Concert Review: Myele Manzanza – Anthology Lounge, July 10, 2019

0

Myele Manzanza performed at Anthology Lounge last night, which provided the perfect space for the set’s ambitious and unpredictably groovy sound to find its audience.

I’ll admit that I don’t connect with jazz and eclectic fusion-style music as much as I would like to. I tend to feel music in my chest and in my heart, and this doesn’t necessarily translate to shuffling my arms or tapping my foot. The reason I preface this review with that fact is for two crucial reasons: Myele Manzanza creates wild, energetic and emotional walls of music that will satisfy the most critical of jazz and fusion enthusiasts and, for a genre I don’t always connect with, performed with such energy and precision that those foot-tapping moments seemed to occur subconsciously.

With Manzanza on the percussion, Jonathan Crayford and Johnny Lawrence accompanied on piano and bass respectively, each performing with world-class precision and constantly taking the performance to the brink of disorganised chaos before reeling it back in at precisely the right moment. This led to a performance as a whole that felt wildly ambitious, experimental, and joyous at the same time – these were musicians with immense talent and immense humility.

This feeling was echoed by Manzanza a few times when addressing the room, both in discussing how blessed he felt to perform to the crowd – “It’s an amazing feeling to book a gig, turn up on the night, and see that people have actually turned up” – and how much of himself he puts into creating his epic musical pieces. When introducing Itaru’s Phone Booth, he spoke at length about his creative process and intent for the piece – stopping just before he himself became overcome with emotion – and revealing an artist boldly embracing his emotional depth through his musical output.

It’s in this capacity that Manzanza managed to appeal to an audience far wider than the genres the performance could be set within. As with many other great niche artists that have recently played across Auckland, this live performance was both a groovy delight for fans of the genre and a display of talent by three extraordinary musicians in complete control of their instruments. The audience – politely pushing capacity within the room – seemed to agree: a magical, often-hypnotising performance that had more than a few of us happily tapping our feet without realising it.

~Oxford Lamoureaux

Click on any image to view photos from Chris Zwaagdyk

Oxford Lamoureaux
Latest posts by Oxford Lamoureaux (see all)