This collection represents an overview of New Zealand's burgeoning jazz industry from the Hot Club violin driven sounds of the Nairobi Trio, the after dark blues/lounge ambience of Bluespeak, and more blues amongst the wide range of feels adopted by Strange Fruit. These three albums have an even mix between instrumentals and vocal compositions.

Alan Brown's funky "Blue Train" was awarded Jazz Album of the Year at the 1997 NZ Music Awards, Sustinence's third album is distinctive and elegant in its approach to contemporary post-bop and the selection is completed with NZ's jazz terrorists, the irreverent c.l.bob.

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Introduction by Journalist / Music critic Graham Reid

The vibrancy and diversity of music in a country the size of Britain but with fewer than four million people is extraordinary.
Yet I can’t help feel an international Jazz audience is missing out on intelligent, inspiring and good humoured music from a country which has given the world Grammy Award winner Alan Broadbent (pianist with Charlie Hayden’s Quartet West) and much acclaimed pianist and composer Mike Nock.

I have heard Jazz from all parts of this planet, seen it at the clubs of London, Paris, New York and Los Angeles, and still believe what we have in New Zealand is the equal of most, and better than many. We take on any Jazz style with courage and impunity.

The freshness of our sound, the scholarship which drives it and the perspective we take from the far end of the planet is long overdue for international attention.

Jazz, the music of the most individualistic expression, finds various voices in New Zealand and the six albums in this collection are emblematic of that diversity: from post - bop and violin driven swing sounds to young musicians turning the corner to hip - hop.

Jazz Pack Albums


No Free Lunch - Blue Train
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 Auckland funky jazz sextet Blue Train takes the listener on a musical tour from the gentle persuasive Latin edge of bandleader Alan Brown's Mr Raven to the inner city adrenalin rush of Steve Sherriff's Scream. One can almost hear a Jarrett infulence in Brown's piano solo on the final track Distant Shores. No Free Lunch was awarded Jazz Album of the Year at the New Zealand Music Awards, 1997.


c.l. bob - c.l. bob
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Wellington has a reputation for being the creative centre of NZ and is aptly represented in this collection by c. l. bob. a unit of almost profligate energy, challenge and humour. If your spirits need lifting, aim for something as unpretentiously stupid as Cartoon Donkey, an appropriate title for a grin-inducing improv. which vamps through the theme from ‘Bonanza’ and other such minor moments. Or they can deliver the sonic dexterity and sheer visceral thunder of Spike. c .l .bob appropriate in best post - modern jazz style and enjoy themselves doing it. They won't change the world but they do make you smile.


Shelf Life - Nairobi Trio
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The Nairobi Trio certainly didn’t start off trying to change the world. By their own admission they simply wanted to make a living. They played corporate functions and wine bars, took their act to the Edinburgh Festival a number of times to considerable acclaim -- and came home to work the corporate functions and wine bars again. What the commercial disguised to an audience which preferred its jazz more esoteric or elitist was their impeccable credentials. Stephane Grappelli has highly praised violinist Richard Adams and guitarist Nigel Gavin is a colleague of Robert Fripp’s and has played in his touring group. Gavin is an exceptional composer; listen to the beautifully evocotive Noteworthy Praise and you’ll catch a scent of magic. There’s also Adam’s aching violin on Last Tiger Of Singapore the frisky, unpredictable Gavin - penned title track.


Food For Thought - Sustenance
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Food For Thought offers ballads which Sustinance render lightly and always make seem melodically effortless (J.P.J. with a witty coda) and tunes which open doors for solo exploration. Dynes' evocotive, windblown and energetic Harbour rewards careful attention and they explore some tricky terrain in Broadhursts' cascading Read and Discard.
Drummer Roger Sellars spent considerable time in the '80s playing at London’s Ronnie Scott’s, Paul Dyne has had a performance career in Canada and saxophonist Colin Hemmingsen has a day gig playing bassoon in the NZ Symphony Orchestra. Pianist Phil Broadhurst is an educator and jazz broadcaster.


Eavesdropping - Strange Fruit
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Pianist (and compilor of this selection) John Key has achieved that rarity in NZ jazz -- a body of original songs which Strange Fruit's vocalist Barbara Cartwright delivers with assurance on the sultry Mr. Khool and the medium swing title track Eavesdropping. My personal favorite here however is the long, exploratory instrumental Warsaw 5a.m., a seven minute journey from solmnolent sax at dawn through bass and piano carrying the energy levels up to arrive at a rush hour and Steve Sherriffs brusque tenor.





Late Last Night - Bluespeak
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 And the final album in this small collection is illustrative of the depth of talent New Zealand can boast. Greg Johnson, the trumpeter / vocalist with the lounge-blues-ambient band Bluespeak has a number of critically acclaimed solo albums to his credit yet satisfies his passion for jazz with this outfit led by pianist Tom Ludvigson and featuring ex ‘Madness’ and ‘Dr. John’ bass player Peter Scott. My suggestion for listening to Late Last Night is to take the title at its word. This is music for when the moon and mood moves you. Pour another, take off the Tom Waits or Sinatra and pick up a track or two.


 Graham Reid is currently a senior feature writer with the New Zealand Herald. He has previously edited his own jazz magazine ‘Passages,’ was N.Z. correspondent for Billboard, has been a judge for the N.Z. Music Awards, and was entertainment editor for the N.Z. Herald for many years.