“Now I am an ambassador and I was intrigued with the work they were doing with a musical legend like Rodger.”
In Parliament’s Grand Hall, the rap and jazz jam, a reimagining of 10 rap songs by Kapisi as jazz standards, will entertain MPs and fans of both artists, with friends and family of Youthtown also attending.
The project’s sheet music will be available to secondary school jazz combos and big bands to use in Jazz Bandit, a national jazz competition for 165 bands.
Growing up in the music scene, Kapisi has always been a big fan of Fox. The pair hit it off when Kapisi visited Fox at his studio at Victoria University.
“Rodger has a wealth of mana in musical circles and what we’re creating is musical magic,” Kapisi says. “Jazz and rap music — who could ask for anything more?”
Kapisi says he is actually quite jazzy in his own musical notation and many of his own band members have been jazz players.
“It has been an amazing experience with Rodger, the tracks that have been created sound amazing and I can’t wait to hear them within the Grand Hall acoustics.”
The stand-out song on the night will be Elimination Process, Kapisi says — and he says people will be surprised how he can “scat melodically and lyrically” at the same time, which is something he loves to do.
So will the pair record together in the future? They are planning a release date in September, which leads into concerts throughout October.
