I first caught the New Bop Quintet (NBQ) a few months ago, and since that appearance, they have had considerable success; playing at the Wellington Jazz Festival, appearing in large venues and touring. Now after months on the road they have an album out. An album that could best be termed, a love letter to Hard Bop; that accessible blues-infused genre that quickly became a touchstone for Jazz lovers of all stripes. Outside of the Great American Songbook, the Hard-Bop era produced the best-loved Jazz standards. Many of them are featured on the album. 

Putting out albums of familiar Jazz standards was avoided for a time as it invited comparisons with the originals. Now seventy years later there are fresh ears and enough distance to evaluate equitably. It is a well-recorded album and the musicianship is of a high standard. In addition, the more traditional stylists sound comfortable playing alongside modern conceptionalists like pianist Field. It has always been a feature of Jazz that the older styles influence subsequent developments. This is the perpetual two-way dialogue that keeps the music relevant. 

I have never heard Mike Booth sound better, and Pete France, who we wish we heard more often. Both played beautifully, that tone. As they played there was the pervading sense that an essence had been captured. The most experienced of the quintet members is undoubtedly Dr Frank Gibson Jr. He is a versatile drummer and one of the most recorded artists in Aotearoa. He always sounds great but he absolutely killed it on this date. With rhythms like that pulsing underneath them, the band must have felt that anything was possible. His ability to carve up time and urge others on is his gift.

Graduating from the UoA Jazz school in 2012, Cameron McArthur was the youngest band member, but since graduating he quickly established himself as one of the pre-eminent bass players in the city. Lastly, on piano, Keven Field. His rhythmic and harmonic approach is unique and forward-looking. He is undoubtedly a modern stylist and most at home alongside the likes of Matt Penman, Julien Lage or Mike Moreno. Having him on board gave the album a strong post-millennium foothold.  

While predominantly featuring much-loved standards, there were also four originals. One each was penned by Gibson and McArthur and two by Booth. The compositions all referenced the Hard Bop style and did so convincingly. Gibson’s tune ‘Beaver Fever’ was irresistible. The last time HBQ played I singled out ‘Speak no Evil’ (Shorter) and Soy Califa (Gorden) for comment. During Wednesdays live gig, the arrangements of Green Dolphin Street (Kaper Bronislaw) and Stablemates (Golson) stood out. The arrangements were by France and Field respectively. Booth is also a fine arranger (watch out for the AJO’s new release.

The gig lineup differed from the album personnel in one respect, Wil Goodinson had replaced McArthur. He was the youngest band member by a wide margin, but he gave a great performance. His solos were melodic and inventive and he is already nipping at the heels of the more experienced bass players. Lastly, credit must be given to the producers David Innes and Terrance O’Neil-Joyce. They poured heart and soul into this project and should take a bow. 

Mike Booth (trumpet), Dr Frank Gibson Jr (drums), Keven Field (piano), Pete France (tenor saxophone), Cameron McArthur (bass), *live gig Wil Goodinson (bass). The album is out on the Manu 6022 Label and available from stores.
JazzLocal32.com is rated as one of the 50 best Jazz Blogs in the world by Feedspot. The author is a professional member of the Jazz Journalists Association, poet & writer. Some of these posts appear on related sites.

The Jeff Henderson Trioglodyte project came into being during a period that future anthropologists might well dub the neo-geographical isolation era. The Trioglodyte name evokes an image of cave-dwellers, of waiting out a storm and sheltering beside a roaring fire as the icy wind bites at their door. Like all of Henderson’s projects, this one was memorable and full of surprises. It was guaranteed to clear the cobwebs from a listeners brain and it did so by cunning means.  It had three drummers, THREE DRUMMERS.

Humans are hardwired to look for familiar patterns in the world about them. It is how they have survived. But when those patterns become too familiar inertia sets in and complacency follows. This is especially the case with music. Free music confounds some listeners but if they listened, really listened, they would find the familiar. Umberto Eco the Italian semiotician and philosopher pointed out the following. “All music has rules, it is just that some listeners fail to recognise them. When a decision is made not to adhere to any recognisable form, as in avant-garde music, that is a rule”.       

The Trioglodytes took us on a journey and although it seemed to traverse unfamiliar territory, in reality, it did not. What we experienced was largely primal and it triggered parts of our brain that we have been conditioned to ignore. The gig opened with a long passage of hypnotic drum beats. From three drummers who were in sync and yet communicating with each other. The usual tune forms had been abandoned but delineations existed to guide us between the sections or mood changes.

Henderson is the master of this type of performance art and because he was performing in front of a Jazz audience he placed Jazz totems throughout the 90 minutes. The first such totem was the opening line from Bags Groove. It was played a number of times, elided, and suddenly abandoned. It was totemic because it demonstrated the power of a familiar melodic line, which has embedded in its essence the unuttered form. 

We heard many such references throughout the gig and none were resolved in expected ways. Humans may be hard-wired to seek out familiar patterns and forms, but we are also devotees of puzzle-solving. If we were never challenged atrophy would set in. The references touched on loved Jazz standards through to mystical Albert Ayler lines. My favourite was the powerful phrase from Sun Ra’s invitation to depart via Spaceways Incorporated. ‘If you find earth boring, just the same old, same thing’ (June Tyson memorably sings this in the Sun Ra movie ‘Space is the Place’). I have posted three excerpts and one of those contains that reference.     

Others may have reacted differently and there is no right or wrong way to experience a gig like this. I left the gig with a smile on my face and an appreciation of the journey. And the freer sections brought fourth an unexpected memory of an old black and white film. Of Berber reed players dancing about a campfire in the desert and playing brief squealing phrases over endless hypnotic drum beats. 

Trioglodytes: Jeff Henderson (saxophones), Eamon Edmundson-Wells (bass), Chris O’Connor (drums) 

Guests: Kathleen Tomacruz (guitar), Julien Dyne (drums), Larsen Taylor (drums), Neva Tekela-Pule (Moog synthesizer).  

The gig took place at Anthology, CJC Jazz Club, 16 June 2021

JazzLocal32.com is rated as one of the 50 best Jazz Blogs in the world by Feedspot. The author is a professional member of the Jazz Journalists Association, poet & writer. Some of these posts appear on related sites. 

Olivier Holland’s GJazz5 Album release (NZ) was bound to be a significant event as Holland doesn’t do half-measures. When he commits to a project he gives it his all and this project was no exception. Sometime in 2018, he and fellow Auckland musician Roger Manins flew to Germany to record 13 new compositions. Joining them, a formidable lineup of internationally acclaimed musicians and their destination, the renowned Fatorria Musica Studios in Osnabrück.

Holland’s compositions are always engaging and these ones, especially so. To give them their best airing he had engaged a number of Jazz luminaries; Geoffry Keezer pianist and educator (USA), Terreon ‘Tank’ Gully on drums (USA), Denis Babel on tenor saxophone (Germany), Roger Manins tenor saxophone (NZ) and guest artist Joscho Stephan guitar (Germany). Holland was formerly from Germany but he is now a senior tutor at the University of Auckland Jazz School.

When you put good material in front of good improvising musicians you can expect good results, but sometimes, that little bit extra is extracted and then the magic. This is a marvellous album and deserving of acclaim. It traverses a range of moods without ever detracting from the overarching mellow vibe. This is a recording you will want to play over and over, and each listening will yield fresh gold.  

The first track ‘$10 Per Rat’ has both edge and humour. Holland is known for his throwaway verbal lines on stage and this bleeds through into his writing. He will quickly tell an audience that they shouldn’t read any particular meanings into his tune titles, but then he will follow up with an improbable story to the delight of all present. Good musicianship and good banter are happy bedfellows in my experience. 

Track two, ‘Mrs Bombastic’ is the perfect vehicle for Keezer who sets the mood with his evocative intro. There is nothing bombastic about this tune which is reflective, spacious and beautiful. Following that is Morse Code, a tune true to name, dancing over compelling rhythmic patterns with an insistent ostinato bass line. The next tune ‘What?’ appeals to me enormously with its Afro Cuban feel and its funky danceable street vibe – Gabel, ‘Tank’ and everyone, killing it.

‘For Heidi’ was written for Holland’s partner. An achingly beautiful ballad and wonderfully realised by the musicians. The first album is rounded off by ‘EasyAz’. No Kiwi needs to have this term explained, but for the benefit of others, it’s a laid-back vibe that we value so much in this country.  The musicians at the live gig told me that playing the tune was far from ‘easyaz’. The old adage about Jazz holds true here, complex music made to sound easy, ‘easy as’. 

The only tune not composed by the leader is the first number on the second disk, ‘Tanktified’ by ‘Tank’ Gully. This is a cleverly constructed groove piece and it ties the album halves together nicely. On ‘Dog’ we hear Manins at his best, navigating the warp and weft of the bass lines and beats as he rides over the stop-start segments effortlessly. Another great solo from Keezer as well. Guitarist Joscho Stephan appears on tracks (1), (6) and 13) and his fluid delivery is tightly focussed, enhancing the vibe. ‘EasyAz’ drops into a nice swing feel which soloists Manins Stephan, Gabel, Keezer and Holland, power through as easy as – pumped by ‘Tank’s high octane fuel. 

There are no B side tunes here — Venus Fly Trap (a gorgeous solo by Gabel), ‘Bad Tuesday’ which made me smile (Kiwi Jazz fans will get the reference immediately as it is a big nod to Hollands friend and colleague Kevin Field and his delightful composition ‘Good Friday’), ‘Don’t Worry’ (has that dreamy Pharaoh Sanders like vamp), ‘Van Dump’ (tasty unison lines and forward momentum riding on top of a flurry of heart-stopping beats, and those two blistering tenor solos), Lastly ‘10c A Fly’ a joyful tune co-credited to Holland and his son David. What a treat, and as with all of these pieces, carried on Hollands impeccable bass lines and his gravity-defying compositional architecture. None of the musicians can be set apart from the whole because all of the musicians stand out, this was truly a meeting of musical minds.

Following the recording, Holland made several trips to the northern hemisphere, nurturing the project to completion. Then, COVID happened and the American and German musicians were unable to travel to the album release. It would take more than an international pandemic to put a crimp in Holland’s style though and a release was planned using Auckland musicians (colleagues and former pupils). 

The New Zealand gig was well signalled on social media with album teasers and a commitment to donate part of the album proceeds to a marine sanctuary off the coast of Africa. On top of that Holland generously forwent sales profits above cost. $5 from each sale plus a generous contribution from his own pocket was destined for Avaaz, a well respected oceanic environmental cause. If anyone is surprised at this generous turn, they don’t know him. His environmental interests are well known and based on first-hand observations as a diver and a blue water yachtsman (he originally sailed to New Zealand from Europe). 

I have posted several numbers from the New Zealand gig and they are a small sampling from a superb nights entertainment. Beside Holland was Roger Manins, the only two from the recording band. Filling in for the internationals and killing it, were Dixon Nacey on guitar, Thabani Gapara on alto saxophone, Joe Kaptein on keys and Malachai Samuelu on drums. I am sure that these tunes were challenging, but you wouldn’t know it. More guitar parts were included in the charts and why not with Dixon in the mix. Roger was on top of his game as always and the other three were marvellous. The University of Auckland Jazz School alumni and tutors under Holland’s leadership did the University proud.

In addition to the Auckland clips, I have included some clips from the album. The local gig took place at Anthology for the CJC Jazz Club on 26 May 2021.

JazzLocal32.com was rated as one of the 50 best Jazz Blogs in the world by Feedspot. The author is a professional member of the Jazz Journalists Association, poet & writer. Some of these posts appear on related sites.