I was celebrating my Uncle Dick's 80th birthday, up at Crescent Head, the weekend that Ben Ceccato and Ali Ratcliffe and their bands took over the Griffith Regional Theatre for their combined Live Concert Event "Original Worx". Reports from those who attended were blisteringly excellent, raving reviews about the music, the musicianship and the new work.
The social media posts hinted at a pretty amazing event, full on concert, lights, staging and a reasonable sized audience (though in typical Griffith fashion not quite sold out, seriously the town needs to start supporting local and visiting productions, it's not good enough that only Monster Truck events get the big crowds).
I have been following young Benjamin Anthony Ceccato for sometime. He first came to notice when ExposedArtz put together the ensemble that created the play "My Place" the story of young people in Griffith in 2010. Ben was one of those reluctant young people who was drawn into the production. He could sing, and he brought an emotional rawness to his performance and it complimented the other young actors and musicians. It was a pretty emotive piece of theatre and went on to win awards for the cast and production team, a testament to the story and team on and off the stage.
Ben's rendition of Antony and the Johnson 's "For today I am a boy" brought the audience to tears. In my presentations on Resilience I used a video clip from the play with Ben singing that song to close my presentation, knowing that it will bring out an intense emotional response from my audience and because it encapsulates so much of what we try to say about raising children.
Ben has been performing since forever I suppose, according to his family anyway. Music is a pretty important part of who this young man is. He has an incredible talent, he can arrange a song to bring out the emotion and with that he drags you into the song and lifts you up. It's a gift, and not all performers or musicians have that ability to take you on an emotional journey. Sometimes I think he just thinks this talent for interpreting music isn't that special, and sometimes I think he knows this intensely but struggles to find a way to make this work for him that is successful. Ben is a powerful and constant critic of himself, when we hear amazing, he hears "hmmmmmm could do better" and this inner critic is pulling him back.
Just my thoughts, Ben, because I think you are amazing.
I think there is also this struggle as a performer, "am I good enough to make this a career" and does society, community, family value creative ability in the same way as we might consider Law, Teaching or Lab Technician. Education and how we value it places a huge emphasis on success being measured by the number of Degrees or Diplomas you may have and which University you might attend and who you are being employed by.
We are often judged by salary, the cut of our suit and patent leather shoes on our feet, rather than on the person inside the clothing the qualities they have and the what they bring to community. We also see education in a very linear and defined way, we see Math as subject - numbers and equations, very constricted. Literacy as just being able to read a book or write a novel. Let when you see Maths in a much more abstract way it is a critical underpinning of music, visual arts, movement, dance, and much more, in fact we can be mathematically intelligent in more ways than just the image of numbers on page. Literacy can be much more than words on a page, understanding and decoding people and emotions is literacy and making meaning from the world around and telling that story through dance visual arts and music is a demonstration of literacy. When we move away form the narrow confines of defining what and how we know, and what is valued in education systems (narrow subject bands) and what should be valued more highly such as creativity and imagination we can see how young people can sometimes find it difficult to meet the expectations of others and also their own.
Some may wonder why a gifted young artist like Ben isn't at university or college studying, the answer lies in the young man himself, his journey through life will be one of discovery and interaction with others. There is no firm rule of when one should gain a formal education and indeed is one always warranted. Sometimes other priorities have to be dealt with first and then you have time to think about your options. One thing can be assured, all of those headed off for Uni or College, most likely will not have any use for that qualification by the time they reach 35 given the movement in job skills and job options that are opening up for this generation.
Back to Original Worx. The Concert was a self funded event with support from Western Riverina Arts, Ali and Ben putting up the rest of the cash to stage the event. That in itself says a lot about both these artists, you have to have faith in your musicianship, your story telling ability and your support crew to invest in staging a concert and expecting you fan base to rock up and throw their cash your way. Ben's last self funded music concert was held in 2015 at the Cottage Gallery and was a very special evening. The concert was recorded live by Mark Macedone and John Matkovic, with support from Ali Ratcliffe and Paul Barlow. Mixed by Ben himself.
When I saw the CD available for purchase, I diligently followed the link, parted with my cash and waited for the parcel to arrive. Anticipation was very high. This is Ben's first official recording released for sale, so for him and everyone around him its got a lot of emotional investment - we believe in this guy so much.
Relief it is a great recording, and it has a depth and quality that allows me to close my eyes and imagine I'm in the theatre. So what's it like?
All artists draw on the work of others, they take the qualities the match their own style and personality. We are drawn to music and musicians that remind us of other artists but also have something else that makes them a little bit special or different. Ben reminds me of John Mayer, without the mouth gymnastics that he does when he performs, but the clarity of voice, strong emotive lyrics and acoustic instruments. To me I also hear a bit off Patrick James, some of Chris Martin, without the frantic gymnastic. Performance wise, its the laid back style of Boy & Bear, the same assuredness with the tools of trade, but that level of surprise and sudden awareness of audience and that people want to listen to you.
Each song is a little different in style and where its sits on my list of favourites of the album, "Edge of Town" is a story telling and is lifted by Rhys Callinan's guitar solo. This is a listening album.
"Cutting Edge" is Ben, him and his acoustic guitar, a beautiful evocative ballad that sucks you in and just when you think its all over, a wall of sound crashes around you to give that anthem feel and lift you back into reality.
"In Love to Stay" is a foot tappingly good tune that lifts your spirits and its got single written all over it. It grabs you and pretty soon you want to start moving, its one that has lyrics and tune to create that "ear worm" that goes with you for days.
(photos from Ben's Facebook Page)
The following track is another ballad, and its got John Mayer written all over it and its delicious. Its also a collective effort, the vocals are up front, but the funky band solos give a very different feel and it plays big and also intimate. I can imagine how this would play in a few years time, when these guys are on a world tour, and playing the big arenas.
The song list is all Ben's original work, and I love the fact that one of my favourites of Ben's "Arms around You" is on this recording. We first heard this song at Cottage Gallery, and it was blisteringly good then and has a strong emotive pull to it. I'm sure this is the best version of this song, or maybe its the location in the line up, maybe i fell in love with it in the gallery garden and thats whats follows me.
The second last track is a favourite already."Between the Hustle and the Noise" has strength and emotional quality that hits you in the heart and to me I like that notion of music moving you emotionally, and it also lifted by another "Coldplay" stye crescendo that breaks across you and has anthem written all over it.
The last track leaves you on a high and wanting more, the vocals are staccato like and highlight the range if style that this guy is able to deliver. Its big, loud and says I'm here.
Seriously the album is great and is a huge credit to Ben's Band Rhys Callinan, Gianni Cocilova, Bernie Bass and Deanna Farnell. You can find fault if you want, but why, its locally produced album, recorded live at the Regional Theatre and I think the team behind it have done an excellent job, its sounds world class.
We all set ourselves goals or starting points that are high, sometimes they are so high we struggle to get there and see disappointment or fault all the time, I know that Ben has set himself a standard that is much higher than most, and maybe thats the reason why we have waited so long for this album to appear. I think he should be very pleased with how this project has turned out.
As Molly would say Do yourself a favour and grab your copy today. http://benceccatoband.com.au
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