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| © Andrew Suzuki |
Recorded in Neil Finn of Crowded House’s Roundhead Studios, the album features Rae and Wilcock with NZ jazz stalwarts, bassist Patrick Bleakley and tenor saxophonist Roger Manins, plus emerging guitarist Theo Thompson.
Long-time
collaborators and co-founders of Thick Records NZ, Rae and Wilcock brought
their shared vision to life in the studio, reflecting their own ideas while
also creating an open canvas for the quintet’s distinctive improvisational
voices.
“Our years of
performing together have shaped an organic, conversational interplay,” says
Wilcock. “It’s music that - for us - feels at once deeply personal and
effortlessly collective. It was also great to bring in Theo Thompson, whose
fresh sound expands the ensemble’s tonal palette.”
The album comprises nine tracks, utilising eight compositions, with the writing credits split equally between Rae and Wilcock. Rae’s opening What’s in a Name, a solo piano feature for Wilcock, returns later as The Fox, arranged for the quintet. The piece has also featured as a big band arrangement for the inaugural concert by the Aotearoa Jazz Orchestra, the national jazz orchestra of New Zealand of which Rae is the musical director.
Inspiration for the
music included family members, including Rae’s wife, Suzy, and a sniffy request
from an audience member that Wilcock wittily transformed into a composition
with a coded title.
“We really enjoyed
the process of putting the music together and then recording at the now
legendary Roundhead Studios,” says Wilcock. “We hope that enjoyment passes on
to the listener and having premiered this material at Wellington Jazz Festival
2025 we’re looking forward to taking it out to more audiences.”
March of the Octopus was engineered and mixed by De Stevens and mastered in Scotland by Scottish guitarist Kevin Murray. It's released on Thick Records NZ.
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