Ancient Relics
By Lucien Johnson
Three years ago, Wellington saxophonist Lucien Johnson and like-minded friends released an album rare in New Zealand jazz. Rather than default to familiar bebop and post-bebop archetypes, they explored the spiritual music of John and Alice Coltrane, the Afro-futurism of Sun Ra, and challenging ideas of Ornette Coleman.
That album, Wax///Wane, was one of the Listener’s picks of the best 2021 jazz releases, and the piece Blue Rain won the APRA composition award.
This new album probes further into those touchstones, notably in the tambura-like drone, stately bass, piano and Natalia Lagi’itaua Mann’s trickling harp on the thoughtful opening title track, where Johnson’s sax has a warm and woody tone.
The album closes with a similar exploratory piece, Satellites, where the rhythm section and Johnson set up a swinging Coltrane mood. Pianist Jonathan Crayford takes over for a swirling solo before Johnson returns, progressively moving into abrupt, assertive and spell-binding hard bop to end the album on a cathartic note. Between these kindred pieces, this group – only bassist Tom Callwood and drummer/vibist Cory Champion are back from Wax///Wane – explore a slow blues with a romantic touch and some elegant glitter from harp (Embers), get funk in their step (Ada) and ride on crossover rhythms from Champion and percussion player Julien Dyne for Escape Capsule, which could appeal to Take Five listeners.
The ensemble returns to spiritualism for Space Junk and Satellites.
As with that impressive debut, Ancient Relics holds attention while reaching for the beyond.
Cinematic Light Orchestra
By Callum Allardice
Among other accolades, Wellington guitarist/composer Callum Allardice has won three APRA composition awards (2016, 2017, 2019). One of his bands, The Jac, was nominated for jazz album of the year in 2014 with Nerve, and won it in 2020 with their third album, A Gathering.
Allardice brought his mercurial playing and compositions to the group, Good Winter, and Dave Wilson’s orchestrated Ephemeral album last year. More importantly in the present context, he was the first jazz composer in residence at Te Kōkī/New Zealand School of Music at Victoria University of Wellington in 2022. From that has come this expansive album influenced by, and perhaps (as on the programmatic narrative of The Vibe) designed for, soundtracks.
Allardice here commands five saxophones, eight horns, 10 string players and a jazz quartet in which he plays ‒ a line-up that offers symphonic reach befitting an Imax sound system.
In places, it owes as much to big-band jazz as film composers such as Star Wars’ John Williams (the fanfare on Unknown Peril) and Gustav Holst’s The Planets (the heroic Phobos and Deimos errs to both). There is, however, space for jazz solos from Luke Sweeting’s piano (The Vibe), saxophone (The Jac’s Jake Baxendale on Sacrament) and, of course, guitar – Allardice sometimes executing Pat Metheny’s fluid and silvery tone and sky-scaling playing on Patience.
The sheer heft and internal diversity here – three pieces around 10 minutes with jazz improvisation between sections for strings and horns – can make for a forbidding proposition.
But those contrasts are also the strengths of this not-so-light orchestra.
These albums are available digitally, on CD and vinyl.
