Live Review: Soil & Pimp Sessions

What began as a relatively packed evening at the Chevron Festival Gardens turned into somewhat of a shuffle-around.

Perhaps some punters did not know what they were in for, what with the whole ‘death jazz’ bit, and all. To be fair, without hearing examples, one cannot really get a sense of what ‘death jazz’ actually is. This particular Perth Festival event was probably a bit of a gamble for many who bought a ticket. Those who left early left free seats open for latecomers and punters up the back, however, and where a seat emptied it was promptly filled again by someone hoping for a better vantage point.

Certainly keen to make a big entrance, Soil & ‘Pimp’ Sessions took to the stage without any support act, but instead with the lights low and Ecstasy Of Gold from Sergio Leone’s epic The Good, The Bad, And The Ugly soundtrack at full volume through the PA. Once everyone’s attention was suitably directed at the stage, saxophonist Motoharu came out under a blue light to play a smooth, tonal improvisation on his soprano sax. Motoharu’s solo went for a few minutes before the rest of the band joined him. The line-up was not entirely complete, however: unfortunately drummer Midorin had recently fallen ill. Impressively, Sydney drummer Jamie Cameron flew over at a moment’s notice (with one day to learn the set) for one rehearsal and a relentless beast of a set. Hats must be taken off to the man.

Technical failures were not absent, sadly, and trumpeter Tabu Zombie had to call attention away from Motoharu’s failing sax pickup: a job he did effortlessly with a leopard print getup and extremely dexterous solos.  Completely unfazed himself, Motoharu found boom mics where he could and played into them when he felt like it, other times just running around the stage playing as if nothing was wrong. After the tech issue was resolved, this was his modus operandi.

The ‘Pimp’ aspect of their title was explained after the first song, when band leader/ hype man, ‘President’ aka Shacho took to the stage with a megaphone to get everyone shouting. Seemingly superfluous in a jazz band, Shacho demonstrated the nature of his membership by showing very subtle hints to his musicality. Little acts such as his conducting, or one instance where he kept phenomenal time on a triangle, showed everyone who was the boss pimp.