KEY POINTS:
Kevin Clark: Zahara
Herald rating: 4/5
Label: KMC
Charmaine Ford: Busy Silence
Herald rating: 4/5
Label: Ford Motion
New Zealand jazz can hardly complain if it feels unloved: last year the finalists for jazz album of the year (all Wellingtonians) couldn't be found in Auckland record shops; and the announcement of the winner was made at the Wellington Jazz Festival, rather than being included in the main awards which happened weeks earlier.
Wouldn't you think those who love this music would be hustling to get a jazz performance into the main awards rather marginalising it to inevitable media indifference?
If these two albums are an early indication, this is going to be a good year and the artists deserve wide acknowledgement.
Pianist/composer/arranger Kevin Clark won best album in 2003 with Once Upon Song I Flew, and again two years later with The Sandbar Sessions, so he invites immediate attention.
And this Latin and Middle Eastern-flavoured album, released late last year, bristles with musical ideas and energy which cover considerable geography (from Cuban clubs to flamenco Spain and Brazilian carnival). Clark, who also plays trumpet and flugelhorn, doesn't shy away from delicate ballads either: the spare River Weep For Me sounds like a contemporary classic, and Pienselo is a soulful standout among the many intelligently crafted, emotionally muscular tunes.
With singer Fran Barton - who sometimes possesses a soft Streisand-like delivery without that diva's stentorian dramatics - this is an album which dances, ponders and is witty (Here Comes Another Crazy Song), and cries out for international exposure.
As does Busy Silence by Charmaine Ford, whose Blues for Guppy was a 2004 awards' finalist. Again in a trio setting - with tenor player Johnny Lippiett on two tunes - Ford delivers 11 strong originals which are a step up from Guppy in maturity and emotional resonance.
Like Clark, Ford pens material which is immediately appealing (try resisting the ebb, flow and angularity of Pins and Needles, the easy amble of Lyall Bay or the moody and reflective Changes) but has great depth revealed on repeat listening.
So if New Zealand jazz has been going past you - and you'd be forgiven for wondering if it actually exists sometimes - then your listening experiences start here with these impressive outings by two of our most deservedly acclaimed.
