Frida’s
is not the most welcoming jazz club in the world, but it will serve Indigenous
patrons. There are not a lot of nightclubs in post-war Sydney that will, so it
would be a shame if this shell-shocked soldier found himself banned from the
premises. He really hasn’t done anything wrong, but he knew Frida way back when,
making things awkward in Bjorn Stewart’s short film Last Drinks at Frida’s, which screens as part of the 2018 New York African Diaspora International Film Festival.
He
served honorably, but the unnamed WWII soldier has a severe case of PTSD
compounded by the racism and disinterest of Australian society he returned to.
Frida’s was one place he could go to drown his sorrows—and the music is good.
Nobody knows his name there, but he knows Tilly de Frida, the proprietress and
main vocal attraction. They were both students together at one of the notorious
schools for young Indigenous Australians. She really did not know him then either.
He has always been shy and has become even more withdrawn. Yet, something about
the man in uniform draws Frida’s eye.
Although
Last Drinks is more about social criticism
than musical numbers, it makes perfect sense to set it in a jazz club. It also
sounds swingingly era-appropriate, thanks to the music of Charlie Chan, who
also leads the on-screen combo backing up Frida. It is a nice group,
featuring Chan on piano, Andrew “Jock” Robertson on reeds, Ashley Tuner on
bass, Andrew Dickeson drums, and Ursula Yovich providing Frida’s smoky vocals.