Notes on creativity...
"Music doesn't come from music" KEITH JARRETT
The Japanese word "ma" signifies the sudden quiet, e.g. the moment just after a bee has flown out the window.
"Where virtuosity within sentences meets the unplannable energy of the imagination, harnesses it to a narrative and enacts an entirely new and exhilirating occurrence dedicated to renewal." RICHARD FORD
With respect to the theme of achieving more peaceful and transcendent states of mind, Schopenhauer believes that music achieves this by embodying the abstract forms of feelings, or feelings abstracted from their particular everyday circumstances. This allows us to perceive the quintessence of emotional life - sadness itself, joy itself, etc. - without the contingent contents that would typically cause suffering. By expressing emotion in this detached or disinterested way, music allows us to apprehend the nature of the world without the frustration involved in daily life, and hence, in a mode of aesthetic awareness that is akin to the tranquil philosophical contemplation of the world.
Having studied classical music, playing piano, cello and trombone as a child, I won a national competition in New Zealand at age 16 performing the Bartok Concerto for Two Pianos and Percussion. It was about this time I also began exploring jazz and improvised music, completing a B.Mus. (Perf) in Jazz Piano at Massey University, Wellington.
As an arranger I worked with Bic Runga on her albums Drive 1998 and Beautiful Collision 2002 - both multi-platinum selling albums. I also had orchestrations performed before audiences of 50,000 (Wellington City millennium celebrations) and 100,000 ( Auckland Philharmonia Orchestra, Symphony Under the Stars 1998).
As a performer my groups have supported: Dudley Moore, The Corrs, Will Young, Chesney Hawkes, The Zutons.
London/UK venues include: Ronnie Scotts, Pizza Express Dean St, Wembley Stadium, Lords, Queens Club, Blenheim Palace, Cliveden, RAC Club, The Royal Society, The Dorchester, Bentley Kempinksi, Sofitel Regents Park, Washington Mayfair
International jazz festival performances include: Krakow, Derry, Estramoz, Lisbon, Rotterdam, The Hague, Wellington
Clients of note include: Tony Blair, Gordon Brown, Bruce Forsyth
I also played in the house band live on ITV's XtraFactor.
Current projects are Mistral Trio, Trim-Trimpo and Tim Bennett's Civilized Tears. Check out Tim's music and the onYouTube.
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There is a fleetness of touch in the musicians' performances that makes the music seem to take flight. The result is a mysteriously beautiful composition that I never wanted to end. To create an articulate structure with contextual logic and a followable narrative is an art-form; to do so in a group context is even more challenging. That Mitchell and Haynes make it sound so easy, so suffused with consummate musicianship is a credit to their promising talent and impeccable taste.
CHRISTIAN CAREY Splendid ezine
The set concludes on a piece with gospel inflections, a perfect summary of the duo's chemistry and deep understanding. There is no denying its artistry, creativity and understated charm.
FRANCOIS COUTURE AllMusic.com
The consistently fabulous Leo label continues to unearth creative music form spirits known and often unknown ... intricate ideas, majestic and melodic, melancholy and elegant.
BRUCE LEE GALLANTER Downtown Music Gallery
Sophie Garner makes a striking CD debut. She has the knack of making a song swing ... Her band is excellent, especially pianist Duncan Haynes and saxophonist Brandon Allen.
DAVE GELLY The Observer
Trim-Trimpo Trim-Trimpo
Free jazz 2011
Mistral Trio The Persistence of Memory
European jazz piano trio 2010
w/Matthew Mitchell The Urban Choreographic
Guitar/piano duo improv 2006
Sophie Garner Champagne and False Eyelashes
Swing 2005
w/Matthew Mitchell biathanatos
Guitar/piano duo improv 2004
Bic Runga Beautiful Collision
Pop 2002⁃
Garageland Scorpio Righting
Pop/rock 2002
Bic Runga Drive
Pop 1998
Nigel Gavin's Gitbox Touchwood
Instrumental 1994
Duncan Haynes
