Rock from the Edge (3) |
Revision four:
01-01-2004 The United Kingdom Who else made a living or toured in the UK for any reasonable period or had chart success? All that Jazz (a growing section featuring kiwi jazzers who made an offshore impact) In the jazz field New Zealander's have won global respect. here are a few examples Next Page Movie Crossover, Classical, Country and Conclusions Back to Across the ditch and the USA Back to Rock Exports intro Kiwi Music Gallery (two pages of photographs from Keith Newman's collection) Sources and resources A need to know basis I need to know about Kiwi international rock, jazz, country success, particularly in the 60s and 70s so we get the record straight. I think it's going to be difficult to track the future. It's going to be amazing. This is my effort to archived the pioneer. Help me by submitting information, making corrections, supply pictures wordman@wordworx.co.nz ) |
The United Kingdom Inia Te Wiata sang in Porgy & Bess in London in 1950 paving the way for the Maori Castaways and the Maori Volcanics an. John Rowles who was the first Kiwi to invade the British pop charts with If I Only Had Time which reached number three iin the spring of 1968, and stayed on the charts for 18 weeks. His follow up UK success was Hush... Not a Word to Mary, which also reached the British top 20 in 1968.
Christchurch
band Me & the Others, formed from The Strangers and The Others,
featured guitarist Dave Chapman, keyboard and rhythm player
Paul Muggleston, drummer and later renowned record producer Peter
Dawkins and Gary Thain on bass, were the first Kiwi band
other than the Maori Volcanics to play the UK scene. The arrived
in
London in May 1966. Their first gig was playing a club owned by former
Pretty Things drummer Viv Prince in Soho.
In August 1966 The Four Fours said farewell to New Zealand as
support act for the Rolling Stones and The Searchers took up
residency on the Fairsky to pay their way to London and on the way
over changed their name to Human
Instinct. After nearly starving to death trying to get work they
finally scored and became one of the hardest working bands on the UK
circuit, often playing alongside the greats of the time including the
Small Faces.
The Brodie Brothers (Brent, Brian and Ron) were in the UK
in the mid-60s and on Dec 24, 1966 recorded If You Only Loved Me for
Columbia records with Paul Jones / Mike Leander using same orchestra as
Jones used on his solo efforts High Times and Bad Boy. The
Brodie Brothers song has since been recorded by other artists including
Johnny Farnham. Brent Brodie went on to a successful solo career, Top
Kiwi session musician
Doug
Jerebine went to London in late 1968
after a spell with The Brew. He changed his name to Jesse Harper played bass with Jeff Beck, recorded an
album that would become a underground classic and formed the World Band
with another Kiwi Mike Donnelly
on drums. They played London, toured Holland and turned down a recording
deal with EMI. Human
Instinct ended up recording seven of his songs on their first two
underground albums. Fourmyula
made a serious crack at the UK and Europe renamed as Pippin in the early
70s but only managed chart success at home.
Trevor
Tombleson (Trevor
Keith) from Ticket joined the Keef Hartley Band in London, and one-time
Fourmyula member Chris
Parry ended working in the music industry in England
signing the Jam to Polygram, managing the Cure and forming Fiction
Records. Shona Laing the 17-year old who shot to fame with 1905 went to London in 1975, where she stayed for seven years playing folk clubs and restaurants recording four singles and album with EMI. She was recruited by Manfred Mann to join his Earth Band, including an appearance on the album Somewhere In Africa. English-born
Chris Thompson grew up in New Zealand returning to England to
join the Earth Band in 1975 singing the hit Blinded By The Light
and appearing on the hit album The Roaring Silence. He stayed
with the band until 1979 when he began working with his own band Night
which enjoyed
two Top 20 hits, Hot Summer Nights and If You Remember Me.
He also wrote Johnny Farnham’s You’re
the Voice and songs
for The Doobie Brothers, Michael Mc Donald, Heart, Isaac Hayes, Ray
Charles and others.
Billy Kristian
who’d been with Max Merritt and Billy Thorpe in Australia was also
member of Thompson’s Night, which featured one-time Rolling Stones
keyboard player Nicky Hopkins Chris
Thompson has a doppelganger. While not similar in looks their career
paths have cross many times. Both went to Hamilton Boys High although
the English born namesake was a couple of years older than the folk and
blues singer. Ironically they both ended up at the same stage in a
recording studio in London at one stage while working on separate
projects. New Zealand born Chris
Thompson has
been hailed as one of the top folk and blues singers in new Zealand, has
written over 200 songs and had albums released in the US and UK. He was
a personal friend of US
bluesman Brownie McGhee until his death, and kept in touch with Julie Felix
who employed him as her guitarist in London in 1971. He toured the US and Canada in 2003. Suzanne
Donaldson of the Chicks left for London in the late 1960s after
marrying bass player Bruce Lynch. She was in a three-piece vocal group called Bones
with another New Zealander Joy Yates. Suzanne and Bruce were highly sought after as first
call session musicians. “We
both left for recording sessions at Air London one day and said we'd
meet later for dinner not realising we were going to be at the same
session. When I walked in I realized it was with Cat Stevens who then
turned to Bruce to introduce me. ‘Do you two know each other? You seem
to have the same accent!’ Of course we informed him we certainly
did,” says Suzanne. That session was for Oh Very Young on which
Suzanne sang the solo. Singer,
songwriter John Hanlon
has lived in Australia since the late 70s running an
advertising agency and was in 2002 working with Bruce Lynch and Zed on a
double CD. Mike Harvey, John Hanlon’s arranger and producer had his own
band called Salty Dog in the 70s and early in 2002 had a number one hit
in India after creating the soundtrack for a local movie. Another Kiwi
composer and musician Mike Perjanik now lives in
Sydney, has had major success as an arranger
and producer of contemporary music for advertising, television and film
as is chairman of the Australasian Performing right Association (APRA). Former
Human Instinct bass player Zaine Griff (Glenn Mikkelsson) worked
with dance and mime artist Lindsay Kemp, recorded with David Bowie, Gary
Newman and The Kinks and had four albums of his own material released in
London with a band featuring Ultravox drummer Warren
Cann and keyboard player and producer Hans Zimmer.
In
the late 70’s Graeme
Myre
(ex Mandrill) worked in London engineering for Toni Visconti on David
Bowie’s Station
to Station
and Phil Linnot’s (ex Thin Lizzy) solo project. Alanna
Currie was a member of the Thompson Twins
but having one Kiwi in a three-piece band doesn’t qualify them as a
Kiwi band for airplay, although we’re allowed to be proud of her.
By the same token Neil Finn’s band Crowded House is
claimed by the Australians, Americans and Kiwis. Still there’s no
doubting Neil’s heritage. The
brothers Finn from Te Awamutu, Neil and older brother Tim have
more than paid their dues over the decades, initially as members of the
pioneering theatrical Split Enz. Split Enz moved to Australia
where they were signed to Mushroom releasing the Mental Notes
album before heading on to London where they recorded new songs for
their Second Thoughts album with Roxy Music's Phil Manzanera.
England was as amused by the band as the Australians were and they
managed to score a deal with Chrysalis. They toured the US and after
releasing several more albums the Finn brothers went their own way, Tim
to a successful solo career and Neil to form Crowded House (in 1984). Crowded House based in
Los Angeles, signed with Capitol Records. Their first album reached
number one on the Australian charts and the singles Don’t Dream
It’s Over and Something So Strong were both top 10 hits in
the US. On May 27, 1998 Neil
Finn after breaking up the band spent his 40th birthday performing songs
from his first solo album at London's Abbey Road. Tim
Finn recorded Escapade (1983) and Big Canoe (1986). In
1991, he joined Crowded House for the Woodface album and tour
writing some of the most memorable songs of his career, including Weather
With You and Four Seasons In One Day. He
released Before & After in 1993, which Q Magazine gave
four stars and described as “tuneful, pert, intelligent pop.” In
1994, Neil and Tim collaborated on Finn. Tim in the late 1990s
worked on Enzso 1 and 2, Eddie Rayner's albums of orchestrally
arranged Split Enz songs, which sold well in New Zealand and Australia.
In 2000, Tim released Say It Is So.
Eddie Rayner had his own international successes following Split Enz,
touring with Crowded House in the US and UK and being called in to play,
arrange and produce keyboard parts one Sir Paul McCartney’s Press
Play album. Alistair
Riddell
and Space Waltz followed in the footsteps of Split Enz moving to
Australia for a time but folding after a recording contract failed to
deliver. Riddell continued
to pursue a career in Britain and Los Angeles. Dave
Dobbyn racked up five songs in the APRA
top 30 (including with The Dudes, DD Smash, and as a solo artist)
and has recorded a dozen albums or so albums. He has lived,
recorded and toured extensively in Australia, the US and UK.
Tickets
to the Finn, Runga and Dobbyn concert in London's Brixton Academy in
February 2002 were sold out before the posters even hit the streets. The
Chills,
The Bats, Clean. Chris Knox in his various
incarnations and numerous other Flying Nun bands have
also worked the London and European circuit and some have ventured to
the US (I wouldn’t have a clue where to start).
The
Datsuns from
Waikato after successful shows in
London signed a
one deal record album with Richard
Branson V2 records for a reputed $600,000 – unheard of
for a previously unknown band. One
writer called them “the world’s most essential new group”.
Both the D4s and the Datsuns were in London as part of Flying Nun’s Under
the Influence Tour with Pan Am and Betchdupa in 2002. In Feb 2003 The Datsuns took on the big-city boys and
won best live band at the New Musical Express Awards in London. The
four-piece band from Cambridge, dubbed "the heroes of the new rock
revolution" by NME magazine, beat top British band Oasis and
Australian group The Vines to win the award. They were also nominated
for best international band and best new band. Manager
Tom Dalton said the group - who now call themselves Dolf de Datsun,
Christian Datsun, Matt Datsun and Phil Datsun - were blown away. They
interrupted their 25-stop European tour to attend the awards. In June 2001
Che Fu, The Krates, Fur Patrol, The
D4s and Wai played various gigs around London ahead of the
inaugural Fierce Festival at Brockwell Park. Tadpole played in London
and toured throughout Australia. In
2002 The
D4s from Auckland released their debut
album 6Twenty to great acclaim in the UK. NME writer Paul McNamee
said “People are hungry for some new garage rock heroes and as America
and Scandinavia have been roundly plundered its time to look to the
fertile hills of New Zealand.” John Clarkson editor of Penny Black
magazine said “looks like the future is still rock n’ roll, and
it’s from New Zealand.”
Wellington
based group Wai, received a Tui NZ Music award in 2001 for its debut
album WAI 100% and were New Zealand’s first BBC Radio 3 world music
award nominees in two out of seven categories. The group attended the
awards and completed a three-week tour of the UK and Europe. It was one
of only two local groups who performed at Hyde Park London and Bristol
for the Queens Golden Jubilee celebrations. |
All that Jazz There’s no shortage of international success in the jazz idiom, in fact Kiwis have been there alongside the world greats at some of the most exciting times in the evolution of music, including jazz and its various moods and flavours. Mike Nock world-renowned improvisational jazz pianist began his career in New Zealand and headed for Australia in the late 1950s where he quickly became a regular on the jazz circuit in Sydney and Melbourne, including as a member of the highly regarded Three Out Trio. After recording there with that unit in 1960-1961 he headed to England playing in top venues there before taking up a scholarship to Berklee in the US. He lived in the US for 25-years, working with legendary musicians including Dionne Warwick, Coleman Hawkins, Yusef Lateef on many critically acclaimed recordings. He formed fusion group The Fourth Way, which became widely known and influenced many American bands. Mike was have received numerous awards and fellowships in the US and Australia and given the New Zealand Order of Merit for services to jazz in 2003. He won New Zealand Jazz Record of the Year in 1987 and 1989. In 1983 he hosted the TVNZ series “Nock On Jazz” and in 1993 was the subject of a TVNZ documentary, “Mike Nock – A Jazz Film”. From 1996 to 2001 he was music director of Naxos/Jazz, overseeing the production of more than 60 widely acclaimed jazz CDs from all corners of the world. Mike Nock has toured Europe, Asia, the United States and Canada with various groups, as well as performing widely throughout Australasia. His music has been commissioned and performed by groups such as the Cleveland Chamber Symphony (USA), Australian Chamber Orchestra, New Zealand Piano Quartet, and Umo Jazz Orchestra (Finland) among many others. Since 1986 Nock has taught at the Sydney Conservatorium of Music Jazz Studies Dept. Sydney-based pianist Judy Bailey is also a Kiwi and one collector reported finding one of her albums selling for $A2700 in a Japanese specialist jazz store. Incidentally the Japanese seem to love Kiwi jazz. Top jazz drummer Frank Gibson Junior joined top UK funk-fusion unit going Morrissey Mullin in the early 70s, alongside Kiwi bass player Bruce Lynch. He played sessions with Leo Sayer, the Walker Brothers, , and performed alongside Dusty Springfield, John Scofieldf and former Charlie Parker trumpet player Red Rodney and saxophonist Sonny Stitt. His first big gig was with Dionne Warwick’s big band in 1970 after her drummer couldn’t get a visa and was invited back for more work. He played with Rick Wakeman in London in 1979 as did bass player Bruce Lynch, who along with his wife Suzie were regulars with Cat Stevens in UK in the 70s Gibson, is an international Sabian and Remo endorsee. He was head of the percussion department at the Conservatorium of the Arts in Perth for five years.
In fact there was a strong contingent of Kiwi jazzers in the UK in the
70s, often playing alongside the best in the world. Saxophonist Brian
Smith headed there with his wife Irene in 1964 and was a sought
after session player and sideman at
Ernie Garside’s Club 43 and Ronnie Scott’s in London. He played with the
Small Faces, Eartha Kit, Nancy Wilson and a heap of others and was a key
member of Maynard Ferguson's big band for five years. Concurrently he
was a founding member of Ian Carr's Nucleus, a jazz fusion unit
that recorded over a dozen albums from 1969 through to the early 1980s.
While in the UK Smith recorded with friends Kiwi keyboard player Dave
MacRae and his wife Joy Yates in Pacific Eardrum which also
featured bass player Billy Kristian. Kristian has also played
with Nucleus on a couple of albums as did Dave McRae and drummer
Roger Sellers. Auckland-born jazz musician Alan Broadbent has been based in Los Angeles for nearly 40 years. He’s arranged most recently for Nathan Haines and is known internationally for his work as pianist and arranger with Charlie Haden, Diana Krall and others. In fact Broadbent has racked up an impressive seven Grammy nominations including two awards for arranging jazz albums. Broadbent became a Member of the NZ Order of Merit in the Queen’s Birthday Awards in June 2008. Blind multi-instrumentalist Claude Papesch from New Plymouth cut an interesting swathe through the New Zealand and Australian music scenes. He was working the jazz clubs in Auckland by the aged of 16 and was soon recruited to form a band to back rocker Johnny Devlin which becamek known as the Devils. They were in Australia from May 1959 and when they disbanded Claude continued to make music on both sides of the Tasman as a solo artist and with other top players of the time. In 1966 he and eccentric Kiwi drummer Bruno Lawrence formed was part of a jazz combo, with a residency at the Latin Quarter in King's Cross, supporting fellow Kiwi, Ricky May, the Maori cabaret singer from Onehunga. May had moved to Australia in 1962, eventually scored his own TV series, recorded many albums and at one stage was Australian entertainer of the year. He died in 1988 from a heart attack.
In
1968 Claude Papesch had a band in Sydney called the Electric
Heap which also featured Bruno, Dave Russell from the
Invaders and Tim Piper from the Breakaways. Bruno
didn't stay long and When Bruno left to join Quincy conserve back in New
Zealand former Quincy’s keyboardist Raice McLeod stepped into his shoes.
Claude
release two heavily jazz influenced solo albums where he featured on
the Hammond organ in 1973 and 1974. He was an alderman of the
Blue Mountains City Council from the end of 1981 and served a year as
deputy mayor. He died of cancer aged 45, in February 1987. Phil Broadhurst the voice of "The Art of Jazz" on Concert FM. Phil and awarded a Queens Birthday honour for his services to Jazz in 2001 is a graduate of the Berkley School of Music (USA). He has recorded and toured prolifically both with his band Sustenance and numerous other groups and three times won Jazz album of the Year. He’s performed extensively in the US and UK with top players.
Malcolm
McNeil is a highly
regarded jazz singer who’s established an international reputation. He’s
recorded nine albums of contemporary and original jazz songs and
performed all round the world. Singer Mark Murphy and
composer/pianist/singer Richard Rodney Bennett helped Malcolm to get
established in London where he formed a lasting friendship and musical
association with Cleo Laine and John Dankworth. As well as touring the
UK with their orchestra, he has performed at festivals in Holland,
France, Italy and Japan and the International Bombay Jazz Festival,
India.
Paul Dyne
is one of New Zealand’s most respected jazz bassists. He lived in
Montreal, Canada from 1970 - 1980 where he played with a number of top
musicians and performed with US jazz legends Sonny Stitt, alto sax and
Pepper Adams on baritone sax. Since returning to New Zealand in 1980 he
has played on over 150 radio programmes for Radio NZ, recorded over 35
CDs and albums and has backed over 100 visiting international artists
including Lee Konitz, Emily Remler, Bruce Forman, Bill Cunliffe, Ralph
Sutton, Bobby Shew, Mike Nock, Andrew Hill, Darrell Grant, Scott
Hamilton, James Morrison, Michael Brecker and Holly Hofmann. The Roger Fox Big Band toured around the world with a myriad
of jazz musicians. Trumpeter Edwina Thorne formed the Thorne Birds comprising some
of the best women jazz muso’s in New York in the 80s. Mark de Clive-Lowe
has been UK based since the worldwide release of his album Six
Degrees. He released two albums Sound Travels in 2001 and Squire For Hire in 2003 on UK dance label Chillifunk with producer Phil Asher. The later album featured US soul singer Marlena Shaw on the title track, Damon Albarn from Blur singing a Steeley Dan cover, and Philidelphia based producer/poet Rich Medina waxing lyrical. Nathan also featured on Jamiroquai's album 'Dynamite', and played live with the band at Clapham Common in July 2005. His trademark flute and sax work has graced albums, releases and remixes from Masters at Work, Jon Cutler, Mark de Clive Lowe, Italian jazz pianist Marco Di Marco, Alex Attias, Bugz in the Attic, Jon Cutler, Reel People, Xpress 2, and others. In 2007 Nathan released his latest album Right Now
Next Page Movie Crossover, Classical, Country
and Conclusions |
Resources
and research Bruce Sergent's thorough site of Kiwi rock: http://www.sergent.com.au/ (Ray Columbus, Peter Posa and Max Merritt photos from Bruce's site) The Kiwi Edge: http://www.nzedge.com/ Kimball Duncan’s pages on the Australasian rock scene http://www.milesago.com Oldies website: http://www.oldies.com Andrew Schmidt: http://www.ugly-things.com Stranded in Paradise (John Dix) Hostage to The Beat (Roger Watkins) 1995 When Rock Got Rolling (Roger Watkins) 1989 Endless research and interviews by Keith Newman. Some of the Frank Gibson content from Howick and Pakuranga Times interview by P. J Taylor, 10 May 2007 Photographs: Ricky May, Frank Gibson Jnr, Mike Nock, Shona Laing and Billy TK by Keith Newman Individuals who’ve helped with key information so far: |
A need to know basis This
article will remain a living
document, open for updates, adjustments and changes until I find a good
reason to publish it in hard copy, along with other Kiwi rock history I
am gathering.
One or two sentence explanations containing quips, details and dates
about
offshore record sales or achievement by New Zealand musicians, bands, producers are
being solicited. Can you help? Email responses, updates, corrections to Keith Newman: wordman@wordworx.co.nz
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