Lounge Jazz / Tigers

Every now and then, one of those happy coincidences occurs that prove to you that you're being shepherded through life by something other which has a rather capricious sense of humour. Yesterday afternoon we wandered over to a friend's house (not far from ours) for afternoon drinks, intending to be off by about 6. It turned out that that evening they were headed to Auckland Zoo, which apparently moonlights as a gig venue in the evenings. Nathan Haines and Hollie Smith were playing.

So we joined them. I can honestly say that this is the only gig I've been to where one of the headline acts was upstaged by a tiger having dinner. Other highlights of the evening included a wallaby bouncing past in the background, and apparently there were otters somewhere too. I'd been keen to have a look at the sealions, but I imagine it was past their bedtime.

As for the music, Haines turns out a pretty good brand of dance-y jazz, possibly a bit lounge-y for my taste but the tiger seemed to enjoy it. Hollie Smith was excellent, if only for her tremendous band. Vocally she's good, not great, but her bassist was worth the admission price alone. Perhaps this is just me, but I often find the rhythm section the most interesting bit of jazz bands, and in this instance the two held the entire set together.

The best bit? We could walk home afterwards. A slightly bizarre, totally unexpected and excellent evening. This morning I'm listening to Miles Davis, specifically the phenomenal Rudy van Gelder remasters series, which is probably a bit unfair on last night's artists but I felt the need for some proper jazz after last night.