Nick Granville teaches jazz guitar at the NZ School of Music and has performed as part of the Dancing With The Stars band on the highly rated TV show, as well as contributing to TV soundtracks. 'Wishful Thinking' is his debut as a leader and features a band that includes Darren Mathiassen (drummer for Hollie Smith) and Black Seeds trumpeter Andy Christiansen. Mostyn Cole's Fender Rhodes adds to the slinky groove of many of the tracks and Rowan Clark (Mercury Crowe) plays bass. Veteran saxophonist Alex Nyman duels and duets with Granville and often it sounds like a thin version of what John MacLaughlin was doing in the early 1980s, but when the band gets in (literally) full swing, as on the 11-minute Play It Again you can see there's a lot of talent in the room. With recording done by Granville in Martinborough and mixing by Phil Hornblow at Vision Studios in Wellington, the album makes it clear these musicians had a lot fun knocking these tunes out.

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NZ Musician

February/March 2009