With these two recent albums, one solo piano, another an ensemble project, Keyna Wilkins shows something of her style and musical imagination.
Category: The Scene
The Jazz community of Australia and New Zealand
For an album filled with gems of the Great American Songbook, it is telling that the songs that mostly stand out are Tamara Kuldin’s original compositions. ‘Maisie’s song’ in particular, has all it takes to become a modern classic – a sweet, catchy melody; simple, honest lyrics; a warm, compelling delivery by a vocalist at the top of her game.
“The best part of being in Koi Kingdom is how open and free each member is with each other’s compositions. The foundations lie in the players that we are, so you hear heaps of Marcos’ signature whammy sound and b9 chords, Cheryl’s rhythmic and sometimes atonal blowing and Stephen’s songlike phrasing and free-blowing grooves.”
“All songs have to do with Tides and emotions rolling in and out and finding our balance and equilibrium in the face of all the waves that keep crashing on our shores.”
“We immediately moved an initially serviceable, hired, upright piano from the cellar beneath Bill Ross’ parents’ home to the new club; but, because we managed to drop it from about halfway down the stairs to the bottom, it was then deemed no longer serviceable by its owner. “Written off” – and therefore now rent-free – the piano was actually in reasonable shape. It held its tune reliably; and it never left the Cellar until the club finally closed its doors in the early ’70s.”