Sydney International Women’s Jazz Festival is a welcome addition to the local scene developed and promoted by Sydney Improvised Musica Association (SIMA). Elysian Fields, Australia’s only electric viola da gamba ensemble is featuring at the Festival. Founded by viola da gambist, Jenny Eriksson, the band’s stela line up also features vocalist/violinist, Susie Bishop along with pianist, Matt McMahon and horn player, Matt Keegan. Jenny and Susie spoke recently to music promoter and executive producer, Philip Pogson.
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Philip: Jenny and Susie, briefly, what are your musical backgrounds and how did you come to play together?
Jenny Eriksson with her electric viola da gamba
Susie: My musical background is a mixture of folk, world and classical. The folk festivals that are a staple of my life have played a big role in shaping my musicianship, and are largely responsible for my interest in such a wide spectrum of musical styles. My classical training began at age four on violin. Later in my teens I took up voice. This background gives me the tools and the confidence to approach the music that inspires me. I was introduced to Jenny before Elysian Fields had come into being through her early music viol consort, “Seven Teares”. They were looking for a soprano, so I was contacted by our mutual colleague and producer Llew Kiek. I really loved working with Jenny and was inspired by her drive and positivity. I found through our next few collaborations that she and I got the same sort of kick out of pushing the boundaries and being more explorative with our programming and our performances.
Jenny: I come from a fairly traditional classical music background. I started formal piano music lessons at 7, played in orchestras and sung in choirs throughout school years then went to the Sydney conservatorium to study cello and music education. It was at the ended of my conservatorium studies that my musical life took a new twist when I heard the viola da gamba for the first time. It was NOT a common instrument in Australia at the time. I knew almost immediately that I was a gambist not a cellist. I sold everything to go and study in the Netherlands for 3 years. These 3 years were some of the most influential of my life: not just musically, I also learned about living on the edge and taking risks.
As to working with Susie, when I got Elysian Fields up and running I thought “I have to have Susie as part of this”. The fact she is also a string player makes working with her even more attractive!
Philip: Can you tell us a little about Elysian Fields?
Jenny: Elysian Fields emerged out of my growing love for jazz. I wanted to play with jazz musicians but it would not work with an acoustic instrument. For one thing, we play at 415hz, a semitone below conventional pitch. I searched the internet and found an electric viola da gamba made by Jan Goorissen in, of all places, The Netherlands. But I had no idea what I was going to do with it or where it would lead me. I had heard Matt McMahon play a few times and we often used to chat at gigs. I vividly remember thinking one of his tunes would go so well on the gamba. I talked to Matt about this song but being a jazz muso, he could not remember it! So, I commissioned Matt to write for electric gamba and piano and so the seeds were sown for Elysian Fields. I then met up with Matt Keegan after many years. He wrote a piece a significant piece, Elysium, for us which included voice, so the band was expanding! The bass player, Siebe Pogson, my son, is a jazz musician and has been surrounded by gamba music all his life which seems to help him when he writes for us. We became complete when Matt Keegan introduced me to drummer, Finn Ryan. I loved Finn’s playing so we became a 6 piece.
Jenny Eriksson & Susie Bishop live at VIVID, 2017
Susie: For me, Elysian Fields sits somewhere in the common ground between early music, world music and jazz. I love the combination of instruments as it is unique and yields a surprisingly satisfying blend of timbres and soundscapes. There is something magical about the reedy quality of the electric gamba and the saxophone together, as one has an iconically ancient sound and the other is so specifically associated with contemporary and jazz music. It is a surprise to hear them meld together so fluidly.
Philip: How have you gone about creating repertoire for yourselves?
Susie: It is very exciting to have such a progressive project to be involved in. In Matt Keegan and Matt McMahon we are lucky to have two well-established composers in the group who have come up with some wonderful works that highlight the new timbres beautifully and create wonderful soundscapes for us to live in. I have also brought a Swedish folk song to the group, bassist Siebe has written some funk and jazz oriented pieces and Jenny has contributed some early music inspired pieces. Across the membership we have a group of people with varied interests meaning the scope is wide.
Jenny: A starting point for our set list has been intuitively mining the cross-over between renaissance and baroque music and jazz. Matt McMahon seems to be able to blend echoes of the renaissance and baroque with rich jazz harmonies. Matt Keegan also seems to refer to the past in the piece he wrote for us. But overall, it’s like we are all on a space ship headed off into an alternate universe making it all up as we go along. The rule is “there are no rules”. I’ve got the composing bug as well. After years of largely playing 300 to 500-year-old music – although I have regularly commissioned new music for the acoustic viola da gamba – I realised that I needed to start composing again. This has been a slow process for me but an incredibly rewarding one. It seems to take me about 4 months to write 6 minutes of music. One of the tunes we will play at the Women’s Festival is a piece I wrote based on the great 17th Century viola da gamba composer, Marin Marais.
Philip: I imagine neither of you would call yourself a jazz artist yet you are playing in the Sydney International Women’s Jazz Festival. What influence has jazz had on your own artistic practice? Are there any jazz artists that have had an impact on you?
Jenny: I am amazed that when I come back to the acoustic gamba after spending time on the electric I feel so much freer: everything feels easier. I was reflecting during our recent recording how much classically trained players like me rely on visual cues whereas jazz is all about listening. It is very easy to be a perfectionist as a classical musician but I am learning to “leave things up to the gods” as Matt McMahon often says!
As to influences, I did have an early brush with jazz royalty in Jean- Luc Ponty who I heard play and met in the US when I was 18. I have the auto graphed program at home as proof! I still listen to him along with Scandinavian jazz artists such as e.s.t., Tord Gustavson, and Jan Gunnar Hoff. I also love Gregory Porter and bassists Victor Wooten and Stanley Clarke. Locally, I have been lucky enough to have been in contact with a wide variety of musicians through the Musica Viva in School Program. I’ve met and at times collaborated with wonderful people such as Llew and Mara Kiek, Paul Cutlan, Steve Elphick, James Greening, Andrew Robson and Sandy Evans. These guys, along with pianist Kevin Hunt, who has written for my acoustic group and “sat in” with us playing harpsichord(!!), have inspired me to get out of my comfort zone. But I am still very much a classical musician whose day job is specialising in French baroque music. I’m never going to be able to walk into a bar in New York and play jazz standards in the key of G sharp!
Elysian Fields
Susie: No, I wouldn’t refer to myself as a jazz musician although I have had some brushes with the jazz world. In fact, some of my other projects live in fairly close quarters, but I am being propelled further into it than I would have expected with Elysian Fields. Jazz has been a big influence for me from a young age, as I was lucky to have a wonderful music teacher who would regularly bring a flock of her students out to SIMA events so I was introduced to wonderful Australian jazz veterans such as Sandy Evans and The Catholics, Mark Isaacs, Paul Cutlan and Mara! amongst many others. They left an impression and inspired a great appreciation for the ability to create such amazing music spontaneously.
Philip: Susie, you are known as both a singer and violinist. The violin, along with the electric viola da gamba, adds a string flavour to the band. Where does the violin fit into Elysian Fields?
Susie: That is an interesting question. I don’t feel that the violin is particularly in the forefront of the ensemble, it is a little feature that sometimes adds some extra warmth or can give a melody a slightly different flavour perhaps. In terms of historical and stylistic context I suppose violin like the piano made the transition from classical to jazz fairly early on, and continues to have a strong connection with both the classical jazz worlds. Further afield the violin/fiddle has such an important role in many different folk and world music genres. So, I suppose like the voice, the violin is a very flexible instrument and can fit into many different musical genres.
Philip: Finally, leaving aside Elysian Fields, what other projects do you have on at the moment?
Susie: I am busy preparing for a couple of classical vocal recitals which I am performing with guitarist Hoàng Ngọc-Tuấn through the Resonance Concert series. My beautiful world music ensemble Chaika is also preparing for some upcoming music festivals and the recording of our next album. I am also involved in Sydney tango ensemble Tangalo which will be performing later this month.
Jenny: The Marais Project, my acoustic viola da gamba ensemble, has just finished a season for the Sydney Fridge Festival where we performed a live show with an actor based on the relationship between two of the great 17th century viola da gamba players. This group is about to release our sixth CD, “Spinning Forth”, which features a major new piece for acoustic viola da gamba and harpsichord by my dear friend, horn player and composer, Paul Cutlan. I am also preparing an original new show based on the life of Leonardo da Vinci for Musica Viva in Schools. This adventure consists of an actor/singer and old instruments like the lute and viola da gamba, but with a new score written by Canberra-based composer, Sally Greenaway. I also have other classical concerts later this year and in 2018 play in Melbourne Recital Hall for the first time with the Evergreen Ensemble.
Event – Elysian Fields at the Sydney International Women’s Jazz Festival
Date – 7.30pm, Monday 13 November 2017
Venue – Foundry616, Ultimo
Cost – $26
