24 Hours in Wellington

It's amazing what 600km in a southerly direction can do to the weather. Arriving in Wellington for the jazz festival on Sunday was like stepping back into winter - 12 degrees C, wind, drizzle and dark clouds looming over Mount Victoria. We visitors from subtropical Auckland were barely prepared for this!

Frank Kitts Park in Wellington

But what Welly lacks in climate, it makes up for in talent and enthusiasm. Despite threatening clouds overhead all afternoon, the outdoor gig at Frank Kitts Park remained dry and fairly hip. Musical highlights included Rosie Langabeer's Zirkus Big Band, exploring profitable territory in between Mingus and Carla Bley, (you would not find a swinging unit playing original material like this in Auckland!) Candela (possibly a pun on Wellington suburb Khandallah) pulled out some more than-competent Afro-Cuban stuff, including a very creditable cover of Eddie Palmieri's Cuidate Compay.

Eddie Palmieri - Cuidate Compay
From Azucar Pa Ti: Fania [Buy]

Cosmic moment of the trip happened when I got talking to a backpacker in the crowd from Holland. His trip to New Zealand was his present to himself after finishing at university. He asked me if I had read The Alchemist by Paulo Coelho. And in fact, I had bought the book the previous day in Auckland.... since I believe most things don't happen by accident, I'll take this to be a sign. I start reading The Alchemist tonight!

Parliament buildings in our nation's capital

The evening's events occured at Happy, (Wellington always has at least one venue that's always open and always putting on interesting music).

Rose Wedde (mother of Conrad, keyboardist in The Phoenix Foundation another post in itself), opened proceedings with a short "solo" show consisting of a piano recital of Debussy, Schumann and Rachmaninoff, a puppet show, and a son et lumiere involving a slide show of black and white photos New Zealand in the colonial period and a Chopin piano nocturne, played expertly by Rose. I was crying by the end. Afterwards she served the audience wine biscuits and tea, making Rose's show the undoubted and unexpected highlight of my 24 hours in Wellington.

Image from Alexander Turnbull Library, Ranfurly Collection.

Chopin - Opus 9 No. 2 Nocturne in Eb Major
Performed by Erik Edwards. More mp3s available a www.pianosociety.com

The Dominion Centenary Concert Band were the headline act for the evening, and demolished the audience with their hard hitting combination of rapcore punk and straightedge goth metal. I caught some of the gig on Minidisc, and here is an excerpt. The composed passages include the Second Movement of Haydn's Symphony No. 104 in D major and the traditional American fife and drum tune York Fusiliers.

Dominion Centenary Concert Band - Performance #3 [excerpt, 9:21]
Recorded live at Happy, Wellington, October 30th, 2005