New York-based drumming genius Jamire Williams is steadily making a name for himself as one to watch on the world jazz scene. An alumnus of the prestigious Houston High School for the Visual and Performing Arts that produced esteemed talents including Beyoncé Knowles and producer Bryan-Michael Cox (Janet Jackson, Mariah Carey, Usher Raymond and more), there was no questioning why Williams performed four sellout performances at the 2012 Melbourne International Jazz Festival as part of the Dr Lonnie Smith band.
This year, Williams returned to the festival with his new creation and collaborative effort – experimental outfit Erimaj, a name derived from his own first name spelt backwards.
While the loungey, film-noir-esque single “Conflict Of A Man” from the self-titled debut blended RnB vocals with an insatiable groove, Erimaj’s set clarified that they are much more than genre-benders.
To describe their set as a series of songs played in a specific order would be an injustice to the group’s talent. Each tune, or daresay ‘movement,’ pulled at the traditional makeup of jazz composition. The show performed on the Saturday night was an intimate, mood-swinging soundscape, playing up beautiful imagery and casting a spell on the attentive capacity crowd. “This Night, This Song,” for example, with its sparsely played piano improvisations and drumwork, transported the audience from between the walls of the band room to a serene white landscape in the middle of nowhere.
The show constituted a soulful rising and falling of sound, with the occasional coming up for breath. Constancy was provided by the diverse rhythms of Williams and bassist Vincente Archer’s rhythmic heartbeat.
Williams was present not only in song but also as master of ceremony, coaxing the crowd with his words and transforming the show from festival set to curated work of art. He was keen to remind his guests just how much the group had been looking forward to this leg of the tour, reiterating several times how much of a blast they were having on stage.
Following a brief intermission mid-way through the set, there was guitarist Matthew Stevens’ original “Choosing Sides,” also from Conflict Of A Man. His stripped back, exposed solo opening was markedly different to what had been laid down in recording, highlighting Erimaj’s fluid performance style where anything is open to reinterpretation. A keen sense of build was central to the success of this particular number, his guitar part gradually turning to a quick skittering. With the help of the rhythm section, the room was enveloped with full sounds, driven by the brooding bassline and garnished with sinister keys.
Corey King’s mournful trombone playing offered a reflective sentiment for the cover of Sonny Shruc’s “Who Does She Hope To Be?” In a similar style to some of their other tunes, Erimaj began with a single exposed instrument, building layer upon layer of sound, introducing new rhythmic stylings – in this case, the introduction of funky beats. With this subtle introduction came a sense of build, rising to create clear-minded sounds in the crescendo. To the delight of the crowd, the tune concluded in a thunderous, chaotic mix-up of Williams’ frenetic drumming, musical skee-daddles and earth-moving bass beats.
Erimaj closed off the set with the laid-back and cruisy “Social Life” – a sort of flourishing come-down farewell for their adoring fans.
There was plenty of hesitation to leave when the foursome left the stage. Indeed, for a Class-A act such as Erimaj, an encore was to be expected. A short, showy tune gave a little extra dose of what was an altogether smooth, intensely calming and cultured performance.
