Rare rave review for student big band album

Rare rave review for student big band album

A new album of jazz classics from the New Zealand School of Music’s Big Band has attracted an enthusiastic review in the United States.

Rodger Fox Presents Ray Woolf has been acclaimed by leading reviewer Jack Bowers.

“Talented singer, terrific band, tasteful songs—totally recommended,” he wrote in the All About Jazz website.

“And what a band this is—so tight and perceptive that it’s hard to believe the members are actually students.”

It is rare for New Zealand jazz albums to even get reviewed internationally, says bandleader Rodger Fox, who also tutors jazz at the School of Music.

“People are taking notice. Audiences love the power of the big band sound, and the diversity of styles–they can play the standard jazz repertoire, like Count Basie or Frank Sinatra, or blues, funk and swing.”

The album was recorded at the School of Music’s concert hall in Wellington. It includes vocalist Ray Woolf performing songs from the Great American Songbook such as You Make Me Feel So Young, South of the Border, and I’ve Got You Under My Skin, and pop/rock standards like Smoke on the Water, Kansas City and Can’t Buy Me Love.

Big bands, also known as jazz orchestras, emerged in the 1920s and include five saxophones, four trumpets, four trombones, and a rhythm section of drums, bass and piano.

The New Zealand School of Music’s Big Band is made up of senior music students and is Wellington’s only regularly rehearsed big band.

They play at the Bristol Hotel in Cuba St, Wellington, on 11 October.

Rodger Fox Presents Ray Woolf is released by Ode Music.

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