Andy Fiddes's High 5

Historical article recovered from a Wayback capture dated 2018-02-24.

Andy Fiddes

grew up in Country NSW amongst a musical family, his father being a nationally recognised composer and pianist and grandmother an institution in music tuition. He began playing music at age 4 and has not stopped since, initially learning piano then trumpet. After a brief foray into guitar during his teenage years, Andy went to study trumpet in Sydney, completing Bachelor degrees in Early Music and Jazz Performance. Since finishing study, Andy has performed in Europe and Australia with groups such as Livewire, Survival of the Fiddes, Fiddaesthetics, The Jazzgroove Mothership Orchestra, Adrian Klumpes, Phil Slater, Upshot, BLOW! Big Band, Killing Heidi, Something for Kate, and Groove Terminator and recorded the ARIA nominated big band album Camouflage - EXPOSED. He has two albums out on Jazzgroove Records: SURVIVAL OF THE FIDDES - fear smile and ANDY FIDDES – Llivewire.

“Five amazing gigs? Not too sure about which ones to choose! These five are the top ones that have affected me very personally and made me really think about where I’m going musically.”

1. LOUISE HAYES QUINTET FEATURING VINCENT HERRING AND JEREMY PELT - Ronnie Scott’s. London 2003.

This was the first time I had ever seen any of the New York “Bop School” players perform live. Their commitment and energy was mind blowing, even at the last set at 2am! The whole band just didn’t let up, including Hayes who was about 80. Jeremy Pelt was a revelation – an amazing tone and clarity of ideas, like a young Freddie Hubbard. This band later became the Cannonball Adderley Legacy Band.

2. MICHAEL BRECKER QUINDECTET/JOE LOVANO QUARTET WITH HANK JONES - The Barbican. London 2004.

I was lucky enough to catch this one. The Brecker band at the gig was a killer. With Clarence Penn on drums, probably my favourite drummer at the moment, Alex Sipiagin, a trumpeter from Russia; now living in New York, John Scofield, John Pattitucci, plus accordion, strings and woodwinds. A pretty amazing timbre. I remember being dazzled by the quindectet and all that virtuosity, and then Lovano’s band (Hank Jones, George Mraz, Dennis Mackrel) came on and completely changed the mood. Very laid back. Unfortunately Paul Motian couldn’t do the gig so Dennis Mackrel “sat in”.

3. DAVE DOUGLAS QUINTET - The Basement. Sydney 2002.

After “The Infinite” record Douglas brought the band to Sydney. Chris Potter couldn’t do it so Rick Margitza did the tour. This is one my favourite records. To see it brought to life was astounding, especially seeing Dave play. Watching this gig actually made me readjust my approach to live performance personally, especially the way I project myself physically on stage. The visual can be just as effective as the aural: used in combination…

4.MESSIAEN’S TURANGALILA SYMPHONY REHEARSAL - London Sinfonietta/David Robertson. Royal College of Music. London 2004.

Whilst working at the College, I had the chance to “sit in” on a few rehearsals; luckily this was one of them. Eighty minutes of gargantuan orchestral intensity. Not being an orchestral player, I didn’t play; it was a great experience being in the middle of such a dense sound. My first Ondes Martinot experience.

5. EVAN PARKER AND TONY MARSH - The Vortex. London 2003.

This gig completely blew my mind; literally. A completely improvised gig that was very, very, very intense. There was so much passion and intent. I was so physically and mentally exhausted from listening after one set that I had to leave. I remember thinking: “If that’s the only gig I see for the rest of my life, I’ll die happy.”

“After doing this, I realise there are no Aussie artists. I know this may be cheating, but there are so many great Oz shows as well Showa 44, bo5n, Ten Part Invention, The World According to James, Alcohotlics, Scott Tinkler, Australian Art Orchestra, Matt Keegan Trio, James Muller”