Back In the Ella Days With Caity Gyorgy and ONJ

Thursday night, the Orchestre National de Jazz, together with two-time Juno winner Caity Gyorgy, treated a sold out Cinquième Salle to ninety minutes of Irving Berlin compositions as they were arranged for Ella Fitzgerald. Gyorgy was not shy to divulge just how impactful the music of Fitzgerald has been in her own career and it was immediately obvious how much she has studied and internalized this repertoire.

Homage concerts necessarily leave one open to extra scrutiny since it is often the case that audiences will know the music well and have certain expectations with respect to how it should sound. I’m happy to report, however, that the ONJ and Gyorgy’s combined powers resulted in a concert which respectfully and accurately paid homage to Berlin and Fitzgerald while also being tastefully stylized at times. 

Musically, everyone played their role effectively and nearly everyone had moments to solo throughout the show; of course, Gyorgy herself was no exception and she showed off her improvisational prowess early on in the evening soloing over “Blue Skies.” Notably, her note selection did not falter during the denser 16th note flurries of her solo. Even some saxophonists tend to get lazy in this regard so it is admirable and impressive that she chose to sing these passages with clarity and confidence instead of faking something only semi serviceable. 

Other notable soloists came from the usual suspects including trumpeter Bill Mahar and pianist Marianne Trudel who injected some more modern vocabulary in what was otherwise a night of straight forward swing. Even the occasional lapse in concentration took basically nothing away from the evening; the drums coming in with a different tempo from the rest of the band on “Heat Wave,” a flubbed lyric on “You Can Have Him” and a strange application of reverb out of nowhere on Gyorgy’s voice during “Putting on the Ritz” were really the only ones I noted. 

However, despite everyone’s combined talent and effort, (and despite the inclusion of two non Irving Berlin compositions), I must admit feeling some fatigue about three quarters into the show. Big band swing music is a testament to great arranging and high energy at the best of times, but this music was written to grace the dancefloors. And so after nearly ninety minutes I began to feel the weight of how repetitive swing music could be; something compounded by that we have, largely, left behind the tradition of dancing to this music in favour of sitting down and listening to it with reverence. 

My interest only picked up again during the encore, which was decided in typical jam session fashion, that is to say on the fly. Gyorgy and the ONJ rhythm section played a version of “Mack the Knife” at the audience’s request. Gyorgy sang the song with half remembered lyrics which she compensated for by improvising melodies and making up her own verses both in English and clunky French. It was such a spontaneous and skillful display one couldn’t help but laugh along with them. 

We are now nearly a century removed from when this music was new and from when Ella Fitzgerald first gained notoriety for singing with Chick Webb’s band. As such, much of the audience, and even the orchestra itself, was either grey-haired or no-haired; but for those who periodically fear for the future of jazz and how its traditions will be remembered and passed down, I have good news: there are still skillful young adults who champion, perform, and keep this music relevant for future audiences. Caity Gyorgy being one of them, it goes without saying. 

Auspiciously, I even happened to be seated beside two university jazz students who remained invested throughout the entire show. I think that as long as they have access to shows like the one put on by the ONJ and Caity Gyorgy last night, the kids will probably be alright; and so too will jazz.