We're back! So, this week, a glance in the rear-view mirror at music that emerged from the Bay in 2025.

First, however, I'd like to mention three musicians we lost last year, all of whom left a lasting impact on the music scene.

Shirley Ryder. Photo / Supplied

There was singer, songwriter, author, and indefatigable creator Shirley Ryder, who made music right up until cancer finally silenced her; there was New Zealand jazz piano legend John Key, who played everywhere from the Montreux Jazz Festival and London’s Ronnie Scott Club to Tauranga Jazz Society nights at the Mount Social Club.

John Key. Photo / Supplied

And there was Dave Roy, an artist, a singer-songwriter with over a dozen albums to his name, and a friend to more folk in the artistic community than anyone I knew. The new year will be less rich without them.

2025 music 

So... music released last year. It roughly falls into three categories: jazz-related, mainstream, and hardcore. In no real order...

On the jazz front Jill Leighton, founder of the Jack Dusty's Ukulele Singers, released her first album, 'It's All About Love', a labour of love for Jill and producer David Aupapa, featuring local musicians and beautifully played jazz standards.

Liam Ryan channelled elegant sophistication for his collaboration with Kiwi soul legend Evan Silva, 'Pastiche', four tracks of smooth orchestral jazz.

And two groove-oriented instrumental albums skirted the modern-jazz label: Drosan's self-titled album of smooth Latin-influenced sounds and Fragile Colours 'Experiments In Depth Of Field At The Arabica Café', created by Tim Julian at Colourfield Studio from Brian Franks's bass lines.

Jazz and mainstream

Meanwhile, new monthly jazz nights at the Tauranga Club, Black Coffee, are adding colour to the local scene and two Tauranga exports to Wellington are excelling: Sax wiz Oscar Lavën produced possibly the year's finest jazz offering with 'Elegant Calamity', a remarkable live 18-piece band album of his own compositions; and guitarist Lockie Bennett showed he can play as many notes as Django on his self-titled trio album.

Moving to the mainstream, Ben Lloyd's sound became rockier with his 'No Stone Unturned' album and two subsequent singles, all featuring teenage sons Bryn and Lennox. Five-piece Creatures Of Comfort joined the ranks of Tauranga Recording Artists with their debut EP 'The Great Unknown', as did Noel Smith and The Greenroom, a two-decade-long Tauranga institution, who released their long-awaited debut 'Before60'.

There were also a bunch of fun new singles, including the psychedelic madness of Inth'way Mangosteen Experience's 'Tighter Jeans, Higher Screams', the best pair of songs so far from The Artist Red, a Christmas ditty from Simple Billy, and the Bay's first Punjabi rap song, SP P4NDIT's 'All Eyes Down'.

At the hardcore end of things, young Te Puke punks Punktuation unleashed a debut EP, while Threat.Meet.Protocol and False Waltons produced outstanding albums, the former self-titled, the latter called 'The Purpose'. If I had more space I would rave about both – they are serious bits of work made with intelligence, skill and imagination, and filled with exhilarating music.

There was also some cool blues and folk. Next week...

Hear Winston's latest Playlist: