Cliff is a New Zealand born multi-instrumentalist and composer/producer. He is joined by Alex Yevstifeev, originally from Rochester, NY, where he studied saxophone at the Eastman School of Music. On Drums is Will McClure, who has had a charmed career working with some of the greats, and playing on many recordings as a session player. Michael White (Auckland) completes the line up on Double Bass.

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Bios:

Cliff Leatherbarrow – Guitar / Composer / Producer

Cliff is a New Zealand born multi-instrumentalist and composer / producer. He grew up playing guitar / bass in bands, dabbled in Classical piano and Classical Guitar, and studied Jazz Guitar Performance at what became NZ School of Music. Later he went on to study Composition for Film and Television through Think Space Education UK. Currently based in Queenstown, New Zealand and performing regularly with local groups, including the Queenstown Jazz Orchestra.

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Alex Yevstifeev– Soprano Saxophone

Born and raised in Rochester, NY into a musical family, Alexander has had experience with both classical and Jazz from an early age. Always part of the school band as well as local jazz big bands, he grew up to study saxophone at the EastmanSchool of Music before switching degrees to Electrical Engineering at theRochester Institute of Technology. He has however been continuously active in music performance. Alex moved to Queenstown in 2018 where he plays in several local groups including the Queenstown Jazz Orchestra. Alex also teaches saxophone locally through the Turn up the Music program at Te Atamira.

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Will McClure –Drums

Is a pedigreed musician who has traveled extensively and lived for extended periods in multiple countries. Will has had a charmed career working with some of the greats, and playing on many recordings as a session player.

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Michael White – DoubleBass

Auckland based musician Michael White met Cliff in 2001 in Wellington where they completed music degrees in Jazz Performance. Over the past two decades Cliff and Mike have continued to work together performing as a duo or in trios aroundAotearoa. Michael has been involved in numerous bands including Kiwi pop/rock group “Supermodel”, who toured NZ, UK and Europe, and released two original albums that had significant commercial airplay (2011, 2014). One produced by Greg Haver and recorded at Modern World Studio in Tetbury, England, and the other mixed by Reinhold Mack (Queen,ELO, etc.). While still a Wellington resident Michael performed regularly with the Latin American band “Garage Latino”, before he moved to Auckland where he joined “White Chapel Jak” – who are notable for touring NZ and playing major festivals, winning the best wedding band award and also getting voted best cover band on Jesse Mulligan’s RNZ show. Michael is currently teaching music at schools and privately.

The album will be available to purchase at the show:

Album info:

Released Independently and distributed through Distro kid on all major Streaming Services(Spotify, Apple, Amazon, Tidal, YouTube, etc.)

All nine tracks were composed by Cliff Leatherbarrow. He also recorded, produced and mastered them at his home studio. All nine tracks have accompanying music videos also produced by Cliff Leatherbarrow and are viewable on YouTube.

“This project came about as I was playing in a Queenstown based band called “Alchemy”. We were performing contemporary Jazz tunes, and I decided to write some tunes for the band. But during the Covid Pandemic and Lockdowns the band disbanded. I had about half a dozen tunes written (only three of them were ever performed with the band), so I decided to write a few more and make my own album.” – Cliff Leatherbarrow – November 2022

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The Players:

Cliff Leatherbarrow - Guitars, Piano, Electric Bass

BaronOscar Laven - Tenor Sax

Alex Yevstifeev - Soprano and Alto Sax

Umar Zakaria- Double Bass

Ken Ichinose – Cello solo “El Misterio”

Will McClure - Drums – “Conundrum”, “Cliff’s Edge”

Chaz McLeod– Drums – “Age of Itsudatsu”, “The Scrapper”, “Materia Prima”, “StolenThunder”, “Marks of the Ancients”, “Thunderstorm Over African Wheat fields”