Charles ‘City’ Gatt and all that jazz
“I always think about creation. My future begins when I wake up in the morning and see the light.”- Miles Davis
Charles ‘City’ Gatt, who sadly died last February, will always be associated with the Malta Jazz Festival and its origins in the early 1990s. He left a legacy that will be a difficult act to follow. However, Gatt, in addition to being one of the best exponents of jazz in Malta, for almost a decade was also the head of the Maltese School of Music, and grew his love for the form of jazz music among many. by his students.
This year, the Malta Jazz Festival, in its 32nd edition, will include a number of big names performing on the stage of Ta ‘Liesse, a place that symbolizes the festival itself. The organization of a jazz festival in Malta has been the dream of Gatt for years, who thought of the spectacular environment of the Grand Harbor and the Three Cities and the Cottonera area as the its majestic background. In fact, I believe it was Chick Corea, the weeping eminent jazz pianist, who during one of his two performances at the Malta Jazz Festival, was amazed by the spectacular surroundings and exclaimed: “I never thought I would do in such a place. . ”
“My first memories of the jazz festival (obviously I was very young) are more of my mother to be honest. That was the 90’s – cell phones weren’t something yet, “says Ariana, his youngest daughter. Gatt has two daughters, Ariana and Carla. His wife Frances sadly died some years ago.
“For most of two months, my father will be out all the time, people will be there, making sure the stage is ready, the instruments are safe, meeting sponsors, agents and so on. He didn’t have a cell phone yet so people were calling our house to try to reach him. That meant we would stay on most days just in case someone called, and then we had to find out where he was and get the message across, ”recalls Ariana, adding that the organization and a cohesive gathering of the Malta Jazz Festival in its early years was a logistical nightmare.
Things became much easier when mobile phones became readily available, and everyone could be reached in a timely manner. When she was a young girl, she experienced the chaos of those days, with both her parents in the thick of it. But the growing success of the festival as the years went by, attracting jazz firmament superstars, was enough to make it useful for both her parents. “I could see that they were both so busy and stressed but it was all worth it when we saw how proud he was during those three days of the festival,” remarks Ariana.
Sandro Zerafa, the current artistic director of the Malta Jazz Festival, was the obvious choice for the role when Gatt decided to call it a day. Zerafa, a very talented jazz guitarist who made Paris his home and nurtured his career away from these shores, was very young when Gatt embarked on the first edition of the festival, which helped to raise the his initial interest in the music genre. The drummer was to become the mentor and figure of Zerafa’s musical father. Gatt constantly encouraged the young musician, showing him the ropes to pursue a career in the field.
“The festival was the most anticipated time of the year for us. The wait was great, ”says Zerafa. “Apart from nostalgia, there was something magical about how you see those icons doing in Malta in those smooth times before the internet. At the time, my only contact with the international jazz scene was that strange copy of Downbeatshows on Italian Radio Three or occasional television programs. Seeing Joe Henderson, Roy Hargrove, Michael Brecker, Lee Konitz and others play at Ta ‘Liesse has always felt like a miracle. “
He probably had the highest attention to listeners – pioneers like the weeping Chick Corea, Herbie Hancock, Steve Gadd (one of his favorite drummers), the weeping Michel Petrucciani, Wayne Shorter, the late McCoy Tyner, the deceased. the weeping Bill Evans, Keith Jarrett – many of whom managed to hear live many times and also brought Malta himself to the jazz fest, ”answers Ariana, when asked to mention musical influences and the jazz musicians he had in the highest respect. “He was also very proud of the younger Maltese jazz musicians – artists he saw grow up and who were always very excited to play with.”
Zerafa mentions Jack de Johnette, Elvin Jones, Stan Getz, Keith Jarrett, Gary Burton as musicians Gatt was looking at. “He also mentioned Joe Hunt, his teacher at Berklee College of Music, a lot,” he points out.
One should not fail to mention that Gatt was also a percussionist and marimba player. This clearly shows Gatt’s eclectic perspective as a performing artist.
He was always looking forward to a creative outlet and as long as the flow is good, he will be satisfied and happy.– Ariana Gatt
The official poster of this year’s Malta Jazz Festival is a likable photo, an eloquent caricature of Charles himself, which in some way sets out the ethos of the festival and what Gatt was like. That smile of joy and abandonment that accompanied the playing of his drums, that gave everything, that enters his heart and soul while improvising or while advancing the rhythmic section of the band that in it he was playing. However, this smile hardly left his face. He would exude friendship and ‘openness’ in such a way that one would feel comfortable even if he had to meet him for the first time.
“Charles has always shown an enthusiasm for life and the arts. Even in the following years when he sometimes felt cynical, there were always those moments where his joie de vivre stood out. My fondest memories of him are his euphoric mushrooms like a child at the festival, ”says Zerafa. “As long as I remain the artistic director of the Malta Jazz Festival, I will always honor his artistic vision.”
Abstraction as an artistic expression
For some, Gatt’s visual art can be mistaken for playing the second fiddle after being a jazz musician and the father of the Malta Jazz Festival. The abstraction of painting was just as natural and shared many aspects of his music – in the freedom of his paintings, the improvisation in composition, his own honest and abstract expression. He once mentioned American abstract artist Joan Mitchell as a great inspiration and also claimed that American artist Jasper Johns was a genius for coming up with his series on the American flag.
“I can say that my father was very passionate in everything he did. He asked a lot of himself and put his heart and soul into all his projects – the jazz festival, his paintings, his music. I think he has always longed for a creative way out, and as long as the flow is good, he will be satisfied and happy, ”reflects Ariana.
It can be argued that art and music, in addition to his family, were the things that made his life useful, although sometimes life was harsh, and Ariana claims to have lost his motivation to paint or play. . “The two always seemed to reflect each other,” Ariana adds. “Once he’s motivated to paint or play again, his mood will be instantly elevated.” Art and music provided him with a lifeline when faced with the life crew, a safety net of sorts.
Gatt was one of the protagonists of the Maltese art initiative START, the concept of art historian Prof. Raphael Vella. He was also a member of the international art group Frequenzen. Gatt sometimes integrated his two passions, music and art, through art installations that followed elementary and rudimentary instruments such as bamboo branches that he positioned in such a way that the wind made an instrument of percussion of them; therefore, nature itself, the ultimate artist, created a piece of improvised music.
Art exhibition and jazz festival
City lightsthe exhibition of his paintings at the Phenicia Hotel together with the Malta Jazz Festival itself, eloquently show these two aspects of Gatt’s creativity.
One could find many obvious parallels between Gatt’s art and his music, as this collection of paintings remarkably shows. They have a strong jazzy improvised component to them, while at the same time, they exude a strong sense of spirituality.
“The harsh periods in his life also had a claim on his art and music,” remarks his eldest daughter Carla. “His lack of love for the structured and specially designed one reflected his abstract, non-figurative art and intentional use of dissonance, ie jazz. ‘The less clean and misleading, the better,’ he would say. When traveling with him, in addition to the music played, an amazing jazz club needed to embrace the good “bad” smell and sordid decor. Authenticity was essential! ”
His paintings randomly remind people of the art of Joan Mitchell mentioned above and that of the Chinese-French artist Zao Wou-Ki. The Maltese artist, like Zao, explored the silences, the visible as the yang of the invisible, the musical harmony, the rhythm, the nuance and the dissonance, even the soul of the artist himself.
“Charles drew many parallels between music and the visual arts. I think there is a strong sense of spontaneous movement in his paintings, ”says Zerafa. “Some of his paintings really repeat that subtle dance between the organic and the cerebral, something that is at the heart of jazz itself. Charles was very fond of the Catalan painter Antoni Tàpies, who I always felt had a strong influence on his works. ”
“Surely he always improvised and felt free when he also drew. I would say that his painting was definitely a strong reflection of his mood at the time, ”emphasizes Ariana. She poignantly describes some idiosyncrasies of his creative process: “He usually took an old painting from above and started working on it again – years later – until he considered it‘ finished ’. Whenever I wondered what he meant by a particular painting he would tend to say something like ‘It doesn’t matter’. Just enjoy. What is he telling you? ‘”
This question lies at the heart of valid abstract art. Unrepresentative art touches the personal deeply, reaches the soul and evokes new, personal feelings and emotions for the viewer. This is what this exhibition of Gatt’s paintings is also asking for, in addition to its function of celebration to honor one of the cultural icons of Malta loved by all those who were lucky enough to know him.
City Lights, curated by Charlene Vella and hosted by Phenicia Hotel, Floriana, will run until the end of July. Check out the exhibition’s Facebook page for opening hours and other information.
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