Somewhere in a vault, there no doubt exists a master tape of one of the most important New Zealand recordings ever. And it’s starting to crumble.
Dr Tree was probably the first, and certainly the most influential fusion album in New Zealand music history.
It featured most of the most interesting local jazz players of the time, and caught many of them on their return from international engagements with important global jazz players.
It’s an absolute crime that this album has never been released on CD. I borrowed a vinyl copy from trumpeter Kim Paterson (whose tune this is) a few years back, but I neglected to write down the names of the other tracks. If you can help fill in the blanks, I’d really appreciate it — because almost nothing has been written online about it either.
Stands to reason — nobody’s really heard it in 30 years. But at the time, it was hugely significant. If nobody beats me to it, one of these days I’m going to try and get the rights and reissue it.
In my spare time. With my spare money.
Hey bro, Jeremy Toy here from Opensouls. I just got a copy of this album. Its killer. You still need the tracklisting?
“Eugino D” is a massive jazzrock monster that will appeal to beat-heads, hard jazz fiends, and good music lovers.
I discovered it earlier this year, and it blew me away.
It has one of the best breaks I’ve ever heard at about 55 seconds in. A creative hiphop producer will surely snag it eventually.
In the meantime, it’ll be up on my podcast real soon.
Rob Fragoso
“Sounding Out The City”