Adventures in Pianoland

You know the lovely emotional piano riff that used to introduce Australian Story? That was originally part of a larger piece written by Jan Preston, who nowadays has a huge following in jazz and folk circuits as Australia’s Queen of Boogie Woogie. Adventures in Pianoland tells the story of how Ms Preston went from being a classically trained pianist of noted talent, to finding that very specific counter-culture niche. Jan Preston’s lifelong obsession with the piano has led her to some wild and sometimes difficult places.

Adventures in Pianoland tells stories from various stages of Ms Preston’s life, from her childhood in Greymouth, her job as musical director of the avant garde Red Mole Theatre and her time in New Zealand rock band Coup D’etat  and Australian band The Tribe. Her five years’ piano study at Auckland University under Janetta McStays may have been traumatic but it set her up with extraordinary skill.

With a slide show of photographs and directed by Jan’s sister, New Zealand director Gail Preston, the show’s centre is Ms Preston’s extraordinary talent. Playing a baby grand with effortless energy and virtuosity, she has found her true musical love in boogie woogie dance, honky tonk, ragtime and jazz music from the early 20s, with its mix of musical complexity, infectious beat and scope for expression. There’s a tidal quality to her technique, sometimes quiet and subtle and other times smashing the keyboard like waves against the rocks, but always fluid. Her voice is intimate, jazzy, warm and sensual.

The music includes original composition inspired by Ms Preston’s life events like the bluesy, regretful Family Ties, My Baby’s Leaving Home, Angel Having Trouble With My Wings and the risque Afraid of the Dark. There are classical pieces (Chopin) and ragtime (The Black and White Rag by George Botsford, which you might know as the Pot Black theme). And of course, there’s plenty of fabulous boogie woogie.

Making a living out of composing and playing piano, as a woman in a foreign city and then as a single mother, has not always been easy. How Janet Preston remains true to a muse that brings her huge joy is an inspiration.

Cathy Bannister