Rich Leschen, from the midwestern United States, began a guitarist then became a songwriter after his arrival to the Antipodes over 20 years ago as a biologist to study New Zealand beetles. Shedding electric for acoustic guitar, he’s a balladeer bred on folk-world melodies, improvises, and influenced by landscapes, the human condition, and the unfamiliar. He has produced seven albums as a soloist or with an ensemble and continues to compose panoramic lyrics with jazz overtones. He has performed and recorded with outstanding NZ bassists (Vanessa McGowan, Eamon Edmunson-Wells, and Maree Thom), guitarist Nigel Gavin, and clarinetist/composer Yvette Audain and worked with star engineer Robbie Duncan to produce albums and recently in a guitar duo.
Steve Cournane is a drummer and composer who began playing with the Alpaca Brothers in 1984, releasing a successful EP on Flying Nun. In his late 20’s he studied jazz in Wellington and won a Tui for NZ Jazz album of the year for 2001 for the album Stereoscope by Clbob. That group performed relentlessly around the country over a ten-year period from Stewart Island to Mangonui. He performed jazz on cruise ships throughout the Pacific and Caribbean from 2003-2007 and in 2007 settled in Lima, Peru as a musician and studied coastal Afro-Criolla music for another seven years. In Auckland since 2017, he is currently playing drum kit with Bill Direen, John Bell's Aldebaran and Jeff Henderson's Oblivious Eight and plays cajón with Ian Sinclair in the duo Isla Flamenca.
richardleschen.bandcamp....stevecournane.bandcamp.c...
acoustic/solo,
country/folk,
world,
Richard Leschen,
Steve Cournane
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