TREES : YELLOW EYE JAZZ SAMPLER : REVIEWS

RIP IT UP : George Kaye

Dunedin has long been synonymous with the do-it-yourself purist garage philosophy of post-punk bands like STRAITJACKET FITS, THE VERLAINES, SNAPPER, THE CLEAN, et al. And now in keeping with the city's fine rock 'n' roll pedigree, newish and rapidly aspiring local label YELLOW EYE are highlighting some of the contemporary noises emitting from this fair city and occasionally from points further North. Another release worth pillaging for is TREES, and it maybe dauntingly subtitled as a Jazz sampler but non jazz heads should have no fears as this five band seventy minute feast is easily digested. Featuring exclusively Wellington based musicians, Dunedin does get a look in with the ex-patriate and ridiculously talented Jeff Henderson whose excellent vibraphone and sax led composition provides the title track as played by the SYZYGY CREATIVE MUSIC ENSEMBLE . TARDIS's SMOOTH GUERILLA provides the ideal opener carried as it is by Warren Maxwell's instantly likeable sax riff, while SPOOK's THE GREEN MIST and ROOT CANAL are given great presence by the undercurrent of Grant Winterburn's keyboards. The C.L.BOB QUINTET range from the busy virtuosity of THE JOURNEY to the charming SMILES, and not to be outdone APOLLO TEN hark back to the rhythms of KID CREOLE with the irresistable toasted rap jazz combination of PAULEY'S PLACE. So TREES is indeed a rarity, a sophisticated, vibrant and brilliantly played compilation accessible to even the most ardent anti-jazz freaks . . . World Class.

THE LISTENER : March 1996 : Nick Bollinger

Inspired sampler of recent Wellington jazz displaying healthy and sometimes mind-boggling diversity.

REAL GROOVE : April 96 : Ilmar Taimre

This release is subtitled the YELLOW EYE JAZZ SAMPLER and proves that music in the rebirthed cool jazz mode is alive and well in Godzone Antipodes. The groups represented here are TARDIS, SPOOK, APOLLO TEN, THE C.L.BOB QUINTET, SYZYGY, most of them with three tracks each. The styles range from the anarchic copshow riffs and stretched weather report tonalities of SPOOK to the elongated thematic inventions of THE C.L.BOB QUINTET. SYZYGY contribute the trickiest time signature on TAPEWORM DREAM, which turns into a twisted backdrop for some fine electric guitar, saxophone and vibraphone soloing. The two APOLLO TEN pieces feature their ethno rapper extraordinaire APOLLO ANGUGO. TARDIS like to splice in bits of old recordings, as introductions to their funky big band sound (sometimes reminiscent of GEORGE BENSON during his CREED TAYLOR era).

RIP IT UP : April 1996 : Andy Pickering

This is a compilation of jazz music from the beautiful city of Wellington. If you're a hip Welli type then you will have heard at least one of the groups involved - SPOOK, TARDIS, APOLLO 10, SYZYGY and THE C.L.BOB QUINTET. Now I won't pretend to be a jazz buff but I know what I like and I like this a lot. The bio says that SPOOK play demented TV theme music and that's a fairly apt description. ROOT CANAL sounds like JOHN ZORN and JAMES BOND having a shoot out in a dentists surgery. TARDIS present SMOOTH GUERILLA and it's a lean funk laden, sax led, groove monster that is, er, smooth. The whole damn thing is premium quality urban sophistication and as I said I like it a lot. Stylish.

WELLINGTON CAPITAL TIMES : December 1995 : Donald Reid

Fantastic permanent record of local jazz and a brilliant starting point for those new to the style.

NEW ZEALAND MUSICIAN : Allan Brown

Despite the title, this is no soppy new age syrup, this is contemporary, original jazz at its finest, compiled by Yellow Eye. Five Wellington bands performing some very exciting local jazz. It moves from the compelling acid-jazz grooves of TARDIS and the cool, funky APOLLO TEN, through to SPOOK's demented TV theme music. Propelled by funkmeister drummer Sam Jones (who also plays with TARDIS) and the talented Grant Winterburn on Hammond, this stuff is great. Also featured are highly creative original THE C.L.BOB QUINTET and SYZYGY. TREES has hardly left my CD player since I got it. The highlight for me is the haunting title track by SYZYGY, which captivates for all of it's nine minutes, especially with the emotive alto playing of Jeff Henderson. This is the sound of New Zealand Jazz in the 1990's and I only hope these bands get the wider recognition they deserve.

CHRISTCHURCH PRESS : March 1996 : Darren Sharp

Taking a quantum leap away from their speciality of releasing student alternative pop bands from Dunedin, independent YELLOW EYE launches a new arm with this sampler of Wellington jazz. Whether jazz in the windy city is better than elsewhere, or the folk at YELLOW EYE were aware of the profitability of jazz is irrelevant given the goldmine of talent gathered on this slick, well-recorded CD. While the five groups gathered here are all electric and their taste for improvisation marks them as modern, each maintains their own distinctive style. APOLLO TEN, playing their 10-member big band brand of jazz-funk, complete with African rapper APOLLO ANGUGO, and the guitar based TARDIS are the most appealing to today's revived jazz listenership. THE C.L.BOB QUINTET and SYZYGY are more adventurous, the former bringing in didgeridoo, double bass, and vibraphone to spice up their sound. SYZYGY are similar but the five members do their own thing too much, with the song that gives the cd its title especially sounding too loose. SPOOK play a drum and keyboards heavy style, energetic and funky which the publicity describes as demented TV theme music. No argument there. Perhaps because distance lends enchantment to the view, the Wellington jazz scene has often seemed more edgy, up with it (and sometime out of it) and on record certainly more vibrant than what happens in the Queen City. How well we recall that BRAILLE label jazz scam which was both fun and fake, huh ? Once again on disc they do it with this compilation, which shows down there they know 70's schtick is hip (the tv theme attitude of GREEN MIST by SPOOK who also stride off into the metal funk hardchord discipline of ROOT CANAL). TARDIS wrap up the acid jazz connection and SYZYGY sound more tough minded here than on the last release under their own name. And everywhere you sense these players have assimulated avant-guitarists JAMES BLOOD ULMER and JEAN PAUL BOURELLY (the guitarist in SYZYGY, bassist in SPOOK) and appreciate jazz is inclusive so hip hop and samples are part of the contract in the mid 90's. Capital stuff all round.