Starfish Club Jonathan Crayford 4 August 2025

For our August performance we are presenting a rare treat. The highly acclaimed and totally amazing NZ pianist Jonathan Crayford on his way back home from playing in Europe.

This will be a trio format with the starfish rhythm section of Jonathan Zwartz and Hamish Stuart. so  expect a true jazz concert with an eclectic mix of material drawing on Jonathan's extensive and impressive musical experiences in NY, Cuba, Brazil, and Europe.

Jonathan Crayford is a highly original compositional talent and pianist. He  has written  many film soundtracks, albums, and collaborations.  

Notably, he  has worked with a wide range of musicians including Kurt Rosenwinkel, David Binney, Mambo Macoco and Groove Collective, David Murray, Tony Allen, Questlove and Macy Gray, in Cuba – with Bobby Carcasses and in Brazil with Alda Rezende, Caito Marcondes, Kristoff Silva and José Miguel Wisnik.

His work spans many different genres of jazz, funk, and classical disciplines, as well as Latin jazz in regional styles, including, but not limited to Cuban, Brazilian and Spanish dialects.

 A highly respected and exciting pianist, multi-instrumentalist, composer and film composer whose scores and albums have received critical acclaim as well as many nominations and awards.

Crayford's 2014 trio Album, ‘Dark Light’ was nominated for the Best New Zealand Jazz Album and the 2016 follow up, ‘East West Moon’ took out the award in that category. His other achievements include nominations and awards for several feature films and theatre productions.

"This is the kind of piano I totally relate to: exploratory, thoughtful, soulful, focused. Those qualities are all sort of contradictory, or at least contrasting, which is why this kind of work is meaningful: because it is multi-dimensional.”

Thomas Conrad, Jazz Times

"He’s an artist embedded so deeply within his music that his persona reflects in those terms.  It’s as if he were the embodiment of sonic shapes and forms.”

John Fenton, jazzlocal32.com

Doors at 6pm, Music from 7pm

Starfish Kitchen will be open.