SAYONARA, CHRISTCHURCHIANS...

I just played my last concert at the jazz school and I’ll be on my way early in the morning on Wednesday. (I’ll be recording a bit and teaching a few stragglers tomorrow) before heading off to Wellington and another jazz school there. 

It was an enjoyable send-off and gave me the opportunity to play some solo piano and duos with Richie Pickard, Cameron Pearce and Ruben Derrick. Ruben is a fine sax player on the faculty at the jazz school and it was really fun to be able to play a few tunes with him before shoving off. It’s also enjoyable to play some standards after all the original tunes we played here, because on standards it’s possible to free associate and let things go there own unpredictable way. That can happen on original tunes of course, but it takes a while for the band to become so familiar with them that the improvising and surprises are in the foreground and the new harmony is in the background.

Anyway, I don’t have much more to add, but I hope I’ll be back in the future. Thanks, Christchurch.