Callum Allardice - Elementa
GUITARIST CALLUM ALLARDICE UNVEILS CINEMATIC JAZZ EXPERIENCE WITH NEW ALBUM, ELEMENTA
Featuring: Callum Allardice guitar, Luke Sweeting piano, Thomas Botting bass, Hikurangi Schaverien Kaa drums
Out January 24th, 2024 on Earshift Music
“Allardice thinks big”
Award-winning New Zealand composer-guitarist Callum Allardice new album, Elementa, showcases his distinctive style of cinematic composition and dynamic jazz quartet interaction featuring Luke Sweeting on piano, Tom Botting on bass, and Hikurangi Schaverien-Kaa on drums.
The album showcases Callum's signature sound, with folksy, song-like melodies supported by evocative harmony and fierce rhythmic energy.
The music is driven by the precise yet organic interplay between guitar and piano, with agile melodies and lush harmonies that balance each other in subtle, effective ways.
Elementa features the singles "Solitude" and "Peaceful," and is a testament to Callum's journey as a composer and musician. The album was born out of a composer residency at Te Kōkī New Zealand School of Music, where Callum was able to expand on ideas that had been evolving in his mind for years. This led to the creation of two distinct projects: the Cinematic Light Orchestra, released earlier this year, and this more intimate quartet project.
Callum is joined by long-time collaborators Luke Sweeting on piano, Tom Botting on bass, and Hikurangi Schaverien-Kaa on drums—musicians he deeply admires and trusts. The quartet setting allowed Callum to explore the interplay between composition and improvisation, blending the strengths of both large ensemble and small group dynamics.
The project was recorded in just one and a half days, the same week as the Cinematic Light Orchestra sessions. Despite the intense schedule and limited rehearsal time, the band delivered a performance that captures the raw energy and emotional depth of the music.
Highlights include Tom's melodic bass solo on "Solitude," Luke's unaccompanied piano solo on "Odyssey," and Hikurangi's ferocious drumming on "Elementa."
Callum hopes that listeners will feel the emotions conveyed in the music, whether through virtuosic solos, nimble melodies, or tender moments of raw energy. Each track on the album tells its own story, from the urgent, dark undercurrent of "Stone Eyes" to the nostalgic warmth of "Peaceful" and its coda.
Elementa is a deeply personal project for Callum, reflecting his journey as both a composer and an improviser. It is a testament to the trust and connection he shares with his bandmates, and a celebration of the creative process that brings music to life.
Known for his evocative and complex jazz compositions, Callum has been honoured with the APRA Best Jazz Composition award three times for his works Sons of Thunder (2016), Deep Thought (2017), and Chungin (2019). His group, The Jac, won the Recorded Music NZ Best Jazz Artist award in 2020 for their album A Gathering. In 2022, Callum was named the inaugural jazz composer-in-residence at Te Kōkī New Zealand School of Music.
-
Stone Eyes
Stone eyes was inspired by a Radiohead song called Glass Eyes, although the first version I heard of the song was a cover by a great guitarist called Mike Moreno, I didn’t know it wasn’t his song for a long time, so I guess Stone Eyes was inadvertently the result of a game of musical telephone. I really enjoyed the darkness of the song, and wanted to create something similar but with a sort of subtle sense of urgency, like a pot almost boiling.
Peaceful
Peaceful is a very old song of mine I wrote back in 2013 on an acoustic guitar in the mountains in Austria surrounded by snow. It was my first foray in to a sort of pastoral or Americana sound, inspired by the likes of Pat Metheny and Brian Blade. I always imagined it as a song you could ride a horse too, however I’m deeply afraid of horses so I’ll just have to keep imagining.
Peaceful Coda
This is a solo improvisation based around ‘Peaceful’, a lot of the music on this album is quite intense, and I really wanted a to play something that allowed the album to breathe a little. Improvising on this piece also reminds me of noodling around on the acoustic guitar I wrote this tune on, there’s a lot of nostalgia in it for me.
Elementa
I wrote this tune with the intention of having something quite simple for us as a band to play over without having to be restrained by the music. I imagined us as 4 elements interacting with each other to create a gestalt being, or some sort of flow.
Solitude
There is a type of solitude that I really enjoy, and it involves many people. It’s the type of solitude you can experience walking around a big city - there are people everywhere, and you might not interact with any of them, but there’s something comforting about the fact that they’re there.
Odyssey
Odyssey is like a storm. It begins fairly lightly, but with a thread of intensity that carries throughout the entire piece. In the eye of the storm is a beautiful improvisation by pianist Luke Sweeting that allows for a brief reprieve before reentering the deluge.
Dark Love
This is one of my favourite tunes I’ve written and is the single from my first album ‘Cinematic Light Orchestra’. The original version is very arranged and orchestrated and I wanted to record a version that was more expressive and free flowing to capture the melancholic sense of longing the melody provides. -
Wellington Jazz Festival - Oct 18th
Bedlam & Squalor
Level 1/18 Garrett Street, Te Aro, Wellington 6011
5:30pm, Tickets
Hamilton - Oct 22nd
Gallagher Academy of Performing Arts
Knighton Road University of Waikato, Hamilton 3216
7:30pm, Tickets
Auckland - Oct 23rd
Creative Jazz Club
Pah Homestead 72 Hillsborough Road, Hillsborough, Auckland 1042
7:30pm, Tickets
Rotorua - Oct 24th
St Luke’s Church
1223 Amohia Street, Rotorua
7pm, Tickets
Tauranga - Oct 25th
The Jam Factory
The Incubator Creative Hub, The Historic Village, 17th Avenue, Tauranga
7pm, Tickets
