Friday 30 August 2024
Martinborough Town Hall
7.30pm (Doors open at 6.30pm)
Tickets from iTicket – $45 plus fees.
Ben Wilcock and The Jelly Rolls have been a mainstay on the NZ jazz scene for the last 15 years. Their two studio albums are a collection of stride, piano trio jazz, with the pervasive pianistic influences of Erroll Garner, Fats Waller, Oscar Peterson and Ahmad Jamal. This is no mean feat to pull off convincingly. Drummer John Rae, and upright bass player Daniel Yeabsley are excellent foils for Wilcock’s exploits, and obviously also have an appreciation and understanding of the music and associated vocab they are playing. And they swing hard. – NZ musician
Ben Wilcock and The Jelly Rolls have toured New Zealand extensively from the far north to the deep south. They have also performed internationally, including a sold out performance at The Edinburgh Jazz Festival in 2019.
Along with unique interpretations of jazz piano standards the trio’s repertoire includes original material from Wilcock’s recently released ‘The River Tethys’ album, as well as the solo piano album ‘Goodnight T.V’.
‘This is good times music and you can feel it deep in your bones’ – John Fenton
John Rae is a jazz drummer and award winning composer. In 2009/10 he was the Creative New Zealand/Jack C. Richards composer-in-residence at Victoria University Wellington, New Zealand. “His writing incorporates a global perspective and his use of traditional instruments along with strings and jazz instruments can only be described as 21st century music”.
John recorded his first album at the age of sixteen with the Scottish saxophonist Tommy Smith and has subsequently recorded over 70 albums both as a leader and side man, including two BBC Jazz Albums of the Year. He was awarded a ‘Herald Angel Award’ at the Edinburgh Festival Fringe and is leader and composer for the New Zealand jazz group, The Troubles. From 2000-3 drummer for the Scottish National Jazz Orchestra and has performed and recorded with many world renowned jazz musicians including Ethan Iverson, Vijay Iyer and Mike Nock. Originally from Scotland, John has been a New Zealand citizen since 2016.
Dan Yeabsley (alto/baritone saxophones) is a graduate from the Wellington Polytechnic Conservatorium of Music. He is a multi-instrumentalist and with each band he appears to play a different instrument! He regularly plays with: The Wellington International Ukulele Orchestra, Fat Freddie’s Drop, The Troubles, Jelly Rolls Trio (Ben Wilcox & John Rae), and Twinset (with twin brother Chris).
Dan and brother Chris never intended to become Jazz musicians. Sons of a prominent economist, Daniel was going to be a mathematician, Christopher a lawyer. It was their teenage discovery of the music of Dave Brubeck that diverted them into a musical education. At eighteen, Daniel took up the sax and Christopher the piano. In spite of their relatively late start, they applied themselves to mastering their instruments with the same passion and obsessiveness with which they had previously collected vintage suits and restored old Holdens.