The track is called "Sky Clearing".
"Ray's Groove" is just that — Ray Pereira is one of the best known and most accomplished percussionists in the country, who honed his skills playing for Vince Jones, Paul Kelly and Christine Anu. The originality of this track is that the drums play the infectious lead with the other instruments in accompaniment. An excellent danceable track.
"What it is" is classic Stephen Ewart — a romantic ballad in which the longing in the words is complemented by the trombone. "19th Street" is an instrumental piece exploring the melodic potential of the trombone to great effect.
"Illusion" is shimmering drums and bass, with the guitar and trombone punctuating the mood in a tasty and sweet way.
A bit of a tease is "Rosie's Blues": it opens with a classic Miles Davis riff, a sympathetic, slow, melodic response to an individual whose only crime, it seems, is to love too much.
The best track for my money is "How can I help you". It is pure magic: drums and bass and a funky lead guitar sweetly accompanying the infectious dance beat.
"Stumped" reminds me of John Coltrane's more experimental work mixed with the heat of Booker T and the Mgs — cool jazz with a pinch of soul and a dash of rock to make it contemporary and smooth. A very sophisticated piece of work.
The last track, "Nano land" is a nice mood piece in which guitars dominate.
For details on how to buy the CD please phone: (03) 9429 — 2418.