Ron SAMSOM (drums), Dixon NACEY (guitar), and Kevin HAINES (bass) have worked as a unit since 2008. Their debut recording, Open To Suggestions, was intended to be Rattle’s inaugural jazz release, but the timing simply wasn’t right and the band released the album independently.
However, their second and third albums, Oxide and Cross Now, took their place within the Rattle catalogue in 2011 and 2013 respectively, with a fourth album rumoured to be in the pipeline in late 2018.
Born in Canada, drummer and composer Ron Samson became a proud citizen of Aotearoa in 2018. He is the co-ordinator of jazz performance at University of Auckland, and owns five drum kits and way too much windsurfing equipment … most surprisingly, he finds time to use all of it.
Dixon Nacey is a jazz guitarist, composer, producer, and band-leader whose performance schedule surely must be one of the busiest of any musician in the country. He has performed with many great NZ and international artists, is an enthusiastic teacher and advocate for original music, and runs a successful jazz guitar tutorial website.
Kevin Haines has played the double bass for almost 6 decades. In that time he has played with the cream of New Zealand Jazz musicians, and has worked as a sideman with some of the world’s legendary singers and instrumentalists. He has seen his two sons, Nathan and Joel, grow to be two of the finest and most respected musicians in the country, and currently teaches in the Auckland University Jazz course.
