Another solid set from Def Jim as he covers the stylistic gamut from contemporary guitar composition to 70's extended jams with brief tributes thrown in to recently departed heroes Jeff Beck and Wayne Shorter.
Mindful that NZ Music Month is currently in progress, Def Jim delivers a mixed set of local and international content, the former focused on experimental luminaries Trioglodyte, the late Neill Duncan with Devils Gate Outfit and the late Murray McNabb, and the latter including an outstanding new release from John Zorn's New Masada Quartet plus sundry musical gems past and present.
The first Jazz Show of Autumn sees Def Jim sampling new releases from Geri Allen with Kurt Rosenwinkel, Angelica Sanchez Nonet and Mary Halvorson, re-visiting Electric Masada from 2004 and otherwise illuminating gems from early albums by artists such as Quest and Old & New Dreams and much more recent standout sets by the likes of James Brandon Lewis and Harriet Tubman.
A typically up-to-the minute set from Def Jim, premiering new releases from David Murray, Kris Davis and Dave Douglas, and re-visiting notable recent offerings from Geri Allen, Jeff Parker, Michael Formanek, Ambrose Akinmusire and Thumbscrew before reaching back all the way to 1964 to end the Show with a classic Archie Shepp take on vintage 'Trane.
A chat with Beth Torrance on her upcoming debut EP, Tiny Flowers, set to release on the 18 October, Laneway 2025, lots and lots of cool new music, and Naruto Uzumaki's birthday? Whakarongo mai!
New or new-ish releases from Jeff Parker, Tim Berne, Julian Lage and John Zorn's New Masada Quartet feature in Def Jim's latest Jazz Show. Mr. Parker is back with another set from the band that recorded Mondays At The Enfield Tennis Academy a while back, this time on a better-distributed label (and available from Real Groovy on vinyl at last check). Otherwise the Show is graced with the usual miscellany of carefully-chosen album tracks new and old from the modern jazz canon. Don't miss it!
For his Mid-Winter Show, Def Jim pulls together a typically diverse set list splicing selections from new and recent releases from Nels Cline Consentrik Quartet, Fractal Sextet, Myra Melford Splash and Tim Berne with choice older cuts by the late Jef Lee Johnson, James Newton, James Blood Ulmer and Mark Helias. And then some.
The self-proclaimed “first McKenzie Friend Specialist” in New Zealand, Vinay Deobhakta is a former lawyer setting up a training programme aimed at producing professional McKenzie Friends. McKenzie Friends are support people for self-represented litigants in court - they are not lawyers, but can sit with litigants in court to support them. However, Deobhakta did not leave the law profession out of choice - he was in fact struck off for misconduct in 2014. 95bFM journalist Caitlin McIlhagga speaks to Deobhakta to try understand how he is reconciling his past with his current work setting up the McKenzie Friends training programme.
To learn more about the relationship McKenzie Friends have with the Family Court, check out the other interviews Caitlin did with two experts in family law here.
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