Geoff Culverwell Quintet featuring Nick Cornish

Wellington based trumpeter Geoff Culverwell travels to Dunedin to jam with heavyweights of the local jazz scene, including featured soloist Nick Cornish on the alto saxophone. Culverwell is one of Aotearoa’s foremost jazz trumpeters, performing at venues across the country and presenting repertoire that is focused on the work of Miles Davis and Chet Baker. For the Dunedin leg of his South Island tour, Geoff performs with local rhythm players Bill Martin (piano), Andy Lynch (bass) and Carl Woodward (drums).

Culverwell is a giant of the Wellington jazz scene. He performs at clubs, festivals and jam sessions across the North Island. He has recorded many albums as a band leader and was a featured soloist with the Rodger Fox Big Band at the Montreux Jazz Festival in 1981. Culverwell performed in the recent “Kind of Blue” tribute concert at Hanover Hall which was a sell-out success. For this one-off gig, he has curated a set of jazz standards that will feature swing, hard-bop, funk and groove rhythms, allowing improvisers like Cornish to express themselves fully.

Nick Cornish joins the quintet to add an extra solo voice for this gig. Culverwell and Cornish performed together at the 2020 Wellington Jazz Festival with pianist Bill Martin and now get the opportunity to trade solos once again. Cornish is a master of all reed instruments and enjoys interacting with world class players such as Culverwell. He is the current director of the Dunedin City Jazz Orchestra and the Principal Oboe with the Dunedin Symphony Orchestra.

The rhythm trio of Martin, Lynch and Woodward will be familiar to local audiences. They have performed with a range of top players including Michael Gordon, Geoff Culverwell, Edwina Thorne, Jake Baxendale, Oscar Laven and Gwyn Reynolds. Woodward will be laying down some hard grooves and Lynch some funky, swing bass lines. This jam session should be a blast!

Personnel:

Geoff Culverwell (trumpet, flute, vocals)
Nick Cornish (saxophones)
Bill Martin (piano)
Andy Lynch (bass)
Carl Woodward (drums)

Timings: 6pm doors open, 7pm Set One, 8pm Set Two, 9pm Finish.

Tickets $16 online from Eventfinda or $20 cash on the door. $15 concession for seniors / unwaged and $10 concession for school / uni / polytech students cash on the door.