Orchestra gets some sax appeal

Nathan Haines says the bonus is that he's working with an existing infrastructure.

Nathan Haines is the epitome of cool. There's a smooth rustle of arpeggios wafting from the end of his Mt Albert driveway and the 34-year-old meets me in bare feet and jeans, sax in hand.

The conversation warms up with family chat - father Kevin and brother Joel will be alongside him on the Aotea Centre stage this Saturday night, with drummer Frank Gibson making up the quartet.

The NZSO's BMW Finale concert is not Nathan Haines' first orchestral experience. "I played flute with the North Shore Youth Orchestra in the early 80s," he recalls, "and did my first tour to Australia when I was 10 - but that doesn't even compare with this."

The other star on Saturday will be veteran arranger Alan Broadbent, who Haines met late last year when Broadbent helmed the 2003 BMW programme.

"The depth of his knowledge is barely comprehensible," says Haines, with obvious awe.

The generous Broadbent not only charted two Haines originals but also gave him arrangements of John Coltrane's Naima, Burt Bacharach's The Look of Love and Cole Porter's Every Time We Say Goodbye.

For a busy musician used to organising his own schedules with either his 10-piece Squire for Hire band, or a more intimate quartet, the NZSO offers Haines the rare chance to relax.

"The bonus is that I'm working with an existing infrastructure," he says. "The orchestra approached me and said, 'This is what we're going to pay you.' In terms of the whole project there's very little stress involved."

Although he's a little non-specific on who he likes as a composer, Haines says that when he's back in London he's an avid listener to BBC's Radio Three, searches out a lot of Brazilian music and is a great fan of Joni Mitchell's recent album with the London Symphony Orchestra.

"The orchestra opens up the possibilities of so many different sounds, and broadens the scope of the music," he says.

"You're not necessarily hearing classical music as such; it uses the same chordal structures that I love about jazz but puts them in an orchestral setting.

"It multiplies everything by 1000, especially the nuances; all those things I love about jazz."

For a musician used to club dates in the small hours of the morning, competing with chatter and the clink of glasses, playing for a sit-down audience in the Aotea Centre is the ultimate.

"It's the whole thing of getting respect from people and being able to play quietly.

"Nevertheless, there are dangers. I'm always aware that I mustn't lose my edge. You can't put it in there artificially.

"People don't want to go along and see their accountant play music. They want to know they are paying to see somebody who is putting something at risk, and the biggest risk of all is just going out to an audience stone cold sober and playing the best you can because you've got nothing to fall back on."

Finally, that flurry of sound that welcomed me an hour ago is put in context. Haines is introducing Coltrane's Naima solo with virtuoso arpeggios.

"Being a harmonic instrument you can sort of float through it, trying to explore every aspect of the chords, just as Coltrane did, whereas Miles Davis would just pick the beautiful notes and float through."

"Floating through" won't be an option for Haines on Saturday night.

The programme is a huge workout. The young man not only plays sax but also sings two of his own songs, including Take Me to Oblivion ("a history of the ups and downs of my life and the song that got the ball rolling").

And the good news for those who can't make the concert is that Festival Mushroom will release the album in the New Year to coincide with a national tour by Haines and his quartet.

But if you can make it, it will be a rare treat - it's not often you hear John Coltrane on an NZSO bill.

PERFORMANCE

* Who: Nathan Haines with the NZSO in the BMW Finale series

* Where and when: Aotea Centre, Saturday, 8pm