2002: self-isolation before it was cool?

The difficult third album - recorded during a time of intense introspection in 2002. I locked myself in my room in Wellington for all of November with an analogue 4-track cassette recorder.The results rapidly put an end to my promising New Zealand music career! In 2002, a year whose digits are an anagram of this … Continue reading 2002: self-isolation before it was cool?

logistical torrents

31 July 2019 https://youtu.be/LPRYDfrxkr0 electric guitar and video by Dave Black, Featherston, NZ. One in a series of quickfire improvisations with video effects. Rather than finish an album before releasing anything in 2019, I'm opening a curtain on some of my demo ideas in progress.

The Winter: Exit Points

Today is the last day of winter in the southern hemisphere - so to celebrate, here's the fifth album from The Winter - a New Zealand free improvisation trio of Mike Kingston, Simon Sweetman and Dave Edwards… with a sound that swerves from acoustic folk/blues with hints of Asian, Celtic, and Balkan influences, to electroacoustic … Continue reading The Winter: Exit Points

Ngumbang

Out now!! the new collaboration with even more legendary & underground NZ artist Snake Beings. Ngumbang is the first collaborative album by two of New Zealand’s more unusual artist/musician/filmmaker/ethnomusicologists - performed on guitars, bass, banjo, percussion, saxophones, clarinets, harmonicas, synthesisers, Okinawan sanshin, ukulele, violin, loop pedal, piano, drums and spoken word.  The album was recorded … Continue reading Ngumbang

Bali, Indonesia

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3Se4U7pQWNg There's my first video from Bali, from footage taken on my earlier visit in August.  Note the gamelan (bronze percussion) and rindik (bamboo percussion) soundtrack. I left my job in Perth and am on my way home to New Zealand, so I'm nervous about jobhunting & starting all over again (again).  On the way … Continue reading Bali, Indonesia

in the non-idiomatic idiom in Norway (part 1, 1999)

A few years ago I wrote a chapter of Jazz Aotearoa, a book about New Zealand jazz music history, discussing the free improvisation and avant-garde jazz scene in Wellington at the turn of the millennium. in the non-idiomatic idiom in Norway is a collection of improvised instrumental music with some of the musicians in that … Continue reading in the non-idiomatic idiom in Norway (part 1, 1999)

The Winter: Flying Visit

Acoustic instrumental music by Wellington, New Zealand, improvising trio The Winter. Mike Kingston: charango, guitar, clarinet Dave Edwards: ukulele, sanshin, tenor sax, piano Simon Sweetman: xylophone, percussion In 2012 we lived in three different countries.  This was recorded during a one-week window of opportunity when we were all back in NZ, in August (the southern … Continue reading The Winter: Flying Visit

The Winter: 2011

2011 - year of the Christchurch earthquakes, the Arab Spring, the Fukushima disaster, the shootings in Norway,the Queensland floods... and the Wellington (New Zealand) winter was colder than usual.Acoustic improvisations on guitar, ukulele, banjo, clarinet, piano, harmonica and percussion by The Winter (Simon, Dave and Mike). Liner notes by Dave Thanks to Simon for the … Continue reading The Winter: 2011

The Winter: Parataxes

The debut album by The Winter: instrumental improvisations from Wellington, New Zealand, 2003.  The band emerged fully formed on winter solstice day in June. Builds from acoustic intimacy around the winter fireplace to the electric blizzard climax of 'Parataxes 9'. "Derek Bailey on acid!" - Anthony Donaldson, Primitive Art Group Photos by James Gilberd, from The … Continue reading The Winter: Parataxes