Winston Watusi Music Plus

I find myself keeping up with news much more selectively recently.

Nightly, like many of us, I regularly had an ear to National Radio at 5pm or, failing that, an eye on whichever 6pm TV news broadcast was least annoying.

But those days have passed. Now I take in news depending on my mood, a habit I recognise as objectively absurd. Knowledge of what's going on in the world should not be dependent on one's level of despondency.

The Hawke's Bay floods finally broke me. Sure, I've rung and I've messaged and I've donated, but having to watch people down there having their lives upended and seeing places I know so well destroyed finally vanquished my nightly habit.

Except on the good days. The days when I'm feeling absolutely chipper, with possibly a soothing G&T under the belt and another in hand.

Anaesthetised enough to take in more human suffering. But when so much tragedy is occurring, and you're avoiding it, it's easy to miss other things. David Lindley, the guitarist, fiddle player, and multi-instrumentalist, died last Saturday.

He was 78. His cause of death has not been confirmed but he seems to have been ill for some time. I guess you'd call him a ‘Musician's Musician'. Perhaps that's why his death appears to have gone completely unreported. The Herald neglected to mention it. So did Stuff. The UK Guardian missed it. I didn't hear about it on TV or radio (but, as I've explained, maybe that was me).

‘Legendary'

He was a man who made a huge impact on music in the seventies and eighties. As Rolling Stone said: 'The legendary musician didn't just accompany L.A. rock legends – he shaped the sound of an era”.

He started in the sixties, with the musically astonishingly ecumenical Los Angeles rock group Kaleidoscope – not to be confused with the British band of the same name.

Jimmy Page called them his favourite band ever. They seemed determined to blend every genre of music available. Perhaps that was a good springboard because, following that, Lindley really made his mark as a musical collaborator across many styles.

You've no doubt heard him, perhaps with Dolly Parton, Bob Dylan, Bruce Springsteen, James Taylor, Warren Zevon, Linda Ronstadt, Leonard Cohen, John Prine, David Crosby, Graham Nash, Toto, Rod Stewart, Bonnie Raitt, Curtis Mayfield, Joe Walsh, The Blind Boys of Alabama and, most of all, with Ry Cooder and Jackson Browne – surprisingly, singing the falsetto vocal on the Browne anthem ‘Stay'.

He played pretty much anything with strings and a quick glance at YouTube brings up literally dozens of jaw-dropping performances. With his own band El Rayo-X, he made music even funkier – check out his definitive version of K.C. Douglas' ‘Mercury Blues'. Their self-titled debut and the follow-up, ‘Win This Record', are both bona fide classics.

Jazz trio

Okay. That's all I wanted to say. I've listened to David Lindley now for more than 40 years and I thought his passing deserved at least a mention.

If you know him you'll understand; if you don't... like I said, head to YouTube and you have much pleasure in-store.

Right. I said I was going to write a little each week about Easter's 60th anniversary National

Jazz Festival. Sorry – Port of Tauranga National Jazz Festival. I keep forgetting that and, given that the port is presumably donating a fair amount of dosh to be naming rights sponsor, I should at least name-check them. Thank you, Port, for supporting a fine event!

There's a special Baycourt matinee at 1pm on Saturday, April 10. Michal Martyniuk is a Polish pianist, here for 15 years now. He has a very impressive resume and is described as being 'at the vanguard of the next wave of music-makers”.

He wins awards with names like ‘Jazz Discovery of The Year'. Again, there are a bunch of YouTube clips of his compositions and it's all you could want from a heavyweight piano trio. Michal has upright bass (Cameron McArthur) and drums (Ron Samsom) backing him and will be joined by guitarist Dixon Nacey, who records for Rattle Records and is pretty much da bomb as far as Kiwi jazz guitarist go. Find more at: www.jazz.org.nz

David Lindley. Photo: Supplied