Kiwijahzz (2026)

22/06/2026

The Electric Sheep have made it into Graham Reid's best of 2026 (so far) list, thanks Graham! https://www.elsewhere.co.nz/absoluteelsewhere/11942/mid-year-report-26-from-elsewheres-best-of-2026-turn-and-face-the-strange/

listen to the album here:
https://kiwijahzz.bandcamp.com/album/jazz-from-the-underground-nightclubs-of-aotearoa-vol-12

It's the middle of the year and progress cards are being sent out. Here Elsewhere singles out excellence from the many dozens of albums we have written about so far this year. But note, these are only chosen from what we have actually reviewed: we heard more but didn't write about them. And we also...

17/06/2026

thanks Graham Reid for reviewing some of the latest Kiwijahzz releases!

The Kiwi Jahzz pages at bandcamp, coupled with the sister label iiii Records are – like Auckland's Rattle label – constantly being filled with new releases. From time to time when get the opportunity we try to scoop up a batch and give Elsewhere readers a steer on them. Here we look at the impro...

10/05/2026

Kiwijahzz is pleased to re-release a classic work of creative music from Aotearoa — Tongue Grooves by Syzygy.
Active throughout the 1990s, Wellington-based Syzygy performed nationwide on numerous tours and released three albums: a debut self-titled cassette-only release; Innocence of Light, a soundtrack to a theatre show by John Downie; and Tongue Grooves on Simon Vare's Dunedin-based Yelloweye Records.
The band began as a quartet — saxophonist Jeff Henderson, drummer Chris O'Connor, vibraphonist John Bell, and electric bassist Teriu LeMon — before evolving into the quintet heard on this record, with guitarist Joe Callwood joining and Paul Dyne replacing Le Mon. After Bell's departure the band expanded to a sextet, adding Tom Callwood on bass and Noel Clayton on guitar to the core of Henderson, O'Connor, Callwood & Dyne.
Apart from Dyne, the musicians on Tongue Grooves were in their early twenties and had not long finished studies at the Wellington Conservatorium of Music where they had first encountered one another.

Syzygy played only original music, drawing on a wide range of influences. Their combination of jazz improvisation, modern composition, rock dynamics, and rhythmic unpredictability was genuinely unusual in New Zealand at the time, and 30 years on Tongue Grooves remains a strong document of where those influences landed.

11 track album

20/03/2026

Kiwijahzz is thrilled to present an album of classic hits from the archive.
Recorded during the first stint of Covid era gigs at The Wine Cellar, these two tracks feature the same band as on Jazz from the Underground Nightclubs of Aotearoa Vol. 6: Saxophonist Jeff Henderson, Julien Dyne on drums, Kat Tomacruz & Sean Martin-Buss on electric guitars, Eamon Edmundsen-Wells on bass and Parks on electronics.

Whilst Vol.6 presented the band in deep groove mode, Vol. 13 is the opposite - featuring searing, noisy tributes to post-punk icons The Fall & current day sneering beats poets Sleaford Mods - just in time for their 2026 NZ tour....

Party music!

Jeff Henderson - Alto & Baritone saxophones
Sean Martin-Buss - Electric Guitar
Kat Tomacruz - Electric Guitar
Parks - Electronics, Modular
Eamon Edmundsen-Wells - Bass
Julien Dyne - Drums

Recorded at the Wine Cellar, Tāmaki Makaurau on Dec 3, 2020 by Rohan Evans.

Mixed and mastered by Jeff Henderson

2 track album

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Website

http://www.kiwijahzz.bandcamp.com/

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