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I’m a big fan of ‘tribute albums’. The only thing I dislike is the name, tribute album.
Most such albums feature multiple people playing the songs of one artist. New Zealand has form. There was ‘Stroke’ (2009), with more than 30 musicians playing Chris Knox; ‘Stir It Up: A Tribute To Bob Marley’ (2016) with the likes of Tiki Taane, Anika Moa, and Hollie Smith; and ‘True Colours, New Colours’ (2021) featuring trans-Tasman artists on the fortieth anniversary of the titular Split Enz album.
But few individuals have done this here. Overseas many have made Bob Dylan tribute albums, even tributes to specific albums. There are at least four ‘Blonde On Blonde’ tributes alone. But rarely in New Zealand. The only one I can think of is Kokomo’s Dylan tribute ‘In The Well’.
Slinky blues
Now there’s ‘Darren Watson Sings John Hiatt’, a long-planned labour of love from the Wellington bluesman. The result filters Hiatt’s songwriting through a small-band country blues lens, Watson’s anguished vocals and immaculate largely-acoustic playing bringing to life Hiatt’s tales of losers, drinkers and riding the rails. The most well-known song ‘Thing Called Love’ gets a slinky blues treatment complete with doo-wop vocals. It's a beautifully poised album; one I’ll return to often.
Darren Watson. Photo / Supplied
Sophisticated beauty
Liam Ryan’s new EP ‘Pastiche’ is now on Spotify; four tracks of sophisticated beauty. Two were written and recorded with Evan Silva, New Zealand’s premiere ‘soul man’ in the 1960s.
Silva is a real singer. Lots of people sing but it’s a magical thing, listening to a craftsman caressing each note, slipping in subtle inflections, making every syllable count. Both are seductively engrossing romantic ballads in a 1950s/1960s style.
Liam Ryan. Photo / Supplied
Ryan’s instrumental tracks are harder to classify, ‘Blues Trenody’ mixes a flute and woodwind melody with marching drums and a build more rock than classical, while ‘Efflurage’ is an ambient journey with bells and piano, punctured by orchestral strikes reminiscent of Aaron Copeland.
Wild, exciting, timeless
The other jazz album on my desk this week is ‘Elegant Calamity’ from Oscar Lavën, currently in Wellington but for many years a child prodigy here – he’s too old for that now – and heir to the Arts/Lavën estate.
Oscar Lavën. Photo / Supplied
A top player on clarinet, bassoon, trumpet, trombone and more, Lavën sticks to tenor sax on his new album, ‘Elegant Calamity’. He’s recently been tapped for the NZ Symphony Orchestra so borrowed new friends from that gig and create a 16-piece jazz orchestra: the usual horns plus violins, cello, oboe and more.
The result was recorded live, nine of Lavën’s pieces and one from Marion, the lovely ‘Butterfly’. Those who know Lavën will expect the maximalism on display. More than 80 minutes of music – the thrilling opening ‘Trong Park’ is nearly 12 minutes – the band rips it up. The playing, from the likes of pianist Ayrton Foote, alto/bass sax player Daniel Yeabsley, and others, is outstanding and Lavën’s sax playing has risen to another level.
This is wild, exciting, timeless jazz, modern and traditional simultaneously. If this is your bag, you're going to be very happy.
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