guitarist and vocalist, has an extensive musical career, initially in Sydney. some of the highlights so far are:
- four year residency with a jazz/ rock fusion band in Sydney’s Rocks district
- residency with a salsa band at the Hopetoun Hotel, Surrey Hills
- residency at North Sydney’s Asian Food Market with the jazz guitar duo, Metrognomes
- performed with several bands at NSW Conservatorium Jazz Concerts
Performed at the following festivals:
- Newcastle Blues Festival
- Berry Blues Festival
- four times at Newcastle Jazz Festival
- Dungog Jazz Festival
- Merimbula Jazz Festival
- Illawarra Jazz Festival
- Dubbo Jazz Festival
- Broke Festival
- Mayfield Blues Festival
- Berry Blues Festival
- Catherine Hill Bay Festival
- Cessnock's Budfest
- Toronto’s Classic Wooden Boat Festival
- Maitland’s Steamfest
- the Hamilton Food and Wine Festival
- the Lambton Food and Wine Festival
- Canberra's National Festival
- and at each Morpeth Jazz Festival
- Darby Street Fair
- King Street Fair
- Wallsend Fair
- Mayfield Fair
- and performed in Newcastle’s Live Sites program on several occasions with different bands.
Reviews
Review, Ken Longworth, Arts and Entertainment, Newcastle Herald, Wednesday, October 12, 2011.
Can’t Stop Dancing? Blame It on the Bossa Nova
The Hip Gringos Guide to Rio
Presented by: David Baker/ the Royal Exchange
Venue: The Royal Exchange, Newcastle (4929 4969
Season: Saturday at 8.00pm, until October 29
Writer-musician David Baker’s fascination with the bossa nova rhythms created by Brazilian composers in the mid 20th century is understandable as you listen to their exhilarating songs in this show.
I was quietly tapping my feet in time with the music and people around me were swinging their shoulders and hands.
Baker has woven a story around 19 mainly bossa nova numbers to explain how the music form arose, its impact on world music and the circumstances that led to the departure from Brazil of many of its creators.
The story is presented as a radio play, with the musicians wearing costumes ranging from Hawaiian shirts to more formal black and white garb as they become different characters in the exploratory journey of travel writer Romeo Edwards (played by Baker).
Edwards visits Rio de Janeiro in 1979 to go to the places- beaches, hills, nightclubs and festivals- that inspired the bossa nova creators, meeting colourful people along the way.
They include a pair of attractive half sisters ( both played by Karen Pendalton) who work for their sleazy Uncle Oscar (Chris Gill) in The Don Juan Strip Club that once was a nightclub where the bossa nova musicians performed.
The play, directed by Dean Winter, reveals the corruption that existed in Rio in 1979 as a military regime that had taken over Brazil in1964was nearing the end of its years of despotic rule.
Baker coats the information in often amusing soap opera elements so that the tale is not heavy going, and the dialogue leads into the songs. Mention of a shower that falls on the Rio streets as Romeo walks along them, for example, introduces The Gentle Rain, a beautiful duet written by Luiz Bonfa and Matt Dubey and performed by Pendalton and Baker, while a visit to Copacabana Beach leads into Antonio Carlos Jobim’s Wave, a stunning comparison of the ocean’s movements with those of love.
The occasions when the band (Baker, Gill, Marcus Holdsworth and Manny Serrano) are playing without accompanying lyrics underline just how melodic the bossa nova sound- a combination of the samba, beguine and jazz- is.
While the audience members will probably be familiar with the better-known numbers, including Girl from Ipanema and One Note Samba, the whole musical program will leave them wanting more.
