Nigel Gavin
Encyclopedia
Nigel Gavin is a New Zealand
based musician and composer, best known as a guitar player. In addition to being a highly regarded solo artist and session musician, Nigel has been a member of bands such as popular New Zealand jazz quartett The Nairobi Trio, Robert Fripp
's The League of Crafty Guitarists, klezmer "Jews Brothers", and Jonathan Besser's Bravura, as well as collaborator with artists such as folk singers Luke Hurley
, Wayne Gillespie and Lorina Harding, Maori soul diva Whirimako Black
, multi-instrumentalist Tom Ludvigson, jazz singer Caitlin Smith and harmonica maestro Brendan Power. He has a vast musical vocabulary which ranges from acoustic blues and folk to jazz, rock, fusion, surf pop, complex ambient grooves and various world music genres, in particular klezmer. Nigel's original jazz compositions cross boundaries of genre and combine musical traditions. He has toured extensively and performed at numerous music and art festivals in New Zealand, America, Australia and Europe.
An active mentor to young artists, Nigel founded and mentored the New Zealand guitar collective concept bands Gitbox and Gitbox Rebellion. As a constant innovator, he is a regular contributor to the Auckland experimental music salon Vitamin S
and has given multimedia performances with photographer Ralph Talmont
's photographs.
Laurie Williams. His favourite electric guitars are a Fender
Telecaster and an Ibanez
7-string, both of which he uses with a variety of effects. He also plays a Yamaha 6-string steel string acoustic, acoustic and electric mandolins, a banjo and an 11-string Godin Glissentar - in effect a fretless electric oud. He is also a proficient piano player and percussionist.
Nigel often employs live loops in both performance and recording, using a custom effects box with a large variety of foot pedals.
He plays with both fingers and a pick but also has been known to strike, pick, strum and pluck an instrument's strings with a variety of implements, including a pipe cleaner.
New Zealand
New Zealand is an island country in the south-western Pacific Ocean comprising two main landmasses and numerous smaller islands. The country is situated some east of Australia across the Tasman Sea, and roughly south of the Pacific island nations of New Caledonia, Fiji, and Tonga...
based musician and composer, best known as a guitar player. In addition to being a highly regarded solo artist and session musician, Nigel has been a member of bands such as popular New Zealand jazz quartett The Nairobi Trio, Robert Fripp
Robert Fripp
Robert Fripp is an English guitarist, composer and record producer. He was ranked 42nd on Rolling Stone magazine's 2003 list of the "100 Greatest Guitarists of All Time" and #47 on Gibson.com’s "Top 50 Guitarists of All Time". Among rock guitarists, Fripp is a master of crosspicking, a technique...
's The League of Crafty Guitarists, klezmer "Jews Brothers", and Jonathan Besser's Bravura, as well as collaborator with artists such as folk singers Luke Hurley
Luke Hurley
Luke Hurley is an independent New Zealand guitarist and singer-songwriter, who works mostly outside the confines of the music industry. He was born in Kenya, and later moved with his family to Gore in Southland, New Zealand when aged 12...
, Wayne Gillespie and Lorina Harding, Maori soul diva Whirimako Black
Whirimako Black
Whirimako Black is a New Zealand Māori recording artist Whirimako sings mostly in Te Reo Māori, uses traditional Māori musical forms and collaborates with traditional Taonga pūoro instruments....
, multi-instrumentalist Tom Ludvigson, jazz singer Caitlin Smith and harmonica maestro Brendan Power. He has a vast musical vocabulary which ranges from acoustic blues and folk to jazz, rock, fusion, surf pop, complex ambient grooves and various world music genres, in particular klezmer. Nigel's original jazz compositions cross boundaries of genre and combine musical traditions. He has toured extensively and performed at numerous music and art festivals in New Zealand, America, Australia and Europe.
An active mentor to young artists, Nigel founded and mentored the New Zealand guitar collective concept bands Gitbox and Gitbox Rebellion. As a constant innovator, he is a regular contributor to the Auckland experimental music salon Vitamin S
Vitamin S
Vitamin S can mean:* Vitamin S, a free improvisation collective based in Auckland, New Zealand* salicylic acid, although not a vitamin, is sometimes called "vitamin S"* a slang term referring to steroids...
and has given multimedia performances with photographer Ralph Talmont
Ralph Talmont
Ralph Talmont is an Australian/Polish photographer and publishing consultant, residing in Auckland, New Zealand and Warsaw, Poland. He is the author or co-author of over twenty illustrated books on subjects ranging from wine and yachting to world cities and crafts and his work has been published...
's photographs.
Solo albums
Nigel Gavin has recorded three solo albums. Music for Flem volume II, Thrum in 2003 and Visitation in 2007.Instruments
Nigel started out as a bass player and is best known as a guitarist but should probably be described as a stringed instrument player. His signature instrument is a 7-string acoustic guitar, made by New Zealand luthierLuthier
A luthier is someone who makes or repairs lutes and other string instruments. In the United States, the term is used interchangeably with a term for the specialty of each maker, such as violinmaker, guitar maker, lute maker, etc...
Laurie Williams. His favourite electric guitars are a Fender
Fender
Fender Musical Instruments Corporation, commonly referred to as simply Fender, of Scottsdale, Arizona is a manufacturer of stringed instruments and amplifiers, such as solid-body electric guitars, including the Stratocaster and the Telecaster...
Telecaster and an Ibanez
Ibanez
is a Japanese guitar brand owned by Hoshino Gakki. Based in Nagoya, Aichi, Japan, Hoshino Gakki were one of the first Japanese musical instrument companies to gain a significant foothold in import guitar sales in the United States and Europe, as well as the first brand of guitars to mass produce...
7-string, both of which he uses with a variety of effects. He also plays a Yamaha 6-string steel string acoustic, acoustic and electric mandolins, a banjo and an 11-string Godin Glissentar - in effect a fretless electric oud. He is also a proficient piano player and percussionist.
Nigel often employs live loops in both performance and recording, using a custom effects box with a large variety of foot pedals.
He plays with both fingers and a pick but also has been known to strike, pick, strum and pluck an instrument's strings with a variety of implements, including a pipe cleaner.
Discography
| Date | Title | Label | Catalog Number | Artist/Group |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Solo | ||||
| 1998 | Music For Flem |
thrum001 | ||
| 2003 | Thrum |
Ode Records | thrum002 | |
| 2007 | Visitation |
Ode Records | thrum003 | |
| Other | ||||
| Songs from down the Line' | indi | Richard Watt | ||
| Kura Huna | Mai music | Whirimako Black | ||
| 1993 | Living in Exile |
Sony Music NZ | Wayne Gillespie | |
| 2006 | Live at the Bunker with Wayne Gillespie | Wayward Music | WM006 | Wayne Gillespie and Nigel Gavin |
| The Nairobi Trio Live | Manu | Manu 1338 | the Nairobi Trio | |
| Through the Clouds | manu | manu 1432 | nairobi trio | |
| Shelf Life' | Zulu zcd001 | Nairobi Trio | ||
| Live at the McDonald Winery | Zulu zcd002 | Nairobi trio | ||
| The Jew Brothers live at Gerhards | rouge records | the Jews Brothers | ||
| My Yiddish Swing | rouge records | The Jews Brothers | ||
| the Braeburn album | rouge records | the Jews Brothers | ||
| Too much Talent | rouge records | the Jews Brothers | ||
| Mr. Darwin's Dances | atoll | acd 200 | Besser & Bravura | |
| You Got Your Wish | atoll | acd 302 | Bravura | |
| Music for Peace vol. one | unsung | unsung 109 | Bravura and Friends | |
| Turn | rattle | rat do13 | Bravura | |
| New Orleans Gumbo Jazz-Live | bbs | bbs 102 | The Blue Bottom Stompers | |
| "But is it Folk?" | bbs | bbs 103 | The Blue Bottom Stompers | |
| Live on Waiheke Island Jazz festival | bbs | bbs 104 | The Blue Bottom Stompers | |
| Pesky Digits | rattle | rattle doo1 | Gitbox Rebelliion | |
| Touch Wood | rattle / DGM | rat doo5/ DGM 9511 | Gitbox Rebelliion | |
| Different Tracks | rattle | rat DOO3 | Misc. | |
| Parting Shots | Ode | CDODE 1290 | Last Man Down | |
| King of the Mercuries | ODE | CD Manu 1526 | Ross Mullins and the Snaps | |
| Tidemarks | Red Shaver | RS 101 | Ross Mullins | |
| 1991 | Show of Hands | EG | EEG 2102-2 | Robert Fripp & the League of Crafty Guitarists |
| Intergalactic Boogie Express | DGM | DGM 9502 | Robert Fripp & the League of Crafty Guitarists | |
| 2005 | Clean Break | global routes | Lorina Harding | |
| 2007 | East of the Sun | global roots music | CM001 | Carolina Moon |
| precious legacy | johnathan besser and co | |||
| Welcome to the Big Room | jazzscore | CD001 | Trip to the Moon | |
| 2008 | Ecstacy | attar | attar1003 | Bravura |
| Kokomo, In The Well | jayrem | BRPCD009 | Kokomo | |
| 2009 | Famous Blue Raincoat EP | wayward music | na | famous blue raincoat/Wayne Gillespie Rob Grosser |
| 2009 | Recent Works | Ode | manu 3004 | Nigel Gavin and Richard Adams |
| A Job With The Circus | Ode records | dvdmanu 8005 | Nigel Gavin | |
| 2010 | Decadence Live | Atoll | ACD 409 | Besser & Bravura |