Archived · Jazz and Beyond · Jazz · 5 min read
John Hardaker's High 5
John Hardaker's High 5 Unlike many of my esteemed colleagues on this website, I am not Bachelor of anything – unless it be Bachelor of Playing a…
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Unlike many of my esteemed colleagues on this website, I am not Bachelor of anything – unless it be Bachelor of Playing a Thousand Gigs on a Hundred and One Stages. I am an autodidact mainly, self-taught through just getting out there and playing playing playing. I did have one year of jazz guitar lessons from John Robinson, one of Australia’s first fusion guitarists of the 70’s – a guru in so many ways and a great musical mind – one year which really opened my head up and answered so many questions. I have been playing guitar for four decades - a lot of rock and blues and over the last few years, more and more jazz. For almost ten years I led the power-pop group ‘John Citizen’ and since 2007 have led ‘The John Hardaker Direction’, a shifting lineup that ranges from duo to little big band. In August 2009 I mounted the third ‘Kind of Kind of Blue’ – my tribute to Miles Davis and the ‘Kind of Blue’ album where I arranged each piece on the LP for a 14pc little big band. It was the crowning experience of the JHD for me – and pointed me in a new direction, that of arranging for jazz ensembles. This is the direction I am moving in now. The guitar is great but playing a group of horns is even better!
1. LED ZEPPELIN – Sydney Showground 1972
I was only a young teenager when i saw Led Zeppelin live and it put the fear of God up me. I was so moved by their power that I trembled where I sat. It was a pivotal moment for me as it was my first experience of the magical power of live music to move one almost to tears; utterly ecstatic, all four hours of it. The extended improvisations opened my head up as well. I remember thinking, how do they remember all that? When I later found out it was largely improvised I was equally staggered – hmmmm, ‘improvised’, I must look into this.
2. GEORGE GOLLA – Mosman Steak & Pancake House, late 70’s
George Golla played with his trio regularly at the Mosman Steak & Pancake House in the late 70’s. Tony Ansell was on keys and played keyboard bass as well. My cousin worked as a waiter there so I could go in and sit on a cup of coffee for two or three hours in the corner and just dig George. I had followed his work of course with Don Burrows, but away from Don he dipped into the hardcore swing repertoire and really cooked. I learned so much about guitar playing from watching and listening to that band - so much about the dynamics of a good jazz band as well. Never got the nerve up to tell George how much I loved his playing though…
3. ALBERT COLLINS – Balmain RSL, early 80’s
Albert (The Iceman) Collins was a Texas blues guitarist who was a major influence on my major influences. He played a stinging, howling Telecaster with a capo on the 9th fret – his tone and lines chilled me to the marrow, still do. As a guitar player whose head was full of scales and chords I was staggered by the effectiveness of Collins’ simple approach. He picked just the right note at just the right time and shook it just the right way. (This could of course be said of any of the great blues players - from BB King to SRV). This gig turned my head around – how does he do it? Then I realised that he was emulating the sound of the human voice with all its nuance and “wrongness”. I never forgot it.
4. ORNETTE COLEMAN – Sydney Opera House, January 2008
Ornette came on stage with three bass players and his son Denardo on drums. I thought, good on Ornette, still out to shock and surprise. After one piece, this odd, unbalanced line-up sounded just right. Some of the tempos seemed out of Denardo’s reach - he noticeably stumbled a few times - but Ornette flew through it all, light and bright as ever. I was lucky enough to be about three or four rows from the front – I could see the intelligent fire in his eyes. Ornette was quite old and frail but his eyes twinkled with the courage and humour that I had always equated with his music. His eyes said be brave and do your thing and don’t set out to please everyone; not in a bitter way, in a spiritual human way; very inspiring.
5. JOHN MCLAUGHLIN & CHICK COREA – Sydney Opera House, February 2009
Through a wonderful twist of fate I was lucky enough to see Chick Corea and John McLaughlin twice in two nites at the Sydney Opera House. This concert to me was like seeing Jesus and Buddha walk out on stage (don’t ask me which was which). These two masters and the bands they led in the ’70s were the two poles of my musical flowering – the sun and the moon (once again, don’t ask me which was which) of my universe back then and, to a large extent, to this day. I would have happily paid to see either of the two perform separately (or for that matter any band led by their great sidemen - Christian McBride, Kenny Garret or Brian Blade) but to see them together, as friends and musical explorers was almost too damn much. Chick and John had that egoless, bright and pure happiness running through everything they played. It wasn’t about speed or volume or “going off” or “blowing the audience away” or any of that. It was a reaching out for happiness and hitting it over and again, thru a mix of the most rigorous masterful discipline and the merriest childlike play.
