Vino and jazzy vibes in the vines

Born in Ruatōria, East Cape, Allana Goldsmith brings a unique touch to her music, incorporating te reo Māori into jazz standards and composing her own soulful tunes. She is pictured here with British jazz pianist Dr Mark Baynes. Picture supplied

Māori singer/songwriter Allana Goldsmith (Ngāti Porou and Ngāi Tai) will play her distinctive jazz music at Wrights Winery’s Vino & Vibes on the last weekend of January with British jazz pianist Dr Mark Baynes and percussionist Miguel Fuentes.

What could be better than enjoying a glass of wine in a vineyard setting while taking in some of Allana’s original music like Kore Rawa. She will also perform classic covers of Amy Winehouse and Stevie Wonder as well as jazz standards by the likes of great singers of the past — Ella, Billie and Sarah.

Allana was born in Ruatōria and lived in Te Araroa until she moved to West Auckland when she was five-and-a-half years old.

She started taking singing lessons in high school and was cast as Billie Holiday in the school show. From then on she was hooked on jazz music.

“It suited my voice style so I carried on after high school, meeting people that would teach me jazz songs,” Allana says.

“Pretty soon after, I was playing jazz gigs as a part-time job while I was studying environmental science at university.”

Allana didn’t really start taking her music seriously until after she had children and decided to go back to university and study jazz music to see if she could go further with it.

Last year she graduated with a Master’s in Music, First Class Honours.

“My research was based on jazz singing and kaupapa Māori. I was part of an artist collective nominated for Best Jazz Artist in 2021.”

In 2022 she released a jazz – te reo Māori album funded by Creative NZ under the artist name Goldsmith Baynes.

It was a collaboration album with Dr Mark Baynes (UK /NZ based) pianist.

Three of their waiata have been supported by Waiata Anthems, and they performed their first single Tiipuna at the Aotearoa Music Awards live on TV in 2021.

Allana describes herself as a Māori singer/song-writer with a heavy jazz influence and background.

Her most popular original song is Kore Rawa which has more than 50,000 plays on Spotify.

“We have a pretty big repertoire, and like a lot of different music from around the world, with a distinctly Aotearoa flavour,” she says.

She will be joined by Mark Baynes, a British jazz pianist with a contemporary leaning.

Mark has been lucky enough to perform alongside some giants of jazz including Eric Marienthal (Chick Corea), Mark Kramer (Eddie Gomez), Cley Jenkins (Buddy Rich and Count Basie) as well as Mireya Ramos (Latin Grammy Award Winner), the Auckland Philharmonia Orchestra, and a Broadway cast.

He was a guest arranger for the RNZB/NZSO production of Hansel and Gretel, written by acclaimed composer Claire Cowan, which won an award at the Aotearoa Music Awards 2021. Mark collaborated with Troy Kingi on a soon-to-be-released single, and composed and recorded an album with Latin Grammy Award Winner Mireya Ramos (NYC).

Mark has worked with acts including NZ hip hop artist King Kapisi, Che-Fu, Tony Christie (UK), Anika Moa, Don McGlashan, Batucada Sound Machine and Bella Kalolo.

He worked for 18 months in the Middle East as a musical director, as a pianist/MD for ProShip (Canada) for two years, and has released a solo project under Dr Mark Baynes.

Joining Allana and Mark is percussionist Miguel Fuentes who was born in New York city and grew up in Puerto Rico.

From an early age, Miguel knew music would be his life’s passion and he began learning drums. His diverse musical education and upbringing has resulted in Miguel mastering all forms of Latin percussion — the Conga, Bata, timbales, chekere, bongo, various latin percussion instruments, drum kit and orchestral timpani.

He has studied Afro-Caribbean music with Professor Jose Ramirez, Orlando Puntilla Rios, and Daniel Ponce. He studied timpani with Fred D Hinger of Yale University and the Manhattan School of Music.

Miguel has performed, recorded, and toured with some of America’s most influential and iconic popular music artists of the American recording industry including Patti LaBelle, Grover Washington Junior, George Benson, and Isaac Hayes.

Since moving to New Zealand, he has performed and recorded with artists such as Nathan Haines, Jennifer Zea, Mark de Clive-Lowe, and Sola Rosa.

Our very own DJ Missing Link will kick off the party at 12pm to 2pm and there will be gourmet pizzas, ice creams and goodies from the deli area available.

Wrights Vineyard & Winery — Vino & Vibes

Date: Sunday, January 28.

Time: The cellar will be open from 11.00am to 5.00pm.

Music: Plays from 12 noon to 5pm.

Location: Wrights Vineyard & Winery, 1093 Wharerata road, 4010 Manutuke.