JASS BAND. AT MEOW, SUNDAY 16 AUG 5:00 TO 7:00
JASS BAND is a genre-bending jazz group, playing a maverick combination of tunes that blur the line between jazz, Latin, blues, and beyond. the group features longtime friends -- drummer Lance Philip, and bass player Nick Tipping, along with Granville and Moneymaker, to create an unmissable night of music.

The Jass Band will be performing a mix of jazz, blues, New Orleans based jazz-blues, intimate arrangements of classic rock songs and latin feels. By special request, the group will perform Ella Fitzgerald’s, In A Mellow Tone, as well as Irma Thomas’s, Backwater Blues and Nat King Cole’s version of Caravan.


THE JASS BAND BIOS:

NICK GRANVILLE - Guitar
One of New Zealand’s first call guitar players, Nick works with a diverse range of sounds and styles. He is capable of playing everything from jazz to rock, pop, funk, blues and much more. He holds a Masters degree with First-Class Honours in jazz performance from the University of Auckland and has performed around the world.

As a passionate educator, Nick has taught at the New Zealand School of Music as the jazz guitar tutor. In addition, Nick is regularly a guest speaker/tutor at workshops, festivals and music institutions around New Zealand.

As a freelance musician, he has worked with Bill Cunliffe, Diesel, Chris DeBurgh, Dame Kiri Te Kanawa, Frankie Stevens, the New Zealand Symphony Orchestra, Dave Weckl, Dave Mathews, Tony Lindsay (Santana), Dame Kiri Te Kanawa, Eric Marienthal, Bob Shepherd and TV shows such as One News, Breakfast and Fair Go.

Nick has prominently led his own groups. His group Triptych Trio, co-founded with Ben Wilcock and Ian Parker, released their successful CD Round the Bend in 2010. In 2013, Nick released Refractions, a quartet recording featuring Auckland jazz greats Roger Manins, Oli Holland and Ron Samsom. His 2014 follow-up, Home, continued in this vein featuring some of New Zealand’s best Jazz musicians, including Nick Tipping and Lance Philip. His most recent release, ReAmped, was recorded in Los Angeles.

NICK TIPPING - Bass
Nick Tipping wears a number of hats. He’s best known to New Zealand jazz fans as one of the finest bass players in the country, having appeared on a number of Rattle releases, as well as performing in the US, Italy, and Korea. More recently he has become widely known as the presenter on RNZ National’s weekly jazz program, Inside Out, and on RNZ Concert where he plays full length masterpieces from across the classical spectrum on The Works.

Nick’s credits as a side man are impressive. He’s performed with artists and shows as diverse as Bic Runga, the NZSO, Dancing with the Stars, Mike Nock and the NZ String Quartet, Nathan Haines, Suzanne Prentice, Chris DeBurgh, Kurt Elling, and Kenny Burrell. While he may have been an academic in a past life (holding a PhD from NZSM, where he lectured for a decade), his roots are in classical music since he has performed with orchestras and choirs throughout his life.

Nick’s heart is firmly in jazz, evidenced by his work on albums by The Nat (Nerve, The Green Hour) and Norman Meehan (Making Baby Float).

LANCE PHILIP - Drums
Nationally renowned drummer, percussionist, clinician and educator, Lance specializes in the performance of Jazz drumming and “Latin” hand percussion. Having been with NZSM's Jazz programme staff since 1993, Lance has taught many of New Zealand’s most prominent drummers.

Lance’s versatility spans classical performance (NZSO, Orchestra Wellington), musical theatre (Les Miserables, Mamma Mia!) and TV shows (five years on TVNZ's Dancing with the Stars), big bands (Rodger Fox, RNZAF Big Band, NZYJO), contemporary fusion (Paralax, C for Cats, Funkbone Experience), R&B (Soul Estate, Slide) and Latin ensembles (Kevin Clark, Carlos Navae).

Other credits include Patti Austin, Kurt Elling, Alan Broadbent, Arturo Sandoval, Gary Grant, Bill Reickenbach, Steve Houghton, Bill Cunliff, Clay Jenkins, Charlie Davis, Holly Hoffman, John Fedchock, Allen Vizzutti, Dick Oats, Joshua Redman, Bob Shepherd, Bruce Forman, Bob Mintzer , Jeff Driscoll, Eric Marienthall, Nicole Andrews, Norman Meehan’s collaboration with Bill Manhire and Ann Noble, These Rough Notes, Andrew London’s, Ladies a Plate, Gravel Road’s, Heartland.

Lance has been involved in six recordings that have resulted in Tui awards for “Best Jazz album of the year": Kevin Clark, Vaughn Roberts, Alan Broadbent/Rodger Fox, John Psathas/Joshua Redman (best Classical CD of the year), and the NZSM Big band.

KELLY MONEYMAKER - Vocals
Kelly is best known as a former member of platinum-selling trio Exposé, and was named one of Billboard’s Top 10 Girl Groups of All-Time. Moneymaker co-wrote and co-produced a soundtrack album for NBC’s Days of Our Lives and her music has been placed in over 25 other media productions such as Gossip Girl, Gray’s Anatomy, CSI, and Hawaii 5-0. She has worked with Todd Rundgren, Enya, Diana Ross, George Clinton, Jewel, Meatloaf, Ringo Starr, Keith Urban, Mike Post, Johnny Winter, Connie Stevens, Wayne Newton, Mandy Moore, and more. She broke into the Billboard Chart as an independent artist with Angels In the Snow, and won New Music Weekly's Best AC40 Song with Can’t Live Without Your Love.

Kelly has written and produced several original albums: Stone (2015), Race Against the Sky (2013), Back Seat Taxi (2012), Silvermoney (2009), Through the Basement Walls (2003), Like a Blackbird (1996) as well as holiday single releases to support charities. She’s obtained her Music Business Certificate from Berklee School of Music, and most recently, she completed her Bachelor of Creative Media Production degree, (specializing in Film and Sound Design) at Massey University, Wellington where she was honoured with the Massey Scholar Award.

Self-dubbed the “Arctic Samoan” since her biological mother is Samoan and her dad, John Moneymaker, is of Yupik descent, Kelly’s roots have inspired her passion for indigenous storytelling and the environment, which led to her directing the short documentary, VAKA. It is currently being featured on Coconet TV, and exhibited at Pātaka Art + Gallery, Porirua NZ. VAKA is also nominated for Best Short Documentary in Krakow's Green Film Festival in Poland and Best Awards 2020, New Zealand.