06 February 2008

Review

BEIRUT: If Lebanon is undergoing its worst political crisis since the end of the 1975-90 Civil War, someone neglected to tell Giovanni Mirabassi. With a blase swagger and a sweet sophisticated sound, the cool and confident jazz virtuoso transported his audience at Music Hall on Sunday far from the empty streets, military checkpoints and paralyzing tension that lay just beyond the Downtown Beirut venue's doors. For a brief interlude, while Mirabassi performed on stage, Beirut was transformed.

The vibrant energy of the Giovanni Mirabassi Trio - infused with Gianluca Renzi's bass and Leon Parker's drums - instilled in listeners the feeling that they were a part of a city experiencing affluent creative prosperity rather than political unease or day-to-day anxiety.

According to the organizer of the event, Liban Jazz founder Karim Ghattas, it was precisely this location and this context that made the performance so powerful.

"I've seen each of these guys playing in big venues around Europe," says Ghattas, looking at ease as the sunlight filters into Torino Express, the Gemmayzeh bar better known for its night-time denizens than its customers during daylight hours.

"Even in venues like the Olympia [Paris's oldest and most famous music hall] I've seen them play. But playing in Beirut, musically they are much better - because it's a specific atmosphere here, and an important one. Together, they are all sharing an experience in a country that both frightens and attracts them. I think this gives them a good reason to be sincere on stage, and to give their performance 100 percent."

Asked whether the country's recent political turmoil threatened the event or cast doubts in the musician's minds, Ghattas responded to the contrary

"It all happened really quickly. I gave them the proposition about four weeks ago and they accepted straight away. Even when things started getting really bad in the country, a week before the concert, they didn't ask too much."

Ghattas pauses to light the first of many cigarettes.

"I called [Mirabassi] personally before he was due to arrive and he said: 'I am afraid, it's a fact - but I wouldn't be an artist if I didn't come and see it for myself,' and of course this helped with the performance."

The success of the concert, however, ultimately rested on the talent of the musicians. Remarkably, this was their first live gig together - they chose Beirut as the launch pad for their European tour to promote their new album "Terra Furiosa."

Their lack of time together was staggering when watching their natural compatibility on stage. They combined perfectly executed individual improvisation with disciplined harmony, and made complicated musical flourishes look simple and accessible - in a way that only truly great jazz musicians can.

In doing so, they enthralled and absorbed an audience of 17- to 70-year olds, and created a surprising and rare sight in Beirut - a quiet crowd, enthralled, silent, barely smoking and neither touching their drinks nor moving from their seats.

This phenomenon is partly explained by the hypnotic charisma of Mirabassi, Renzi and Parker. Slick, hip and quintessentially cool, the three jazzmen are a joy to watch and as engaging as they are capable.

Take Parker, the drummer. A jazz percussionist normally sits on the periphery of a performance, especially if he is accompanying seasoned Italian jazz musicians like Mirabassi and Renzi.

But Parker is an experienced showman who has played with such legends as Bobby McFerrin. He is bold, bombastic and hard to ignore. Effortlessly attacking his drum kit, Parker played with precision and ease, his crisp white shirt testament to the fact that he can do so without breaking sweat.

Nevertheless, Sunday evening was a collaborative effort. It combined the prowess of all three musicians, which made the performance so enjoyable, the sound so enticing and the sophisticated sanctuary from Lebanon's political nightmare so rewarding. 

The set lasted one hour and 15 minutes, but it felt like a mere 45 minutes, partly because the trio was so tight and partly because the audience was so enraptured. At the end, they were eager for more.

Mirabassi has performed all over the world and occasionally with masters such as Chet Baker, whose smoldering, sophisticated and sometimes melancholic tones Mirabassi himself evokes. Yet his performance in Beirut must surely be one of his most memorable. It was the genesis of a truly great jazz trio in a time and place most in need of jazz's cathartic expression, for an uncertain Beirut that has fallen on hard times.

Indeed, were it not for the complimentary tin of mints providing audience members with proof of their presence, they could have been easily forgiven for dismissing their post-show memories of the performance as mere fantasy, a burgundy-soaked dream out of place in a city with the blues.

Copyright The Daily Star 2008.