Neill Duncan with The Devil's Gate Outfit: Phantom Tones (KiwiJahzz/bandcamp)

 |   |  1 min read

Phantom Tones
 Neill Duncan with The Devil's Gate Outfit: Phantom Tones (KiwiJahzz/bandcamp)

Saxophonist Neill Duncan (who died in December 2021) was a mainstay of Wellington's Braille collective in the Eighties, that revolving door of musicians who appeared in various line-ups as different bands, although all sharing similar members and an experimental jazz ethos.

Which means Duncan's name would be familiar from the Primitive Art Group, Four Volts, Six Volts, Rabbitlock . . . He also played with the Jews Brothers, Blue Bottom Stompers, Front Lawn . . .

It seemed nothing could stop him here or in Australia where he moved in the early 2000s, not even the loss of an arm to cancer in 2012 (alluded to in this album's title and which explains the arresting cover image).

In 2020 he recorded this album -- co-produced with Jeff Henderson for the Kiwijahzz imprint -- back in Wellington with some of his Braille familiars: cornet player Steve Roche, drummer Anthony Donaldson, bassist Tom Callwood and string player David Donaldson (banjo, Thai lute) with guitarist Daniel Beban and Cory Champion (vibes).

Pickpocket Rag – which slowly emerges from improv noodling and plucking, typical of these players – and Lonely Swinger immediately take you back to the ramshackle but enjoyable New Orleans-influenced struts and the quirky melodies of early Braille albums.

If they seem an easy default position it probably is but the more atmospheric, eight minute-plus Naomi's Window points in another direction. For the first half it's a quietly exploratory soundscape of electronics, vibes and percussion before Duncan enters with a few spare notes full of weariness before the sax almost physically rouses itself from the torpor to be joined by cornet in a gorgeous piece with vaguely Spanish references.

Co-written by Duncan, the DGO and John Stuart, it is a terrific central pivot on the album.

Another co-write is the lively Handiwork which edges closer to improv post-rock with bebop in the hip pockets.

Neill Duncan left behind a very large body of music (as well as his wife Naomi and five children) and if somehow he has escaped you – easy if you weren't attuned to the edgy but cult releases on Braille – then start here with the joyfully strange Waitsean opener Loosening the Screws then shift to Handiwork, smile away with Lonely Swinger and settle in for the mood of Naomi's Window.

.

You can hear and buy this album at bandcamp here

For more on the prolific Kiwijahzz label look here and prepare to be impressed.


Share It

Your Comments

post a comment

More from this section   Jazz at Elsewhere articles index

Charles Mingus: The Lost Album from Ronnie Scott's (Resonance/digital outlets)

Charles Mingus: The Lost Album from Ronnie Scott's (Resonance/digital outlets)

When the great bassist/composer Charles Mingus performed at Ronnie Scott's club in London in 1972, his career was in limbo. He was hugely respected but his studio sessions had dried up after the... > Read more

EGBERTO GISMONTI: An interview, illustrated by Dylan Horrocks

EGBERTO GISMONTI: An interview, illustrated by Dylan Horrocks

Some time in 1996 I did a phone interview with the guitarist Egberto Gismonti in advance of him appearing at an Arts Festival in Wellington which, for reasons of language and a poor connection,... > Read more

Elsewhere at Elsewhere

THE BARGAIN BUY: Grease (DVD)

THE BARGAIN BUY: Grease (DVD)

A fortnight ago when Grease appeared unexpectedly on our small screen we, the Elsewhere household, laughed at the terrible opening credits and thereafter -- both us -- were hooked. Neither of... > Read more

Larry Henley: A very rich man indeed.

Larry Henley: A very rich man indeed.

Ray Columbus seldom rang me at the Herald unless he had something to say. I liked him for that, he wasn't a time waster. But once he called and said he had an American friend in town that I might... > Read more