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Sunday 31 March –  Sunday Sessions at TTE

Mulgrew Miller (August 13, 1955 – May 29, 2013) was an American jazz pianist, composer, and educator. As a child he played in churches and was influenced on piano by Ramsey Lewis and then Oscar Peterson.  Aspects of their styles remained in his playing, he added the greater harmonic freedom of McCoy Tyner and others in developing as a hard bop player and then in creating his own style, which influenced others from the 1980s on.

Featured composer: Mulgrew Miller
House Band: Ben Stewart (p), Wynton Newman (b), Mark Lockett (d)   
Date and time: Sunday, 31 March 2019, 2-4pm
Venue: The Third Eye, 30 Arthur Street, Te Aro

Koha

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The Troubles are one of this country’s most engaging and exciting jazz bands led by John Rae. From the coarse to the sublime, the emotive to the absurd, their music is inventive, passionate, honest, and wholly life-affirming. They will be performing Romanian Folk Dances by Béla Bartók.

Romanian Folk Dances is a suite of six short pieces composed by Béla Bartók in 1915 based on seven Romanian tunes from Transylvania, originally played on fiddle or shepherd’s flute. The original name for the piece was titled Romanian Folk Dances from Hungary (Magyarországi román népi táncok) but was later changed by Bartók when Romania occupied and finally annexed Transylvania between 1918–1920. It will be played with key signatures although Bartók rarely ever wrote key signatures.

The Troubles Do Bela
Date: Thur 28 March 2019, 8pm
Venue: The Third Eye, Upstairs at 30 Arthur St. Te Aro
Price: General $15, WJC members and Students with ID $10

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Paul Laurence Dunbar Chambers, Jr. (April 22, 1935 – January 4, 1969) was a jazz double bassist.  A fixture of rhythm sections during the 1950s and 1960s, his importance in the development of jazz bass can be measured not only by the extent of his work in this short period, but also by his impeccable timekeeping and intonation, and virtuosic improvisations. He was also known for his bowed solos. Chambers recorded about a dozen albums as a leader or co-leader, and as a sideman, notably as the anchor of trumpeter Miles Davis’s “first great quintet” (1955–63) and with pianist  Wynton Kelly (1963–68).

Featured composer: Paul Chambers
House Band: Callum Allardice (g), Phoebe Johnson (b), Mark Lockett (d)  
Date and time: Sunday, 24 March 2019, 2-4pm
Venue: The Third Eye, 30 Arthur Street, Te Aro

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Arthur Edward Pepper Jr. (September 1, 1925 – June 15, 1982) was an American alto saxophonist and very occasional tenor and clarinetist. A longtime figure in West Coast jazz, Pepper came to prominence in STan Kenton’s big band. He was known for his emotionally charged performances and several stylistic shifts throughout his career.

Featured composer: Art Pepper
House Band: Daniel Hayles (p), Chris Beernink (b), Mark Lockett (d)  
Date and time: Sunday, 17 March 2019, 2-4pm
Venue: The Third Eye, 30 Arthur Street, Te Aro

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Guitarist Reinier Baas and saxophonist Ben van Gelder are prominent figures in the Dutch musicscene , and long time collaborators. They have played over 200 shows together in the past years, performing as a duo, as a trio with drum legend Han Bennink and with both their quintets. Their joint efforts have resulted in a collaboration with the multiple Grammy Award winning Metropole Orkest entitled ‘Smash Hits’, which will be released in October 2018, as well as a duo record, which will be released in the spring of 2019. 

An active bandleader, Reinier Baas has toured with his quintet ‘The More Socially Relevant Jazz Music Ensemble’ in Europe, Japan, New Zealand and Australia. His second album ‘Mostly Improvised Instrumental Indie Music’ received the prestigious Edison Award in 2013. As a soloist, he has performed with the Metropole Orkest, Jazz orchestra of the Concertgebouw, New Rotterdam Jazz Orchestra, National Youth Orchestra, and the National Youth Jazz Orchestra. In 2016, Baas released his fourth studio record “Reinier Baas vs. Princess Discombobulatrix, a ‘mostly instrumental opera’. This collaboration with illustrator Typex and a line-up of 15 prominent improvisers and classical musicians received wide-spread critical acclaim – “Ravel, Prokofiev, Poulenc, Baas, truly!” – VILLA D’ARTE – and earned him a second Edison Award in 2017. Reinier has received composition assignments from the North Sea Jazz Festival, November Music Festival, Südtirol Jazzfestival, and Pynarello. 

Ben van Gelder is an authority on the alto saxophone and a composer with a contemporary view. His music is rooted in tradition but is distinguished by a unique blend of “lyricism, energy, grace, and rhythm.” His albums ‘Frame of Reference’ and ‘Reprise’ garnered outstanding reviews in the Dutch and international press. The album ‘Reprise’ was named ‘best jazz album of the year’ by de Volkskrant. Van Gelder has won various awards, such as the Deloitte Jazz Award and the Stan Getz/Clifford Brown fellowship, and more recently a composition assignment from the Jazz Gallery in New York. He has collaborated with outstanding musicians such as Mark Turner, AmbroseAkinmusire and Aaron Parks. His latest outing ‘Among Verticals’, a record inspired by the painting of Frantisek Kupka, received 5-star reviews in Dutch newspapers NRC and Volkskrant. Ben van Gelder is on the faculty at the Conservatory of Amsterdam.

Reiner and Ben
Featuring: Reinier Baas (g) and Ben van Gelder (s)
Date: Thur 14 March 2019, 8pm
Venue: The Third Eye, Upstairs at 30 Arthur St. Te Aro
Price: General $25, WJC members $20, Students with ID $15

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James Stanley Hall (Dec 4, 1930 – Dec10, 2013) was an American jazz guitarist, composer, and arranger. Premier Guitar magazine stated that “It could be argued that the jazz guitar tree is rooted in four names: Django Reinhardt, Charlie Christian, Wes Montogomery, Jim Hall.

Featured composer: Jim Hall
House Band: Alexander Boulton  (g), Seth Boy (b), Mark Lockett (d).  
Date and time: Sunday, 10 March 2019, 2-4pm
Venue: The Third Eye, 30 Arthur Street, Te Aro

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Sunday 3 March –  Sunday Sessions

Gerald Joseph Mulligan (Apr 6, 1927 – Jan 20, 1996) was an American jazz saxophonist, clarinetist, composer and arranger. Though Mulligan is primarily known as one of the leading jazz baritone saxophonists – playing the instrument with a light and airy tone in the era of cool jazz – he was also a significant arranger, working with Claude Thornhill, Miles Davis, Stan Kenton, and others. 

Featured composer: Gerry Mulligan
House Band: Daniel Yeabsley (s), Christopher Yeabsley (o), John Rae (d).  
Date and time: Sunday, 3 March 2019, 2-4pm
Venue: The Third Eye, 30 Arthur Street, Te Aro

Koha