Kiwijahzz

17/06/2025

Kiwijahzz is thrilled to present a new album by the Devils Gate Outfit - New Zealand's most original and genre bending contemporary jazz band. Like their first album (Jazz from the Underground Nightclubs of NZ Vol.5, finalist for 2022 NZ Jazz album of the year), 'When the Rivers Run Red' was recorded live in concert at iconic Wellington venue Meow - where the DGO has built a strong following through regular concerts and residencies.

Featuring all new material ranging from knotty jazz tunes to Balinese gamelan inspired grooves to rhythmic stomps and beyond, 'When the Rivers Run Red' encapsulates the DGO approach to melding composition & improvisation, acoustic instruments & electronics, all rooted in the jazz tradition of enabling individual expression within collective activity.

Available as a digital download 7 on 12" vinyl, 'When the Rivers Run Red' presents the DGO at the height of their powers and cements their legacy as a truly original and important group in the history of jazz in Aotearoa, New Zealand.

Of their first album, released in 2023, critic John Fenton states ‘The album is bursting with restless spirits, and I am not surprised that such a powerful genie was let out of the bottle so quickly. There are multitudes of spirits hovering over the recording, fragmentary echoes of Ornette and Miles, but the predominant voices are those which haunt the ragged windy Wellington coastline.’

6 track album

28/08/2024

Auckland tonight!

20/08/2024

Great reviews thanks Graham Reid of Elsewhere.co.nz!

https://www.elsewhere.co.nz/further/11235/more-jahzz-from-the-kiwi-underground-2024-jahzz-it-is-and-jazz-it-be/

The on-going releases of left-field local jazz, improvised music and outlier sounds continues apace. The bandcamp site for Kiwijahzz lists 11 volumes of Jazz From the Underground Nightclubs of Aotearoa as well as albums like Neil Duncan's Phantom Tones and others. Mostly live albums around saxophoni...

08/08/2024

Kiwijahzz announces Jazz from the Underground Nightclubs of Aotearoa Vol. 11 - It Seemed Like A Good Idea At The Time by Dodecoglodyte. From Polyphonic stomps to swinging bangers to country hoedowns and beyond, this album is perhaps the most musically diverse and fun Trioglodyte (Dodecoglodyte) set yet.

https://kiwijahzz.bandcamp.com/album/jazz-from-the-underground-nightclubs-of-aotearoa-vol-11-it-seemed-like-a-good-idea-at-the-time

The lineup for this performance includes the wonderful vocalist Alana Goldsmith, regular Trioglodyte guests Rosie Langabeer and Sean Martin-Buss, Taonga Puoro artist Abigail Aroha Jensen, Te Whanganui a Tara whanau Erika Grant, Riki Gooch, Isaac Smith and Gerard Crewdson, and second set surprise guest Iggy Palmero Epstein.

Recorded live in concert at the Wine Cellar 20th Anniversary Festival - It Seemed Like A Good Idea At the Time - 30 May 2024 by Rohan Evans

7 track album

08/08/2024

Kiwijahzz announces Jazz from the Underground Nightclubs of Aotearoa Vol. 11 - It Seemed Like A Good Idea At The Time by Dodecoglodyte. From Polyphonic stomps to swinging bangers to country hoedowns and beyond, this album is perhaps the most musically diverse and fun Trioglodyte (Dodecoglodyte) set yet.

https://kiwijahzz.bandcamp.com/album/jazz-from-the-underground-nightclubs-of-aotearoa-vol-11-it-seemed-like-a-good-idea-at-the-time

The lineup for this performance includes the wonderful vocalist Alana Goldsmith, regular Trioglodyte guests Rosie Langabeer and Sean Martin-Buss, Taonga Puoro artist Abigail Aroha Jensen, Te Whanganui a Tara whanau Erika Grant, Riki Gooch, Isaac Smith and Gerard Crewdson, and second set surprise guest Iggy Palmero Epstein.

Recorded live in concert at the Wine Cellar 20th Anniversary Festival - It Seemed Like A Good Idea At the Time - 30 May 2024 by Rohan Evans

7 track album

24/07/2024

AUCKLAND!

Exploratory jazz trio The Melancholy Babes, bring their New Jazz from the Big City tour to CJC. Featuring Jeff Henderson, Tom Callwood, and Anthony Donaldson. $40/$30 BUY TICKETS

01/07/2024

Kiwijahzz favourites The Melancholy Babes announce a North Island tour...friends and fans in Auckland, Hamilton, Tauranga, Gisborne & Rotorua spread the word!

Aotearoa avant-jazz trio are playing in Auckland, Hamilton, Tauranga, Rotorua and Gisborne.

19/01/2024

First Kiwijahzz release of 2024, an epic programmatic work by Trioglodyte with Roger Manins and Kat Tomacruz.

Tales of a Master Mariner is a suite of music which follows the journey of a ship on a doomed voyage.

Inspired by, and dedicated to Captain Andrew Leachman and his wife Viv Leachman, the music imagines a voyage which begins calmly and ends in disaster, with the crew of the vessel travelling into a violent storm, drowning and being taken away by angels.

Kiwijahzz favourites Trioglodyte (Jeff Henderson, Chris O'Connor & Eamon Edmundsen-Wells) are joined by legendary NZ saxophone giant Roger Manins, and the talented guitarist/cellist Kat Tomacruz (heard on Jazz from the Underground Nightclubs of Aotearoa Vol. 2 & 6).

Best listened to as a seamless set, exactly how the music was performed and recorded.

Trioglodyte -
Jeff Henderson - alto, c soprano & baritone saxophones
Eamon Edmundsen-Wells - double bass
Chris O'Connor - drums

with

Roger Manins - tenor & sopranino saxophones
Kat Tomacruz - guitar & cello

recorded by Rohan Evans at the Wine Cellar, Tāmaki Makaurau on August 5, 2021.

Mixed & mastered by Jeff Henderson

Artwork by Stephen Templer

7 track album

12/06/2023

Kiwijahzz is pleased to announce the release of 'Jazz from the Underground Nightclubs of Aotearoa Vol.10 - The Melancholy Babes - Lovebite'. Recorded live at the Wellington Jazz Cooperative's previous venue 'Lovebite', the album presents this iconic trio in it's most intimate recording to date. Album available digitally or on CD - available at gigs this week, through Bandcamp or at Slowboat Records (Wlgtn) and Flying Out (Ak) -

6 track album

18/05/2023

thanks UTR!

Aotearoa jazz explorers Jeff Henderson, Tom Callwood and Anthony Donaldson are touring the lower North Island in June.

17/05/2023

https://kiwijahzz.bandcamp.com/album/jazz-from-the-underground-nightclubs-of-aotearoa-vol-10

Kiwijahzz is proud to present the eighth album by The Melancholy Babes - a trio of relentless improvisors who have been creating deeply personal collective music for over twenty years.
From their early explorations into knotty jazz compositions and improvisational strategies, to moody doom-laden slowburners to high energy free form romps - The Melancholy Babes constantly explore the possibilities of a saxophone, bass, drums trio.

Saxophonist Jeff Henderson is renowned for his dynamic and energetic playing which incorporates all manner of sounds and techniques. His long history as a player and composer has seen him perform in a huge array of situations throughout New Zealand and internationally.

Double bass player Tom Callwood has a rich history in NZ music, performing in well known bands The Phoenix Foundation and Little Bushman, with Wellington jazz groups The Woods and Devils Gate Outfit, and alongside a plethora of leading NZ artists.

Anthony Donaldson is a drummer who has made an indelible impact on New Zealand music. From his beginnings with Wellington creative music pioneers Primitive Art Group and Braille collective, to the Six Volts and Front Lawn, the B**g Notes, Flower Orphans, Devils Gate Outfit and dozens more, his unique approach to rhythm and composition has seen him perpetually at the forefront of adventurous jazz in New Zealand.

The Melancholy Babes are touring the lower North Island to release the album, catch them here:

Wellington – Thurs 15 June – Moon
Featherston – Fri 16 June – Common Ground
Whanganui – Sat 17 June – Whanganui Musicians Club
Levin – Sun 18 June – Firebird Cafe

Tickets are available from www.undertheradar.co.nz or at the door
credits
releases June 15, 2023 on CD and digital

6 track album