Even just a brief visit to Adelaide in June is far better than FOMO from afar. Those Jazz fans who’ve followed the Adelaide Cabaret Festival may have felt the pull of Australian legend Vince Jones returning with the one-night-only A Maverick’s Tale. This world-premiere show had the (somewhat surprising) subtitle: 50 Years of Music! Where has the time gone?
Even a casual fan of Jones’ singing and trumpet playing knows that he’s been recording and performing for many years. Yet, half a century is an amazing stretch of creative output and, more practically, durability. Unsurprisingly, such a milestone could prompt a performer to look back on their life and work.
Here, Jones performed a “handpicked selection of his beloved classics” with a six-piece band (not credited in the festival program). The ensemble delivered numerous enjoyable moments across different moods, from deliberate work with brushstrokes on drums to energetic saxophone solos.
Jones is white-haired these days. He was battling a virus (and did well to move coughs away from the mic) and had a cast on his left arm. (Near the conclusion Jones admitted to having a broken wrist.) This all contributed to the sense of time having passed.
In technical terms, we could struggle to understand Jones’ lyrics at times. This was especially the case when the ensemble members were all playing together. This problem disappeared when fewer instrumentalists were playing, dissolving any concerns about Jones’ vigour.
This suggested that either less-dense orchestrations or a different mix would have been helpful. Recent misfortune might not have allowed time for such tweaks, but we could see solid professionalism in how tasks were shuffled on stage to address challenges.
In terms of providing biographical insights, some details were given a feather-light sketch. However, there were some informative introductions to well-known songs such as Rainbow Cake (from 1987’s It All Ends Up in Tears), where childhood memories of a baking auntie expanded to include other twists of the family tree.
Events were presented in a loose kind of chronological order. From Trustworthy Little Sweethearts (the title track of the 1989 album) about growing up in Wollongong (and just being young enough to avoid the Vietnam War draft) through to more artistic concerns.
Those familiar with Jones’ offering at the 2023 Adelaide Cabaret Festival, Come In Spinner: The Concert (presented with Nina Ferro) may have been interested in the return to that era. Jones advised that the success of the film and associated soundtrack (released 1990) meant that there was about a year of punters queuing down the road from clubs to hear him play with his band.
Jones & co. weren’t all that interested in playing covers though “because we were songwriters”. That disinterest in cultivating mass appeal in favour of artistic freedom gives us the strongest evidence for the show’s “Maverick” claim.
Yet, Come In Spinner fans weren’t completely ignored thanks to a take on Mood Indigo, the sparse arrangement showcasing Jones’ soulful tones and signature phrasing. If it was needed, this was a nice reminder of why Jones, with Grace Knight, still have the highest selling Australian Jazz album in history.
Lest we feel that the show was anchored around the late 1980s, some newer songs brought a different kind of interest. So, from 2015’s ARIA-winning Providence (a collaboration with Paul Grabowski), had the thrill of exploring a different way of thinking about ourselves and what we want from our society.
Similarly, Wood (from 2023’s Oceania) inspired by an old tree near Jones’ house, listed the various uses of this versatile material. It gave us a gentle push to think about what Mother Earth provides for us, and how we should take care of her in return.
The song’s lyrics referenced the use of wood in cradles, necks of guitars, “books for the boffins”, and coffins. Surely such an inclusion near the end of the concert wasn’t any kind of accident. It’s natural to think more about the transience of life’s stages with age.
Whilst we might not have spent too much time on any of these, we still had a highly enjoyable time with toe-tapping tunes. It was also nice to hear the between-song patter given a local slant; a reference to the 1980s-1990s venue Club Foote earned one of the warmest receptions of the night.
Vince Jones – A Maverick’s Tale
Dunstan Playhouse _ Adelaide Festival Centre, King William Road, Adelaide
Performance: Thursday 18 June 2026 (7:30pm)
Information: www.adelaidecabaretfestival.com.au
Image: Vince Jones and Band (supplied)
Review: Jason Whyte