Lisa Young Quartet @ Bennetts Lane –The Age, June 2001
“I looked around; the audience was transfixed…a very pleasant reverie”
JESSICA NICHOLAS: The most recent recording by the Lisa Young Quartet is called Speak. It’s an appropriate title for a group whose primary focus is communication. Of course, as Young is a vocalist, lyrics play a part in this communication, but she and her colleagues have plenty of other tools at their disposal.
Their concert featured an all-original repertoire, including several pieces inspired by Young’s interest in Indian music. For some years now she has been studying and perfecting “konnakol” – Indian vocal percussion – and her performances always include examples of the highly rhythmic singing style.
On Affirmations , she began by scatting in tandem with Ben Robertson’s lithe bass, keeping her improvisation within the loping rhythmic framework before starting to push at its edges. The Night Cycle , inspired by an all-night concert in Mumbai, was underpinned by a hypnotic drone from the tampura, which Young cradled as she sang. On Deep in Madras , Young accompanied herself on aslatuas – small Ghanaian balls that she spun around her wrists to add sharp percussive accents.
The evening’s most uplifting number was Secrets , which hinged on a wonderfully upbeat melody and a vibrant, rhythmic shuffle reminiscent of South African township jive. Pianist Colin Hopkins coaxed the shuffle into a swagger, pulling Robertson and Beck with him to lift the energy of the ensemble behind Young’s effervescent lyrics.
Then the instrumentalists dropped away leaving the singer centre stage for an extended vocal and hand percussion solo. Young held the space effortlessly, scatting to the syncopated rhythms of the aslatuas and using the microphone to subtly modulate her tone.
I looked around; the audience was transfixed. Like the rapturous all-night concerts Young attended in Mumbai, there was a sense this solo could have continued for hours. Instead, Young slowly moved away from the microphone, opened her eyes and smiled, looking as though she – like us – had just emerged from a very pleasant reverie.
