There’s a lot riding on Umar Zakaria’s visit to the South this week for young Dunedin jazz musician Jack Ta.
But for Ta, it couldn’t be more timely, and there’s no-one he’d rather have stopping by.
Leading New Zealand bassist and composer Zakaria is in town to perform in tonight’s gig at the Dunedin Jazz Club, half of the rhythm section for a newly minted quintet dubbed the Hanover Hall All Stars that will play a tribute set to the late great American jazz musician Wayne Shorter.
Ta is on the team too, on piano, the five-piece completed by Mike Gaches on trumpet, Bill Martin on tenor saxophone and Carl Woodward on drums.
It’s good company, but for Ta, a year-13 pupil at Logan Park High School, the opportunity to play live with Zakaria is special.
"This is my first official performance with Umar. I mean, I have played with him before but just private jam sessions at his place, when people get together, but not really a performance. So, this is my first performance with him and knowing how good he plays, I am very excited."
It will be an opportunity for Ta (17) to demonstrate the value of those earlier occasions.
"Because he taught me so much — in those times in the past when I got to jam with him at his place — so it will be good to have an official public performance with him."
And then, there’s the little matter of Zakaria, and Woodward, helping record some videos that Ta will use to apply to New York jazz schools for next year.
Ta first met Zakaria, a Tui-award winning musician who has also composed for the NZSO and Royal New Zealand Ballet, back in 2021 when he was adjudicating at the Dunedin Youth Jazz Festival.
Afterwards, Ta asked if they might play a tune.
"And we did, we played Autumn Leaves, I still have a video of me doing that. It was really cool, it was a really cool experience for me. He is the best bass player I have ever played with."
Ta has made a point of catching up with him whenever circumstances allowed since that time, often on regular trips to Wellington for jazz workshops and competitions.
And Zakaria returned the compliment, when he visited Dunedin to play last year.
"He came to my house and we played a few tunes and talked about music and I learned heaps more," Ta says.
"His musical honesty and integrity really helped me in my musical development."
Ta persuaded Zakaria to tag a couple of extra days on to his Dunedin visit to help with pre-screening videos that will be sent to 10 or a dozen New York jazz schools, Wynton Marsalis’ Juilliard course among them.
It will be mostly jazz standards from the American songbook, for the videos, Ta says, some bebop tunes and a couple of others for variety.
To watch Ta play is to witness music embraced without reservation. He’ll pause, set, and then leap — whether on keyboards or sax — cartwheeling across the right notes but hoping to find a few of the wrong ones too.
And, in fact, he talks about Zakaria’s music in a very similar way, describing a completely immersive approach.
"He has a concept called fearless music when he writes music," Ta says. "And I think that doesn’t just represent in his composition, I think that comes through in his performance as well. When he plays you can see no fear, it is just him in the moment and creativity.
"And, also, he is swinging really hard, he knows the traditions really well and also has his own voice in it."
The Shorter charts they’ll be tackling in tonight’s concert is relatively new material for Ta, who has concentrated to this point on earlier periods of the jazz canon.
But again, if he’s going somewhere new, he’s happy to be doing it to the sure rhythms of Zakaria and Woodward, players so practised in the subtle arts of on-stage interaction.
"It makes me feel more comfortable, pushing out of my comfort zone with someone like that. Because they always have your back."
The gig
- Footprints: A Tribute to Wayne Shorter, Dunedin Jazz Club at Hanover Hall, tonight at 7.30pm
