Club Night 4th February 2025

 What a great start to the Year. A good attendance of members and visitors were entertained by a diversified and somewhat eclectic range of music styles and instruments. For the intro, the arrival music was shared between Graeme Webber and Warren Levick on our Yamaha Clavinova CVP-809 ensemble piano. Thanks guys some great music to get us into the mood. Graeme Webber then gave us a performance with a range of jazz standards, some with added vocals. Good stuff, thanks Graeme. Next up, our member Linus Treefoot brought along his Korg Havian 30 ensemble piano. Linus played some classics (with an interesting 'twist') and a highlight was a song he had composed for Auckland City - great song! Linus brought along his friend John Lethaby who gave us some solo performances on his acoustic guitar, harmonica, and vocals. To finish their set, Linus and John did some duets culminating in a great, foot tapping traditional Russian folk song. Well done guys, very entertaining.

After a refreshments break, we were entertained by our formal guest artists for the evening - Ken Naidu on our Clavinova CVP-809 piano and accompanied on some numbers by a music colleague, Denholm Orr on double bass. The focus was on light jazz numbers with some amazing instantaneous changes of key as called out by the audience! High-quality music and much appreciated by the discerning audience.

The Videos:

Ken Naidu (piano) and Denholm Orr (double bass)
Playing at our Club as our very special Guest Artists

Ken Naidu's BIO

"Ken Naidu is a session pianist, music director, composer, and arranger. He has collaborated with artists from Moses Mackay to Iris Dunn, with his music premiered in more than 20 countries, and has performed at nearly 40 venues worldwide. His work is grounded in the belief that art is both a mirror and a window: born of finite individual human experience, made infinitely boundless through its encounter with others, and deserving of the highest care in how it is created, shared and sustained."

Timestamps:

Tunes played:

  0:29 - Nardis | Bill Evans
    8:45 - Fly Love | Rio
  14:41 - Smile | Charlie Chaplin
  19:57 - Ken's Improvisation Game
  25:47 - Summertime | George Gershwin, Arr. Artley
  31:04 - Dark Eyes (Ochi chyornye) | Yevhen Hrebinka

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John Lethaby and Linus Treefoot. John on guitar and harmonica
and Linus Treefoot on his Korg Havian 30 ensemble piano

The Photos:

Warren Levick playing the arrival music

Graeme Webber playing the piano
with added vocals on some numbers

Linus Treefoot playing his Korg Havian 30

Linus Treefoot playing his Korg Havian 30 accompanied
by John Lethaby on guitar, harmonica and vocals

John Lethaby playing his guitar
with harmonica and vocals

Our Guest Artists:
Ken Naidu playing our Yamaha CVP-809 ensemble piano
and accompanied on double bass by Denholm Orr

Ken Naidu playing our Yamaha CVP-809 ensemble piano
and accompanied on double bass by Denholm Orr.
Denholm is seen here using a bow to play the double bass!

Club Night 3rd December 2024

 For our final Club Night of the year, we were entertained by Warren Levick who played the arrival music and also gave a performance with an emphasis on modern Christmas songs - very nice thanks Warren. Gordon Sutherland gave a mixture of instrumentals of an orchestral nature and a couple of popular songs with added vocals. Len Hancy then led the Christmas carols with song sheets handed-out. This has become a tradition at the Club, and we appreciate Len's efforts to lead the carols and popular songs related to Christmas.

As this was our Christmas Club Night, we held our Christmas Hampers Raffle. A big thank you to our Secretary, Delyse Whorwood, for organizing the Hampers again this year. This year we had 8 hampers with wine, chocolates and other goodies within each hamper. Delyse and Gordon, were acting Catering Mangers, and setup a lovely supper with grapes, strawberries, mince pies and biscuits together with coffee or tea. This year we held the supper upstairs in our music lounge due to another year end event booked downstairs. All went well eventually!

After the refreshments break, we were entertained by Warren Levick playing three Christmas songs including one by George Michael! Very nice, thanks Warren. To finish off the evening, Patrick McMillan gave us a mini concert with some lovely jazz standards and beautifully arranged by Patrick. Evergreen and Imagine were stand outs for the writer!

The Club will be in recess now until February 2025. The Club wishes all our members and all those reading this blog, a very Merry Christmas and a Healthy and Happy New Year.

The Videos:

Patrick McMillan playing Jazz Standards on the Club's
Yamaha Clavinova CVP-809

Warren Levick playing 3 Modern Christmas Songs
on the Club's Yamaha Clavinova CVP-809

Len Hancy leading the audience in
Christmas Carols and Songs

Gordon Sutherland playing his
Korg Pa5X arranger keyboard

The Photos:

Patrick McMillan playing our Yamaha Clavinova CVP-809

Len Hancy leading the carols and soloing
on a few Christmases related songs

Warren Levick playing our Yamaha Clavinova CVP-809

Gordon Sutherland playing his Korg Pa5X with
added vocals pre-recorded on two songs!