Following on from the sell-out success of the Ella Fitzgerald tribute last year, the Dunedin Jazz Club now pays tribute to the life of American trumpeter and producer Quincy Jones, who amongst other things, arranged the music for the classic 1963 Verve records album, Ella and Basie. Under the musical direction of Bill Martin, the Dunedin Youth Jazz Orchestra will perform six classic arrangements penned by Jones for Ella Fitzgerald and the Count Basie Big Band. At the front of stage will be rising star Maya Satake, an award winning local singer who has emerged as the most significant new vocal talent in the field of jazz since the inception of the club. In the second set, the band will play a variety of contemporary compositions featuring Satake and leading instrumentalists in the band.
Quincy Jones is perhaps best known for co-writing, arranging and producing Michael Jackson’s hit albums Off the Wall and Thriller, yet fewer people are aware that he initially built a name for himself as a trumpet player in the Lionel Hampton and Dizzy Gillespie Big Bands. Due to his experience as a jazz instrumentalist and his education at the Berklee College of music, Jones soon became a prominent arranger of Big Band music, facilitating the successful collaborations between Frank Sinatra and Count Basie, as well as the arrangements that formed the basis of the classic Ella and Basie album performed at this concert. Jones passed away in November of 2024, and the upcoming concert provides the perfect opportunity to honour his legacy and contribution to the tradition of American Big Band jazz.
Performing the role of Ella Fitzgerald - otherwise known as the “First Lady of Jazz” - will be local singing sensation Maya Satake, a young woman who has become the first official singer with the Dunedin Youth Jazz Orchestra. Having won the regional finals of the Otago Rockquest as the lead singer of the Burberry Scarves in 2023, Maya went on to sing permanently with All Blues the following year, helping that ensemble win the award for the Best Swing piece at the Dunedin Youth Jazz Festival for her rendition of “The Way You Look Tonight”. Satake brought audience members to tears in Blenheim at the Southern Jam with her performance of “All of Me” and capped the year off with a memorable performance of Ella Fitzgerald’s “Blues Skies” at the Otago Girls’ celebration concert, including a 64 bar scat solo inspired by the original recording!
The Dunedin Youth Jazz Orchestra continues to develop under the guidance of club director Bill Martin and many of its players have become experienced players on the Dunedin jazz scene, particularly lead trumpet Louis Robertson, lead trombonist Colin Macandrew, bass trombonist Benji Pickering and pianist Matthew Tait. The DYJO boasts one of the strongest rhythm sections in the city, with the addition of the technically formidable Amelia Ross on drums, experienced comper George Couper on guitar and the versatile Guthrie Wakelin returning on double bass and electric bass. The soloing stocks of the DYJO have also been boosted by the arrival of alto saxophonist Ethan Burton from the USA, who has moved to Dunedin permanently from Oregon and brings a wealth of Big Band and combo experience to the ensemble.
Repertoire from the Ella and Basie album on the night will include Fats Waller’s “Ain’t Misbehain’, Ellington’s “Satin Doll”, Basie’s “Shiny Stockings”, as well as the classic standards, “Deed I do”, “Just When We’re Falling in Love”, and “My Last Affair”. In the second set, the DYJO will present some new arrangements of Steely Dan compositions by Dan Hayles from the New Zealand School of Music, as well as Martin’s own arrangement of Madonna’s “Live to Tell”. Ella Fitzgerald’s “Blue Skies” will get a reprise at the end of the show!
Full Details:
Dunedin Youth Jazz Orchestra
Musical Director: Bill Martin
Vocals: Maya Satake
Saxophones: Ethan Burton (lead alto), Christian Pearson, Finn Marshall, Callan Power (lead tenor), Ruth Buckland, Helena Hornbacher (baritone)
Trumpets: Louis (lead / solo), Mei Admiral, Connor Purvis, Ben Nguyen
Trombones: Colin Macandrew (lead), Flynn Ellison, Ben Walker, Benji Pickering (bass, solo)
Rhythm: George Couper (guitar), Matthew Tait (piano), Guthrie Wakelin (bass), Amelia Ross (drums)
BIll Martin Biography:
Bill is the chairperson of the Dunedin Jazz Foundation, a charitable trust that he co-established in 2018 to facilitate the creation of the Dunedin Youth Jazz Festival and Dunedin Youth Jazz Orchestra, a selective Big Band for young adults under the age of 25. As the musical director of the DYJO, Bill has facilitated many successful concerts focusing on the music of Miles Davis, Thelonious Monk, Steely Dan, Florian Ross, Jon Hatamiya, and Wayne Shorter. Through the creation of the Dunedin Jazz Club in 2021, Bill has provided a platform of touring artists and local musicians to collaborate on a professional stage that has reached a large audience and made jazz a major player in the local arts scene.
As a pianist and sideman, Bill has performed with many high-profile soloists across New Zealand, including Oscar Laven, Nick Tipping, Geoff Culverwell, Gwyn Reynolds, Michael Storey, Roger Manins, Reuben Bradley, Edwina Thorne and Michael Gordon. He has performed at festivals across New Zealand, including the Wellington, National (Tauranga), Christchurch, Harbour Street (Oamaru) and Queenstown Jazz Festivals. As a saxophonist and lead tenor, Bill has performed with guitarists Nick Granville and Cliff Leatherbarrow, and toured nationally with international pianist Dan Costa as part of the 2024 Chamber Music New Zealand in partnership series. During this tour, Bill performed many of Costa’s original Brazilian jazz compositions with long term collaborators Umar Zakaria (double bass) Carl Woodward (drums).
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