Mourning the music greats

This year has been rough on musicians; every week seems to come with sad unexpected news of someone we've lost.

And last week was much the same. We lost a giant in his field, someone who left an indelible mark on his chosen style of music, someone whose legacy is unlikely to be surpassed.

I'm talking, of course, about Wilfred Jeffs, better known by his stage name Bill Sevesi.
Bill was a master of the steel guitar; he helped popularise Hawaiian-style music in New Zealand and the Pacific Islands, and composed more than 200 songs. He was the man playing that beautiful steel guitar on the original recording of ‘Blue Smoke'.

Born in Tonga, the 92-year-old's career began in the early-1950s in the inner city suburb of Newton and he became a stalwart of Auckland's music scene, leading his band The Islanders in packed dance halls in the 1950s, 1960s and 1970s. They played a residency at the Orange Ballroom that lasted for 16 years.

Later he turned his attention to recording, building a modest home studio where he mentored musicians, recorded a large catalogue of albums. Bill also toured Australia, the United States and the Pacific.

He recorded and encouraged several singers, including the Yandall Sisters and Annie Crummer; played with fellow steel guitarists Trevor Edmondson and Bill Wolfgramm; and appeared with Neil Finn and Dave Dobbyn. He even eventually fulfilled his dream of ukuleles being taught to kids in schools.

Bill received a Queen's Service Medal for public services in 1995 and was presented with the Pacific Music Awards Lifetime Achievement Award in 2006.

He was inducted into the New Zealand Music Hall of Fame last year.

And while recently it's been bittersweet to take part in celebrations of lives that have been taken too soon, in Bill we can really look back on and celebrate an extraordinary life, well lived. Now let me move on to a gig.

Multinational band Other Roads is coming to Tauranga next week. Perhaps that should read 'multi-nationality band” since the three players Gregor Borland, Pete Abbott and Dave Walmisley draw upon their diverse backgrounds in Scotland, England and Africa to create a unique original sound. The genre they're working in is folk music and they perform an eclectic mix of older and original compositions, ranging from soft ballads to foot-stomping Celtic fiddle tunes.

They play a whole bunch of instruments, among them fiddle, bouzouki, guitars, mandolin and harmonica, as well as topping things off with some fine harmony singing.

Last year was their second visit to New Zealand, where they played at the Auckland Folk Festival and toured to sold-out houses. Other Roads is now returning to New Zealand to launch their latest album ‘Long White Cloud' featuring the popular song ‘Akaroa' which was inspired by their very first visit and wowed audiences on their last tour.

You can find Other Roads down at the Historic Village Hall next Tuesday, May 3.
They'll be kicking off around 7.30pm and it'll cost you $20. Tickets are also on Eventfinda.

And, because this week's a bit of a grab-bag, I thought I'd finish with a quick update of how things are in Dylanland, that peculiar country inhabited only by fans of the Great Bob.

And, if you are a Bob Dylan follower, you'll be excited to hear the man has a new album ready for release. Yes, ‘Fallen Angels' will be hitting the shops on May 20. What you may – depending on your tastes – be less excited about is the fact that it's another Sinatra album.

Bob's last set, ‘Shadows in the Night', comprised solely of covers of songs sung by Frank Sinatra. It was actually very good, replacing the big band arrangements with sensitive charts for bowed bass and pedal steel (yes, it works rather wonderfully!).
As Bob's website says about the new collection: 'The album features 12 classic American songs written by some of music's most acclaimed and influential songwriters and showcases Dylan's unique and much-lauded talents as a vocalist, arranger and bandleader”.

That's all very well, but he used to be quite the songwriter too...


watusi@thesun.co.nz

You may also like....

0 comments

Leave a Comment


You must be logged in to make a comment.