Sumo was formed in 2007 as a quartet. Pianist Darren Pickering chose the name, and their motto was 'heavy, sweaty jazz'. The band performed every week at Fat Eddies, a live music venue that was destroyed in the 2010/2011 earthquakes. Their first album, Throwing Salt (2009), was a Best Jazz Album finalist in the 2011 New Zealand Music Awards.
Gwyn Reynolds (saxophone)
Darren Pickering (piano/keyboards)
Michael Story (acoustic bass)
Joseph McCallum (drums)
Featuring Brad Kang (guitar), Heather Webb (guitar), Glen Wagstaff (guitar), Tim Driver (piano), Tamara Smith (flute), Jimmy Rainey (sax), with Cameron Pearce (trumpet on ‘That’) and Tom Rainey (piano on ‘The Mire’ and ‘MoU’)
Produced by Gwyn Reynolds and Sumo
Recorded and mixed by Dave Cooper at Ara Music Arts and Zero Point Audio, Christchurch
Mastered by Steve Garden
Designed by Unklefranc
Printed by Studio Q
Sumo gratefully acknowledge Ara Institute of Canterbury for their support of this project
Released: 18 May 2018
Catalogue: RAT-J-1039
