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Auckland Jazz Orchestra: Inverted
by John Fenton
We lost jazz pianist Phil Broadhurst back in 2020, but his legacy is enduring, and unsurprisingly, he is constantly in the thoughts of the musicians he worked with. Here we have a loving tribute to the man and his music, appropriately performed by the Auckland Jazz Orchestra, which is peopled with musicians who knew him well. It is the AJO's fourth album and arguably their finest to date. Tribute albums may be commonplace, but tribute albums like this, born out ...
read moreTania Giannouli: Solo
by Nenad Georgievski
Pianist Tania Giannouli's album Solo represents a captivating and introspective musical journey which showcases her exceptional talent as a pianist and composer. With a program of 24 tracks, spanning 72 minutes , the album presents a voluminous collection of highly personal and original compositions. From the opening track, “Transportal," Giannouli's poetic ruminations engulf the senses and invite a deeper exploration of her musical world. This mysterious and enigmatic opening sets the tone for the album, hinting at the depth and ...
read moreThe Rodger Fox Big Band: Plays New Zealand
by Jack Bowers
Although trombonist Rodger Fox has somehow managed to keep New Zealand's finest big band alive and swinging for more than four decades, the band has never devoted an entire album to music written and arranged by New Zealanders--until now. That's not to say that Fox and the band have ignored music from their home country. Over the years, more than ninety compositions by New Zealand-based musicians have been commissioned for the ensemble, sixty-eight of which have made it onto various ...
read moreTania Giannouli Ensemble: Transcendence
by Eyal Hareuveni
Athens-based composer-pianist Tania Giannouli's main area of interest is mixed-media--combining music with poetic texts, visuals, theater plays or art installations. Similarly, Giannouli compositions for her sophomore album Transcendence (after Forest Stories, a duet with Portuguese reed player Paulo Chagas, Rattle Records, 2011) blends elements from her classically-trained background, contemporary music, and European chamber jazz--inspired by the lyrical, often melancholic colors of the ECM school (the album is released by a New Zealand label that follows ECM natural scenery cover art), ...
read moreMichael Houstoun with the Rodger Fox Big Band: Concerti
by Jack Bowers
There is a saying about “the best of both possible worlds," an adage that springs immediately to mind when listening to Concerti, a remarkable collaboration between classical pianist Michael Houstoun and trombonist Rodger Fox's superb big band from Wellington, New Zealand. The captivating program consists of four extended works, two by American pianist / composer Bill Cunliffe, another by New Zealand's own Mike Nock, and the first movement of Sergei Prokofiev's lyrical and dramatic Piano Concerto No. 3, astutely arranged ...
read morePhil Broadhurst Quartet: Delayed Reaction
by Florence Wetzel
For several decades now, pianist Phil Broadhurst has been one of New Zealand's most essential jazz musicians. In addition to his active performance schedule, he is head of the Jazz Studies department at the New Zealand School of Music in Auckland, he hosts a weekly nationwide broadcast called “The Art of Jazz," and he is co-author of Kiwi Real Books: Vol. 1 & 2, a collection of several hundred jazz compositions by New Zealand composers. Broadhurst has won New Zealand's ...
read moreReuben Bradley: Resonator
by Nick Tipping
With debut albums, the temptation is often to throw as much as possible into the mix, to demonstrate the many tricks the artist has in his/her bag. On his first release, Resonator, New Zealand drummer Reuben Bradley does, indeed, draw inspiration from far and wide, describing the album himself as “eclectic." But the album is far from haphazard in its construction; the different styles and influences do occasionally surprise, but on repeated listening it becomes clear that this ...
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