It's all on next week – gigs, gigs, gigs. I've got four of them here, see what pops your musical cork...

First up, on Thursday (April 10) there's another show at the Art Gallery, which is doing a fine line in interesting acts and, if you haven't yet been to a gig there, is a great spot for a bit of music. Thursday sees the return of fantastic high-flying violinist Fiona Pears.


Fiona Pears performs on Thursday.

For some years now Fiona has been dividing her time between London and New Zealand. She has recorded a series of albums ranging from full orchestra outings (2008's Fire and Light, recorded with the Prague Philharmonic) to her most recent, the self-explanatory Swing Driven Thing.

It's fitting that she return with some good old swing as the first many people heard of her in Tauranga was during her years playing with Hot Club Sandwich whom she left to start her international career.

To support the new album she will be accompanied by her husband Ian Tilley on piano and keyboard, and Christchurch guitar duo, La Petite Manouche ('The little gypsy'). Together they promise bluesy duets interspersed with Celtic folk, jazz, Jewish and classical compositions, many nodding to Gypsy guitarist, Django Reinhardt. Doors open at 7pm, the show starts at 7.30pm and is likely to be amazing. I think there are still tickets left ($25, or $20 for students/friends of the gallery): call
578-5933.

Next day (Friday, April 11) there's an album launch from Nine Mile Stone's Derek Toner. Derek's debut solo album is called The Importance of YAR and is being released under the moniker 'Tuner'. It's happening at Drivers Bar on 11 Avenue along with a full band that includes Brian Franks (bass), Tim Julian (keyboards), James Bos (drums), and Lewis Martin (sax). Special guests will help with the vocals. Things kick off at 8pm with tickets limited to 100 and costing $15. The new album will be available on the night and I'll have a review not long afterwards.

Also that night is the Katikati Folk Club Twentieth Anniversary Concert at Katikati's Balcony Café. It's a free event, a chance to hear some great music and to reminisce after so many years as the club continues to go from strength to strength. The concert starts at 7.30pm, but you can arrive from 5.30pm onwards to get a good seat. More details on the website: www.katikatifolkclub.co.nz.

Then on Sunday (13 April) there's jazz both old and new at The Entertainers Club. They'll be gathering at the Citz Club on 13 Ave, 5pm. The old jazz is a little Dixie courtesy of Bay Dixie, while the more modern incarnation comes from the Alan Harbourne Quartet featuring both Alan on piano and his wife Ione Harbourne (who a few decades back started Sydney's first all-woman jazz band) on keyboards.
Tickets are $10 on the door.


Sean Bodley - Balance

Sean's new album was officially released on-line earlier this week. It's on iTunes and Amazon, and the first two singles ‘Catalonia' and ‘One In The Chamber' are out there. I've had it on the stereo for a couple of weeks now and it's a simply astounding piece of work.

Of course that comes with a slight proviso. You do need to like the electric guitars and not be too hung up on singing. Balance is an instrumental rock guitar outing on which you can find the dedication ‘Thankyou just isn't enough' to ‘Joe, Steve and John'. They are Joe Satriani, Steve Vai and Dream Theatre's John Petrucci and that gives a pretty fair idea of the album's direction.

But an instrumental album is a tricky beast and Sean beautifully balances melody and structure with astonishing guitar chops – some tracks wild shredding, some intense harmony workouts, all varied and accessible and remarkably individual after a few listens. As someone who's dabbled with guitar for years I still frequently had no idea of exactly how Sean was doing what he's doing: it's jaw-dropping stuff.

That Sean was also responsible for all bass, drum programming and keyboards is even more impressive. In fact the only music not played by him is the virtuoso flourish of acoustic guitar on the opening track, ably supplied by Mark Wright. All guitarists should check this out – start at www.facebook.com/seanbodleymusic