Lounge Sweet

‘Lounge Sweet’ is a Far North jazz trio led by saxophonist Reese Helmondollar (playing soprano, alto & tenor saxes), with either Barry Wilcox, Chrissie Wakelin or Hermann Otto on piano or keyboard, and either John Drake, John Fraser or Christian Martindale on bass. From time to time the group expands from a 3-piece to a 4-piece lounge suite and is joined by drummers Phil Cullen (Whangarei) or Paul Godden (Kerikeri). Other guest musicians from Northland who have appeared with the band include trumpeter Derek Hopper, saxophonist Don Durrant, Hermann Otto on valve-trombone (all from Whangarei/Ngunguru), and Kerikeri guitarist John Costa.

Reese is an American who lived and performed on Waiheke Island for 20 years and is now resident in Coopers Beach, and Barry is a well-known Kerikeri musician, owner of The Sound Lounge, Northland’s hippest record shop. Both are on the faculty of the Bay Of Islands Academy of Music, as is guitarist/bassist Christian Martindale from Whangarei. Reese and John Drake, another widely-respected Kerikeri musician who also doubles on guitar, have been prominent members of Whangarei’s Basin City Big Band, as has John Fraser, an Auckland musician now based in Ngunguru. Both Barry and John Drake have performed in several Kerikeri bands over recent years and taken part in many BOI Jazz Festival events. Chrissie lives in Oruru and was Music Director at Taipa Area School for many years, as well as having been pianist for the Kerikeri Jazz Band.

The Lounge Sweet trio plays a mix of classic Broadway standards and popular jazz numbers from soulful ballads and bluesy grooves to bright swinging tempos. Familiar songs by Cole Porter, George Gershwin, Richard Rodgers, Jerome Kern and other great popular composers alternate with jazz originals by Miles Davis, Thelonious Monk, Horace Silver, John Coltrane, Herbie Hancock and others. They also feature bossa nova and other Latin rhythms in tunes by Antonio Carlos Jobim, Luis Bonfa and others. Their sound is mellow, laid-back and cruisey, with just the right amount of beat and bite.