The new jazz order

Stuart Nicholson, author of Is Jazz Dead (Or has it Moved to a new Address)?, names Kiwi Aron Ottignon as one of the six best new players on the international jazz scene. “Without anyone really noticing, jazz has become discreetly hip and these young musicians are part of the reason why. They represent a refreshing breeze of change blowing through a music that once sounded like a tormented brain puzzle … Ottignon’s Australia debut, in 1999, was the stuff of legend. ‘Aron was an unknown quantity when he made the finals of the National Jazz Awards here,’ recalls Adrian Jackson, the Wangaratta festival’s artistic director. ‘Nobody expected a 16-year-old from NZ to play with such absolute confidence and energy and poise. I think it was obvious to everyone that a major new talent had arrived.’ Six years on, Ottignon is serving notice that he is, potentially at least, one of the finest pianists in jazz.”