CJC is back in a new venue from 25 March, upstairs at Nectar, above The Kingslander!
Wellington-based saxophonist and composer Jake Baxendale brings together a remarkable collective of Aotearoa’s leading jazz and contemporary musicians for Waypeople, a luminous new album inspired by Ursula K. Le Guin’s English-language version of the Tao Te Ching. Drawing from jazz, Chinese classical music and improvisation, the project fuses lyrical storytelling with meditative textures and powerful ensemble interplay.
Waypeople transforms the timeless Taoist philosophy of harmony, balance, and paradox into sound. The result is a work of shimmering beauty — grounded in jazz but alive with the rhythm of ancient poetry and the pulse of contemporary life.
Baxendale describes Waypeople as “music about letting go of ego, embracing contradiction, and finding flow.” Drawing on the Taoist principle of wu-wei — “doing by not doing” — the band performs with what he calls “effortless action,” a collective state of trust and responsiveness.
This album launch tour features Chelsea Prastiti (voice), Jia Ling (Jessie) (guzheng), Callum Passells (saxophones), Daniel Hayles (piano & vibraphone), Johnny Lawrence (double bass), and Rick Cranson (drums). For this Auckland show only, the band is joined by Louisa Williamson (flute) & Kaito Walley (trombone).
Buy Tickets:
$45 General Admission
$35 CJC Members
$25 Students / Unwaged (& working musicians)
$15 School-Age (with legal guardian)
Presale tickets available from Eventfinda: https://www.eventfinda.co.nz/2026/cjc-jake-baxendale-waypeople-wellington/auckland/kingsland/tickets
Cash & EFTPOS door sales unless sold out prior
Doors: 7.30pm
Performance: 8-10pm with intermission
