Fearless performer mesmerises audience

Nyree Sherlock and Andrea Robinson | 25th March 2008

For several days I listened in awe to Charmaine Ford's acclaimed album, Busy Silence, yet nothing could have prepared me for this young pianist's spell-binding virtuosity.

Jazz Festival director Liam Ryan summed it up quite aptly in his introduction, describing Ford as a miracle.

The riveting performance marked an anniversary for the 2007 Jazz Tui Award winner, now based in Australia: 10 years previously, she played the venue as part of a Tauranga high school competition.

Ford was joined onstage by two long-time musical collaborators: Nick Tipping, (upright bass), and Richard Wise, (drums), who appear on her first album, Live at Sandwiches; both counterpoised the pianist's mesmerising variations with empathy, emotional complexity and a virile precision borne out of their familiarity with the repertoire and their indubitable joy of performing together.

It is, however, Ford's unpredictability that makes her such an exciting/innovative and fearless performer: Complex, yet playful; highly disciplined, yet unconventional, Ford is also a prolific composer, whose greatest love is sharing her highly original compositions with the audience.

For example Caffeine Deprived is a feisty composition where dirty piano stomps right into a groovy-syncopated drum and bass dialogue.

In contrast Midnight Chardonnay, inspired by composer John Psathas is an intoxicating, unknown journey, unfurling like silk in a sea breeze. If you missed Charmaine Ford this time round, try Busy Silence, the CD; it comes highly recommend by each of the 88 keys.