John Lenwood “Jackie” McLean (May 17, 1931 – March 31, 2006) was an American jazz alto saxophonist, composer, bandleader, and educator, and is one of the few musicians to be elected to the DownBeat Hall of Fame in the year of their death.
Featured composer: Jackie McLean
House Band: Alex Bolton (g), Chris Yeabsley (o), Mark Lockett (d)
Date and time: Sunday, 24 February 2019, 2-4pm
Venue: The Third Eye, 30 Arthur Street, Te Aro
Koha
Jazz guitarist Peter Bernstein (b. 1967, New York City) has been a part of the jazz scene in New York and abroad since 1989. During that time he has participated in over 200 recordings and numerous festival, concert and club performances with musicians from all generations. He got his first break while attending the New School when he met the legendary guitarist Jim Hall. Hall asked Peter to participate in his Invitational Concert as part of the 1990 JVC Jazz Festival. The event featured such guitarists as John Scofield and Pat Metheny and was released as “Live at Town Hall Vol. 2” by Music Masters. Hall noted that Peter “…has paid attention to the past as well as the future. He is the most impressive guitarist I’ve heard. He plays the best of them all for swing, logic, feel and taste.”
Featured composer: Peter Bernstein
House Band: Cullam Allardice (g), Phoebe Johnson (b), Shaun Anderson (d).
Date and time: Sunday, 17 February 2019, 2-4pm
Venue: The Third Eye, 30 Arthur Street, Te Aro
Koha
WJC is super proud to present one of New Zealand’s most in-demand jazz exports.
Renowned bassist Matt Penman brings his friend and frequent collaborator, saxophonist Will Vinson, to New Zealand for the first time.
Matt & Will have played together since 2003, appearing on multiple recordings together, and they will be drawing from Penman’s recent album Good Question, alongside some of Vinson’s compositions.
Matt Penman and Will Vinson
Featuring: Matt Penman (b), Will Vinson (s), Mark Lockett (d)
Date: Sun 17 February 2019, 7pm & 9pm
Venue: The Third Eye, Upstairs at 30 Arthur St. Te Aro
Price: General $45/80, WJC members $35/60, Students with ID $30/50.
SIMONA MINNS (NYC)
Simona is a New York-based jazz vocalist, composer, and zitherist originally from Lithuania. Her style is known for its unique theatrical flavor, genre-bending, and virtuosic vocal scat improvisation. Her latest work, “A Hunger Artist,” blends her haunting vocals with elements of jazz, musical theater, Lithuanian folk and even rock music to convey the narrative of Franz Kafka’s short story by the same title.
Classically trained on Lithuanian zither, Simona earned her BA in jazz vocals at the Lithuanian Academy of Music and Theater. Shortly after receiving the European Touring Scholarship, she moved to the United States to study at Berklee College of Music where she majored in Contemporary Composition and Production. She received the Berklee Outstanding Jazz Vocalist Award and regularly performs and presents workshops in the US, Australia, New Zealand, and Europe. Her compositions have been written for drama plays, string quartets, orchestras, and big bands. Simona’s latest compositional work is a string quartet score for the silent film “The Passion of Joan of Arc”.
Simona Minns
Featuring: James Feekes (d), Leonardo Coghini (p), Chris Beernink (b)
Date: Thur 14 February 2019, 8pm
Venue: The Third Eye, Upstairs at 30 Arthur St. Te Aro
Price: General $15, WJC members and Students with ID $10
Edward Lee Morgan (July 10, 1938 – February 19, 1972) was an American jazz trumpeter known as one of the key hard bop musicians of the 1960s. Morgan came to prominence in his late teens, recording on Coltrane’s Blue Train (1957) and with the band of drummer Art Blakey before launching a solo career. Morgan’s career was cut short at the age of 33, when his common-law wife shot and killed him following a confrontation at Slugs Saloon.
Featured composer: Lee Morgan
House Band: Leonardo Coghini (p), Wynton Newman (b), Mark Lockett (d)
Date and time: Sunday, 10 February 2019, 2-4pm
Venue: The Third Eye, 30 Arthur Street, Te Aro
Koha
Sunday 3 February – WJC Sunday Sessions at Third Eye
Henry “Hank” Mobley (July 7, 1930 – May 30, 1986) was an American hard bop and soul jazz tenor saxophonist and composer. Mobley was a “middleweight champion of the tenor saxophone”, a metaphor used to describe his tone, that was laid-back, subtle and melodic.
Featured composer: Hank Mobley
House Band: Brad Kang (g), Thomas Botting (b), Mark Lockett (d).
Date and time: Sunday, 3 February 2019, 2-4pm
Venue: The Third Eye, 30 Arthur Street, Te Aro
Sunday 27 January – WJC Sunday Sessions at Third Eye
Thomas Wright “Fats” Waller (May 21, 1904 – Dec 15, 1943) was an American jazz pianist, organist, composer, singer, and comedic entertainer. Waller was the youngest of 11 children (five of whom survived childhood) born to Adeline Locket Waller, a musician, and the Reverend Edward Martin Waller in New York City. His innovations in the Harlem stride style laid the groundwork for modern jazz piano.
Featured composer: Fats Waller
House Band: Aleister J. Campbell (g), Seth Boy (b), Mark Lockett (d).
Date and time: Sunday, 27 January 2019, 2-4pm
Venue: The Third Eye, 30 Arthur Street, Te Aro
Roosevelt “Baby Face” Willette (September 11, 1933 – April 1, 1971) was a hard bop and soul-jazz musician most known for playing Hammond organ. Baby Face started out playing the piano for various gospel groups and spent his early career traveling across the US, Canada, and Cuba.
Featured composer: Baby Face Willette
House Band: Callum Allardice (g), Chris Yeabsly (o), Mark Lockett (d).
Date and time: Sunday, 20 January 2019, 2-4pm
Venue: The Third Eye, 30 Arthur Street, Te Aro
Tadley Ewing Peake Dameron (February 21, 1917 – March 8, 1965) was an American jazz composer, arranger, and pianist. Saxophonist Dexter Gordon called him the “romanticist” of the bop movement.
WJC Sunday Sessions At Third Eye feature compositions by great jazz artists. The house band will open with a couple of tunes and then invite musicians to join in.
Featured composer: Tadd Dameron
House Band: Alexander Boulton (g), Umar Zakaria (b), Mark Lockett (d)
Date and time: Sunday, 13 January 2019, 2-4pm
Venue: The Third Eye, 30 Arthur Street, Te Aro
WJC Sunday Sessions At Third Eye feature compositions by great jazz artists. The house band will open with a couple of tunes and then invite musicians to join in.
Featured composer: Aaron Parks
House Band: Ben Stewart (p), Seth Boy (b), Mark Lockett (d)
Date/Time: Sunday 6 January 2019, 2-4pm
Venue: The Third Eye, 30 Arthur Street, Te Aro.