Star performers to jazz up Wellington
Mix a little Sting and James Brown and a trickle of Adele and what do you have? finds it’s a recipe for the Wellington Jazz Festival.
American Idol, Sting, Adele and James Brown are just some of the stars this year’s Wellington Jazz Festival headliners have rubbed shoulders with.
The capital’s fifth jazz festival (in its current format) will feature jazz heavyweights including Grammy-award winner and director of the renowned Newport Jazz Festival Christian McBride and American Idol pianist, arranger and music director John Beasley, with his all-star 15-piece big band MONK’estra.
Also appearing are New York jazz-scene regular and Grammy Award-nominated vocalist Gretchen Parlato and one of Rolling Stone magazine’s ‘‘100 great drummers of all time’’, Chris ‘‘Daddy’’ Dave.
Shelagh Magadza, in her final year as director of the New Zealand Festival and the Wellington Jazz Festival, said this year’s programme promised to reach out to all tastes in jazz.
‘‘There’s a range of experiences, from people who are really serious jazz lovers, to people who are more looking for a good night out and dipping their toe in a bit more – there’s just a great range and I think that’s an important thing to do within the festival,’’ she said.
McBride would be top of the list for keen jazz listeners, Magadza expects.
The six-time Grammy Awardwinning jazz bassist will open the festival with his new quartet, Christian McBride’s New Jawn, at The Opera House on June 6.
McBride, who has collaborated with the likes of Sting and James Brown, was in New Zealand two years ago with fellow jazz player Pat Metheny.
‘‘He’s been an amazing sideman as a bass player to quite a lot of people like Metheny, who is an incredible jazz guitarist, and to people like Sting.
‘‘But he’s grown in that time and really been recognised for his work in his own composition and so he now does projects of his own,’’ she said.
McBride only recently formed his quartet New Jawn after being appointed director of the Newport Jazz Festival.
‘‘Which is a huge honour to take on. The Newport Jazz festival is one of the most renowned jazz festivals in the world,’’ Magadza said.
‘‘We are quite lucky to have them.’’
Another show Magadza is looking forward to is John Beasley’s all-star 15-piece big band MONK’estra, which she expected to be ‘‘a huge amount of fun’’.
‘‘I’m really thrilled because it’s a bigger project that we aren’t normally able to present through the festival,’’ she said.
The MONK’estra was born out of a love of jazz pianist Thelonious Monk’s music from the 1970s by American Idol theme composer John Beasley.
‘‘John Beasley is a really amazing band leader, he does a lot of work in TV, but he’s known for pulling together these bunch of really great musicians and these cracking arrangements,’’ Magadza said.
New Zealand musicians will be invited to join MONK’estra on stage for the concert.
‘‘What he’s done with two albums now, and both of the albums are beautiful, is take the music of Thelonious Monk and really play with it in a big-band form and make his own out of it with everything that Monk was, that was really playful and experimental, but in a fun and clever way,’’ she said.
For those who like their jazz mixed with other genres, Magadza suggested Chris ‘‘Daddy’’ Dave, who wasn’t shy to splash some rock into his beats.
He has featured on Adele’s 21 and D’Angelo’s Black Messiah.
‘‘He’s really quite famous for what he brings in terms of percussion to the fans, but this is him on his own, and it’s pretty wild. I think that’s also got a real edge to it in terms of a younger vision of jazz and also a lot more of a fusion with all that rock and pop he’s been involved with,’’ Magadza said.
‘‘It’ll be something to get your feet tapping.’’
Magadza said the jazz festival held a special place in her heart since its inception in 2013.
‘‘We started this model completely new and it’s been brilliant to see how it’s grown, and how it’s fully entrenched in Wellington culture. I think it’s a great city to host a jazz festival because we have such fantastic musicians locally,’’ she said.
This year’s festival will also focus more on local performers and will features more collaboration between local and international artists. The full programme will be announced next month. ❚ The Wellington Jazz Festival returns to the Capital from June 6 to 10. For more information, see jazzfestival.co.nz
‘‘It’s been brilliant to see how the festival has grown and how it’s fully entrenched in Wellington culture.’’ Shelagh Magadza