Acclaimed jazz saxophonist Matthew Ottignon assured me that Saturday night’s launch of his new band Mister OTT would be “something a bit different for the 505 crowd”.
Despite his self-confessed “pretty standard” taste in jazz – John Coltrane, Wayne Shorte, Miles Davis, of course – Ottignon has found his latest and most profound inspiration in Ethiopian groove driven by heavy hip hop beats.
Mister OTT is clearly a project that has been brewing for some time now and one in which Ottignon is deeply invested. It draws on the music of the Éthiopiques collection as well as 90-year-old Ethiopian sax veteran Getatchew Mekurya.
Recorded live with vintage analogue equipment and mixed in a studio in the tranquil surrounds of the Tasmanian rainforest, Ottignon’s newest originals marry ancient Ethiopian scales and native melodies with free-form jazz improvisation and syncopation.
London-born, Auckland-raised and Sydney-trained, Ottignon tells me his relationship with music is “kind of hard to explain”.
“The enjoyment I get from performing is so strong that I want to perform as much as possible, to the point where I’d be quite happy rehearsing all day, gigging all night and jamming till four or five in the morning,” he tells me.
Matt Ottignon launches his own band
“But I’m so busy playing other people’s music that I’ve always had a strong desire to lead a band and write my own music.
“Sometimes you’re not sure if people will get it or whether you’re doing the right thing, but with this band I know I’m on the right track. It just feels right.”
Two nights later and 505 in Sydney’s Surry Hills is abuzz.
The mysterious burst of sonic energy that is Mister OTT is infectious. A jubilant three-piece horn section (led by Ottignon on sax), keys, bass, guitar, drums and percussion coupled with Ottignon’s masterful vision and ability makes for an outrageously good evening.
Having shared stages with Mike Nock and James Morrison, Ottignon is an old hand at jazz and ghosts of legends past resonate through every note that escapes his lips. But amidst the improvised jazz and Ethio-groove of Mister OTT are twists of reggae, ska, hip hop, Bollywood, seventies funk and sci-fi and they all come spilling forth through the rapturous sound coming from the stage.
The two original singles being launched – “Mattaraja” and “Take It Higher” – are punchy and primal. “Higher” is a dirty, funky organ number with a big bold brass-line, while “Mattaraja” is more of an intriguing, chilled-out funk, but they both go down a treat.
There are even hip hop dancers and two Ethiopian performers in traditional dress to liven up proceedings, and watching one of the hip hop dancer’s fruitless attempts to get my mum up on the dance floor is undoubtedly one of the highlights of my night.
The crowd that packs 505 is clearly in party mode and by the end of the evening most people are twirling and spinning ecstatically down the front with hip hop dancers Phoenix and Miguel.
It’s only after the third encore that people begin trickling out of the club, dancing their way down Cleveland Street and off into the night.
