Groovy new jazzy biz from Cory Champion: "As pockets of new jazz scenes emerge around the world, it’s apparent that New Zealand’s bubbling microcosm in Wellington interprets the genre through a unique lens.
Clear Path Ensemble bottles the energy of that burgeoning movement and distils it into moody morsels of differing styles. From electric jazz to ambient, experimental, house and funk – it’s a DIY, jam- session attitude towards composition, as the band members freely cherry-pick from a vast orchard of influences.
Led by percussionist Cory Champion, the band released their debut self-titled album with HHV in 2020, followed by a headline performance at the 2021 Wellington Jazz Festival. Champion has played drums alongside some of New Zealand’s most revered contemporary musicians (Lord Echo, Lucien Johnson and Mara TK to name a few), and also produces leftfield deep house and techno under the name Borrowed CS, which partly informs the ensemble’s electronic production.
Says Champion: “For a long time I had ambitions to make this project but always planned on it being recorded traditionally. Ultimately, I was encouraged by a new DIY spirit in contemporary jazz, where electronic music production techniques are fully integrated in the recording and production of great new contemporary jazz music.”
First single ‘Absolvo’ features a stripped back ensemble of drums, bass, keys and bass clarinet - at once urgent yet moody, reminiscent of '70s Herbie Hancock with the clarinet venturing into psychedelic Sun Ra territory."
Off the forthcoming album 'Solar eclipse', out Sept 9 on LP/digital, via Soundway.
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