One last show for John Leigh Calder and friends
John Leigh Calder is about to return to the jazz clubs of London, but he has one last gig at the Turner Centre in Kerikeri on Friday night before he goes.
The doors will open at 5pm, with the Turner Centre Jazz Club’s ‘cool night of jazz’ starting in the New World Theatre Bar at 6pm, admission $10 at the door.
Calder will be accompanied by saxophonist Walter Bianco and two of the club’s favourite musicians, Matt Watson and Matt Hennessy.
Calder, a vocalist, double bass player, song-writer and recording artist of international renown, is described as performing dynamic, sophisticated, smooth jazz along with uptempo, swinging funky grooves that highlight his unique voice.
Originally from Whanga¯rei, he began his musical career with school friend Billy Taitoko (Billy T James), and has worked throughout the UK and Europe with top UK musicians including John Critchinson and Colin Wood, who played piano for Ronnie Scott and Acker Bilk respectively. He has been a regular guest at numerous London jazz clubs at many international festivals, and has performed in Australia alongside many of Sydney’s best known musicians, such as Col Nolan and Errol Buddle, and as vocalist with Galapagos Duck.
He has composed music for feature films, has recorded four albums of his own and has worked as a session musician on many others.
Matt Watson (piano, organ, trumpet and flugelhorn) regularly accompanies instrumental and vocal soloists and groups, including the Bay of Islands Singers, and performs with his own jazz trio, About Time. He has played the piano for Whanga¯rei Theatre Company shows including Miss Saigon and Chicago, and is actively involved in Whanga¯rei Youth Music, the Northland Sinfonia and the Basin City Big Band.
Saxophonist Walter Bianco was born in Italy and spent his early musical career working around Europe and the Mediterranean, including entertaining on cruise ships. He came to New Zealand in the 1970s and has since toured the country many times, featuring in many Auckland night clubs and bars. He has been a session musician on a variety of New Zealand recordings for more than 30 years.
Matt Hennessy (drums, tablas, percussion) has gigged and recorded with many well known New Zealand jazz and blues groups. Originally from the USA, ‘Mr Rhythm’ lived in New Zealand for more than 30 years, and may be remembered by some from the early days of the Bay of Islands Jazz Festival, playing with Mike Nettmann, Kokomo, Roy Philips (The Peddlers), Red Wilson, Smokestack and Viva Jazz, who he brought to the TC Jazz Club last year.
His roots are in St Louis, playing all genres from his most loved modern jazz to his first influences, the three Bs, Bach, Brubeck, and the Beatles.