THE BLUES CONNECTION: Now resident in Wairoa, big river, jazz pianist David Paquette has taken on the role of patron for the Poverty Bay Blues Club. Picture supplied
THE BLUES CONNECTION: Now resident in Wairoa, big river, jazz pianist David Paquette has taken on the role of patron for the Poverty Bay Blues Club. Picture supplied
American-born jazz pianist David Paquette returns to Gisborne to perform at Tairawhiti Museum on Sunday. Paquette blends New Orleans-based music and swing with new flavours. He was a university student in Louisiana and performed regularly at Pat O’Brien’s bar in New Orleans’ French Quarter when he met blues musician Roosevelt“The Honeydripper” Sykes.
Sykes encouraged Paquette to become a professional musician. Paquette played in Colorado ski resorts then at San Francisco’s Boarding House where he opened for Dr John and Taj Mahal, as well as Bette Midler and the Pointer Sisters.
The jazz pianist has since recorded more than 45 albums, toured the European Jazz circuit, and was founder of the annual Waiheke Jazz Festival.
He now lives in Wairoa where he discovered two years ago an 1893, model C Steinway piano locked in purpose-built cupboard in a community hall. He performed on the antique instrument in two shows he organised at Wairoa’s Gaiety Theatre.
On Sunday he will perform on the museum piano but the New Orleans-based sound will be the same.
