The Ollie Bomann Quartet was founded as a means to bridge the musical gap between the contemporary Jazz scenes of New York and Wellington. Ollie has lived and worked as a professional musician in New York and aims to bring the performance aesthetics and practices to a Wellington audience. This new quartet of his will be presenting original compositions by all members of the band as well as music written by some of the band’s favourite post-bop artists: Wayne Shorter, Herbie Hancock, Joe Henderson, etc.
Ollie Bomann Quartet Featuring: Ollie Bomann (b), James Guilford-Smith (t), Leonardo Coghini (p), Hikurangi Schaverien-Kaa (d) Date: Thur 29 Apr 2021, 7.30pm Venue: Lovebite, 2 Forresters Lane Price: Tickets available on Eventfinda, Door sales: General $20, WJC members $15, and Students with ID $10
The Woods’ are a quartet from Wellington, NZ, playing original instrumental music. Their influences are broad, taking in jazz artists like Pharoah Sanders and Henry Threadgill, the blues of John Lee Hooker, Zimbabwe highlife, Peruvian mountain music, Ethio Jazz etc. Members of ‘The Woods’ have featured in a number of Wellington bands including The Noveltones, Mean Bones, Kita, Little Bushman, The Phoenix Foundation
Their debut EP ‘Manyana’ and follow up EP ‘Magic Ocean Tree’ are both available on bandcamp: https://thewoods4.bandcamp.com/
“A burst of big healthy vibes. A high-intensity chill-out. It’s laid back and cool, but always solid in its groove. I love the range, from sultry blues to pagan ritual, with pretty much everything in between. It’s like latter-day troubadours have come to town. These are great earthy, singable tunes, and everyone of them with a unique twist. The writing and playing are constantly inspired. This is an awesome dose of positively-energised music.”
– John Psathas, Composer (Athens Olympic ceremonies)
The Woods Featuring: Blair Latham (Tenor Sax, Bass Clarinet, Flute, Guitar), Joe Callwood (Guitar), Tom Callwood (Bass), Rick Cranson (Drums) Date: Thur 15 Apr 2021, 7.30pm Venue: Lovebite, 2 Forresters Lane Price: Tickets available on Eventfinda, Door sales: General $20, WJC members $15, and Students with ID $10
Born in New Zealand into a musical family, Adrienne acquired her first organ in 2003 when she imported a Hammond C3 from Canada. She taught herself to play by copying recordings by Jimmy Smith, Joey DeFrancesco, Groove Holmes and Jack McDuff. In 2008,after performing clubs and festivals throughout New Zealand and Australia, Adrienne moved to the USA sharing the stage with Joey Defrancesco, Ronnie Cuber, Bruce Forman, Victor Jones, Tony Monaco, Sherrie Maricle and headlined jazz clubs including Cliff Bells (Detroit), The Blue Wisp (Cincinnati, OH), Jazz Central (Dayton, Oh) and Night Town (Cleveland, OH). Now based in New York City performing in clubs such as Minton’s, The Garage, Smoke, Showman’s, Red Rooster, and BB Kings.
Adrienne McKay Trio Featuring: Adrienne McKay (o), Mark Lockett (d) and Callum Allardice (g). Date: Thur 1 Apr 2021, 7.30pm Venue: Lovebite, 2 Forresters Lane Price: Tickets available on Eventfinda, Door sales: General $20, WJC members $15, and Students with ID $10
Eclectic saxophonist and multi-instrumentalist Oscar Lavën presents a suite of new works inspired by the immortal essence of John Coltrane’s quartet.
Oscar Laven Quartet Featuring: Oscar Laven (S), John Rae (D), Patrick Bleakley (B) and Ayrton Foote (P). Date: Thur 18 Mar 2021, 7.30pm Venue: Lovebite, 2 Forresters Lane Price: Tickets available on Eventfinda, Door sales: General $20, WJC members $15, and Students with ID $10
Extraordinary (pianist) composer and bandleader Leonardo Coghini brings his innovative and exciting new trio to perform a special concert at WJC for the first time. Coghini is a relatively newcomer to the New Zealand music scene and is fast making a name for himself not only in the club’s but also in the pop world.
For this concert, the trio will be performing a selection of standards and arrangements with some original compositions thrown in the mix.
Leonardo Coghini Trio Featuring: Leonardo Coghini (P), Seth Boy (B), James Feekes (D) Date: Thur 04 Mar 2021, 7.30pm Venue: Lovebite, 2 Forresters Lane Price: Tickets available on Eventfinda, Door sales: General $20, WJC members $15, and Students with ID $10
WJC presents a rare concert featuring one of New Zealand’s finest pianist. Wil Sargisson began piano lessons at age 5 in his home town of Napier, New Zealand. By age 13 he was performing solo at NZ’s National Jazz Festival in Tauranga, the youngest person ever to do so. In 1998 he released his debut album Steppin’ Out, which received top reviews in NZ and Australian media. NZ Musician Magazine called it: “an inspired and excellent release.” In the same year he was invited to perform in New Orleans at the ‘Piano Night’ concert, part of the legendary New Orleans Jazz & Heritage Festival. He received a massive ovation and was invited to perform many times. In 2008 Wil moved to Australia and soon began performing with the legendary Australian jazz group Galapagos Duck, plus luminaries that include Renee Geyer, Deni Hines, James Morrison, Jim Kelly, and Greg Lyon. Since moving to Australia he has performed at many jazz and blues festivals and has been active as a session musician, contributing to over 30 albums recorded by various artists.
The trio will play a selection of tunes by the likes of Oscar Peterson, old Harlem stride ala Fats Waller & James P Johnson, Chicago Boogie Woogie, and a handful of original compositions.
Wil Sargissonn Trio Featuring: Wil Sargisson (d), Daniel Yeabsley (b), Mark Lockett (s) Date: Thur 27 Feb 2021, 7.30pm Venue: The Library Bar, Courtney Place Price: Tickets available on Eventfinda, Door sales: General $20, WJC members $15, and Students with ID $10
Wellington Jazz Cooperative presents outstanding Kiwi jazz group The John Rae Trio.
Expatriate Scots drummer Rae, a top flight composer, musician and band leader, will join forces for the WJC concert with vaunted saxophonist, flautist, and composer Lucien Johnson and double bass player Patrick Bleakley. Rae, Johnson and Bleakley were leaders and composers of The Troubles, a premier Kiwi jazz nonet that initially had been an earlier incarnation of the present trio.
Rae recorded his first album at 16 alongside acclaimed saxophonist Tommy Smith and has since recorded over 80 albums as a leader and sideman, including the 2003 and 2004 BBC Jazz Album of the Year.
Johnson, a saxophonist and composer from Wellington, lived in Paris for six years where he formed a trio with veteran American free jazz bass player Alan Silva and Japanese drummer Makoto Sato. He composed music for plays and short films, toured India with a clown troop, wrote music for a theatre show in Haiti, and in New Zealand played with The Black Seeds, The Yoots, Lord Echo, Jonathan Crayford Quartet, Hollie Smith, Leila Adu, Norman Meehan and Natalia Mann, as well as leading various groups under his own name
Bleakley has been one of the most sought after bass players in New Zealand since the 1970s. His baptism of fire came through meeting iconic musician and actor Bruno Lawrence who soon inducted Bleakley into his band Blerta. During the 70s he played with several other well-known groups such as Mammal, Rough Justice and Spatz and was for a time in the quartet of leading Australian saxophonist Bernie McGann. Bleakley took a break from music before he returned to playing bass in the 1990s, touring with Lawrence and pianist Jonathan Crayford in the band Jazzmin. He has also played as part of The Razorblades, Sanctus and Village of the Idiots.
John Rae Trio Featuring: John Rae (d), Patrick Bleakley (b), Lucien Johnson (s) Date: Thur 18 Feb 2021, 7.30pm Venue: Lovebite, 2 Forresters Lane Price: Tickets available on Eventfinda, Door sales: General $20, WJC members $15, and Students with ID $10.
The Wellington Jazz Cooperative is pleased to present the Duncan Haynes Trio at its first concert for 2021 and the first concert at its new venue Lovebite.
Having recently returned to Aotearoa after two decades away, Duncan is one of New Zealand’s finest jazz pianists. Having lived, performed and recorded in the UK, Europe, the USA and South America, he brings a wealth of experience and an international vision to his music.
Duncan teams up with Mark Lockett (drums) and Seth Boy (bass) to present a concert of original compositions drawn from his 5 studio albums, highlighting the power, flexibility and sheer beauty that a piano trio can achieve.
Duncan Haynes Trio Featuring: Duncan Haynes (p), Mark Lockett (d), Seth Boy (b) Date: Thur 4 Feb 2021, 7.30pm Venue: Lovebite, 2 Forresters Lane Price: Tickets available on Eventfinda, Door sales: General $20, WJC members $15, and Students with ID $10.
Duncan Haynes Trio, comprising Haynes on electric piano, Seth Boy on double bass and Mark Lockett on drums presented two sets of exciting, rhythmically and harmonically sophisticated original contemporary jazz last Thursday. The first of the Wellington Jazz Cooperative’s fortnightly showcases for the year, the event took place in the low key kitsch atmosphere of intimate new venue (and former Motel Bar) Lovebite, tucked away up a somewhat grungy flight of stairs on Forresters Lane just off Tory Street. The tunes, composed by Haynes, a local who has spent many years working in London, Paris and Peru, showcased his relentless development of improvisational material, drawing on both post-bop (Kenny Werner comes to mind) and perhaps contemporary eurojazz sources. Haynes’ playing frequently drifted into an advanced chromatic or freely triadic take on tonality, his playing producing crystalline textures shot through with deft harmonic twists and turns.
Lockett and Boy provided ample muscle in driving the tunes, navigating as they did various subtle time signature changes and other tricky rhythmic devices. The trio’s playing and the compositions did not, however, lack expressive nuance, as evidenced by contemplative moments such as the third tune, ‘Reflections’. The closing tune of the first set certainly put the rhythm section through their paces, alternating between sections composed of syncopated rhythmic unison hits, and hard-swinging sections that used metric modulations to shift between tempi a little like changing gears on a push-bike. Set two opened with an extended solo piano improvisation by Haynes, which conjured impressions of Debussy or Scriabin, before merging into a moody minor-key ballad as the rhythm section joined. Boy’s expressive solo was especially notable here, as was his warm rounded tone throughout. The following tune saw Boy wearing quite a different musical hat, producing a rhythmically captivating solo composed from syncopated motivic fragments. Lockett, who founded WJC about four years ago, added a compellingly raw edge with his playing in general but also demonstrated a knack for pulling back and delivering beautifully subtle brushwork where it was called for, especially during this set. Of the two closing tunes, the first was a kind of samba that built to a powerful climax with the rhythm section creating an intriguing feeling of subduction or being pulled under the carpet. The final tune once again showcased the ensemble’s ability to turn on a dime rhythmically, alternating as it did between a quasi-chitarra ballad form and fast rhythmically complex convulsions. A great start to the WJC’s 2021 series.
– Alex Wolken
The Duncan Haynes Trio WJC Headline Series 2021 Lovebite, Wellington 4 February 2021
Powerhouse
Drummer/composer and bandleader Mark Lockett debuts a new quartet for this
special concert.
Drawing on his love for the music of innovator/saxophonist Ornette Coleman, Lockett has penned a new suite of compositions for a cordless quartet. The music promises to be both joyful while allowing musicians freedom to improvise not bound by complex harmonies.
Originally from Wellington Lockett has been a mainstay on the jazz scene both locally and internationally for the last three decades. Having spent 16 years abroad living in both New York City and Melbourne he has six albums under his own and performed internationally with Jazz giants George Garzone, Joe Cohn, Joel Frahm, Will Vinson, Danny Walsh, Jamie Oehlers, Orlando le Fleming, Matt Penman and many more. Lockett has studied with some of the most influential drummers on the global scene today including Ari Hoenig, Joe Morello, Jim Black, John Riley to name a few.
Mark Lockett Quartet Featuring: Mark Lockett (d), Lucien Johnson (s), Ben Hunt (t), Phoebe Johnson (b) Date: Tue 8 Dec 2020, 8pm Venue: Meow, 8 Edward Street Price: General $15, WJC members $10, and Students with ID $10.
Saxophonist Jeff Henderson reunites with exemplary colleagues; bassist Paul Dyne and drummer Rick Cranson to play a mixture of jazz standards, little known classics and no-hit wonders. All three musicians will be familiar to listeners, WINZ workers and people of exquisite musical taste.
HatNoHatHat Featuring: Jeff Henferson (s), Paul Dyne (b), Rick Cranson (d) Date: Thu 26 Nov 2020, 8pm Venue: The Third Eye, Upstairs at 30 Arthur St. Te Aro Price: General $15, WJC members $10, and Students with ID $10.
