The two albums reviewed feature musicians from Wellington, Aotearoa/New Zealand. The first is by guitarist Callum Allardice, an award-winning musician with an impressive résumé. The second is an EP by vocalist Ella Dunbar-Wilcox (Ella Sophie), her first release.

Elementa ~ Callum Allardice

Elementa is a fine album and Allardice’s best to date. With this release and with this band, he has found the perfect vehicle to showcase his astonishing guitar fluency and compositional chops. He is known for crafting fine charts and melodic compositions and has won the APRA award for best jazz composition three times, but here, he shines as a fully rounded guitarist at the top of his game. There is no mistaking the lineage he arises from, Rosenwinkel and Moreno, and this album sees him vying for a place alongside those who extend that vocabulary, like Charles Altura or Gilad Hekselman.   

Allardice’s supporting musicians are well-known in the Trans-Tasman music scene. The quartet includes accomplished Australian pianist Luke Sweeting, respected Australian-based Kiwi bassist Thomas Botting, and a tasteful drummer Hikurangi Schaverien-Kaa from Wellington. These musicians have previously collaborated with Allardice in groups such as The Jac and The Antipodeans, and are familiar figures to jazz audiences in New Zealand.

His accompanying musicians will be familiar. A lineup of Trans-Tasman stalwarts who have played alongside Allardice before in bands such as The Jac and The Antipodeans. The Australian pianist, Luke Sweeting, is a familiar face to jazz audiences in Aotearoa, as is the Australian-based Kiwi Thomas Botting, a respected bass player. The tasteful Wellington drummer Hikurangi Schaverien-Kaa rounds out the quartet.

There is a lot to like here, with the first track, ‘Stone Eyes’, setting up the rest of the album nicely (embedded). It has an otherworldly quality, and like the title track, it reveals Allardice’s remarkable technical skill as he spins out his mesmeric lines. His tone is inviting and warm. The guitarist is virtuosic throughout, but never just for virtuosity’s sake, and this is the clearest indicator of his maturity as a player. Also of note is a fine solo by Sweeting on ‘Odyssey’.    

The album is on the Australian Earshift Music label and will be released shortly. It can be purchased via the artist’s website or from www.earshift.com

Ella Sophie ~ Almost Love

‘Almost Love’ is the first release EP by Ella Dunbar-Wilcox (Ella Sophie), a New Zealand vocalist, pianist and composer. She is studying for her Masters on the West Coast of America after completing a BMus at the New Zealand School of Music. When I played the album, it was hard to believe that I was hearing a first release. You could add this to a playlist of well-known Jazz vocalists and it would fit in perfectly. The approach is old school, but in the best way, as she interprets by subtle means, making the tunes her own. 

The album is mostly Song Book ‘standards’, but her original, ‘Take a Clue’ is a fine composition and fits in nicely. Taking a more traditional approach has paid off. There is an ease, a certain cool, teased out by her playful phrasing and minimal but deft touches of vibrato. Much of that is technique but there is much more on display here. She draws you in, conveys intimacy as she tells a story and makes you a believer. Embedded is ‘I’m Old Fashioned’.

She is receiving airplay in her home country and elsewhere and her voice has been compared favourably to some iconic jazz vocalists. When I played the EP, Anita O’Day and even Blossom Dearie came to mind, with that hint of playfulness in her sound and phrasing. She is also a pianist, but she has engaged a pianist and some LA musicians for this album, and they are just right for her. The other musicians are Alex Frank, Ryan Shaw, Josh Nelson, Talley Sherwood, Ben Burget, and David Donnelly.  

‘Almost Love’ was released by ‘TriTone’ and is available digitally on Apple Music, Spotify and YouTube. 

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, a Judge in the 7VJC International Jazz Competition, and a poet & writer. Some of these posts appear on other sites with the author’s permission.