Margot Pierard & Wil Sargisson
26th September 2020
Tasting Room Haumoana, Hawkes Bay, New Zealand.
Review by Rob Harbers, photography by Olivia Robertson.
It’s been said that it’s an ill wind that blows no-one any good, meaning that out of every bad situation there’s someone who benefits. In the case of the hurricane of Coronavirus, that benefit hasn’t always accrued, unfortunately, to those immediately affected. One of the more diffuse effects, from the musical point of view, is that it’s caused some artists to be in places they otherwise wouldn’t, and to make the best of a bad situation by putting on shows for the people they’re unexpectedly surrounded by. Many of you have already heard the story of how Amanda Palmer came to be in Hawkes Bay, but in a slightly lower-profile kind of way, the locally raised, but now Brisbane-based, internationally renowned jazz pianist Wil Sargisson has also been hanging out in the area, having been caught up in the lockdown etc. while on a visit to his father. This created the opportunity for him to appear, accompanied by the velvety voice of Margot Pierard, in the latest iteration of The Sitting Room Sessions.
I must confess to only having dipped a toe into the vast ocean that is jazz music, in the form of a few wildly diverse artists (Mahavishnu, early 70s Santana, Django Reinhardt, Benny Carter, to name a few) but on a night like this, that was no handicap. To recognise the sheer talent on display here required very little introduction – even the greenest of neophytes would have been blown away, as perhaps evidenced by the spontaneous standing ovation given at the end of the night.
Wil kicked off proceedings with a solo rendition of “I’ll Never Stop Loving You”, giving a taster of the keyboard dynamics we would see repeated through the show, before Margot took the stage to purr her way through “Black Coffee”, originally sung by Sarah Vaughan, but made perhaps the most famous by Ella Fitzgerald, and not disgraced by this performance.
As Margot commented, this gig provided them both with a chance to play a few new songs and the intimacy of the venue made for some interesting and illuminating between-song verbal interplay. This included the introduction of “My Funny Valentine” as having as its theme “You’re ugly but you’ve got a great personality” – an accurate description, it must be said, if a little novel!
A rendition of “Somewhere Over The Rainbow” saw Margot flexing the vocal chops she’s so well-known for around these parts, opening up and giving a tease of what she’s got at her disposal – a little reminiscent of a V8 engine that’s been purring along and then the throttle drops, showing the power that’s there in reserve.
This was followed by Wil funking things up a little, playing Dr John’s arrangement of “Delicado”, originally performed by The Percy Faith Orchestra in 1952. In the same way as described above for Margot, this allowed him to loosen the fingers, and the mood, and hint at the breadth of what he could do given his head.
The second half of the show commenced with some poems and brief reminiscences from a man introduced by host Jamie as one of a few NZ music writers whose words he rates and regularly follows, this man being Simon Sweetman. Simon has a book due for imminent release, “The Death of Music Journalism”, and his readings from it gave me a new respect for his craft. (Jamie did name names when it came to the other writers he also rates, but we’ll just leave them a secret amongst those who were there).
Following this brief interlude, the main act resumed their positions and ran through impassioned performances of “Blue Moon” and “You Go To My Head”. This was followed by a song Roxy Music stole from a Beatle, and they were stealing it back (where have I heard words like that before?) in the form of “Jealous Guy”, although the arrangement followed more closely the one performed by Donny Hathaway. The songbook of Mr Hathaway was also raided for the next number “If I Ever Leave You Baby”, before dipping in to Joni Mitchell territory with her song “Twisted”.
We were then treated to a discourse on the fact that the themes of many jazz standards are, when analysed, somewhat “pervy, blue, or borderline pedophilic in the case of “The Girl From Ipanema”, causing some, no doubt, to view those numbers in a new light. A wee bit of research into some of the presumed origins of the term “jazz” itself, however, would suggest that such leanings might not be entirely unexpected – I’ll leave you to follow your own trails on that one, as this is, after all a musical review and not an etymological exposition! But off the back of this discussion, the next number was “Love For Sale”, which makes no secret of its inspiration, with Margot’s delivery suggestive of a lengthy client base if she was to pursue such a line of work-showing, in more than one way, that she’s got a lion(ess) in her pocket, and baby she’s ready to roar…
But enough of such idle and lascivious speculation, although a broad reading of the lyrics of the subsequent song “God Bless The Child” could suggest the theme hadn’t been totally disposed of! “The Very Thought Of You”, which followed, allowed for Margot to impart that her thoughts may tend more toward the aromas of Viburnum, Grape Hyacinth and Daphne (who’s she?, the horticulturally-challenged may be inclined to ask).
The penultimate piece was Nina Simone’s “Feeling Good” before drawing the night to a close with a song that Margot hadn’t sung before: “A Song For You”, originally performed by The Carpenters(!) and given new life here. It should be no surprise to regular readers that I’m no fan of The Carpenters, but a rendition such as this could almost tempt a rethink… no, not really, settle down! (As an aside, for an exposition of a song of theirs that’ll really make you rethink the original, hunt down Sonic Youth’s interpretation of “Superstar” – it casts it in its true light. You can thank me later).
As referred to earlier, the audience gave a standing ovation at the close, not something that’s overly common at the Sessions, demonstrative of their appreciation of this locally-raised, but no less world-class talent. There was though, for me, the thought of what could’ve been seen had the touch paper really been lit – although that just might’ve endangered the ongoing survival of the Sessions, because even if the roof would’ve endured the onslaught, the relationship with the neighbourhood probably wouldn’t have!
There’s always next time – and isn’t that the art of performance, to leave the crowd wanting more?
Were you there at this Sitting Room Session for this wonderful Jazz gig? Or have you seen Margot Pierard or Wil Sargisson perform live somewhere else before? Tell us about it in the comments below!
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