‘Scenes’ takes me back to my musical roots after a performing career spanning everything from pub bands to musical theatre, opera and cabaret in Wellington, Auckland, Sydney, Melbourne, Hawaii and London. The arrangements are simple, evocative and tuneful, developed with the genius of Simon Wallace, leading film and TV composer (Absolutely Fabulous, Clive James Show) and collaborator with many of the UK’s finest jazz and cabaret singers including Clare Teal, Ian Shaw, Sarah Moule, Pete Atkin, Gill Manly and Barb Jungr. These are songs I grew up with, from the mid 1960s to the mid 1970s. It was a fertile time for popular song that encompassed the British Invasion, Motown, country rock, the rise of the singer-songwriters and other important musical influences. From it came many great songs that have slipped from view but are ready to be refreshed and rediscovered by the audiences of today who missed them first time round. Of course, being the songs of my youth, they also come tied up with all sorts of personal echoes of people, places and experiences past down-under in New Zealand. Working with producer and arranger Simon Wallace, I’ve plundered those memories to inform our own re-imaginings.