Jan Preston admits she is more than a little obsessed with pianos. At last count, she had seven taking pride of place in various rooms of her Sydney home.
The award-winning pianist and singer is in New Zealand as part of her ''My Life As A Piano'' tour, which includes a date at the Mayfair Theatre, Dunedin, on Wednesday when Preston (and her trio) promises to take the audience on a journey from 1950s piano lessons to the cool ambience of jazz clubs and on to the raw energy of boogie-woogie music, for which she is most celebrated.
''It's an upbeat boogie music show featuring a fabulous local bass player called Nathan Berg, whom I believe has played with all sorts of famous people, and percussionist Mike Pullman, who has come with me from Australia,'' Preston explains, adding: ''The Mayfair theatre has the most magnificent grand piano. I choose venues where there are very good grand pianos.''
Energetic piano music aside, the show also promises to strike a few curious notes. As Preston talks about her fascination for the instrument, she offers a slideshow likely to prompt a few chuckles.
''People find it funny. Some of the photos of the pianos are hard to believe: there is a piano that has been turned into an outdoor fountain; a piano designed to be played in bed by a sick person; a piano completely covered in crochet; a grand piano that is also a car ... people will never look at a piano in the same way again.''
Central to ''My Life As A Piano'' is Preston's celebration of boogie-woogie, a style of music started by African-Americans in the late 1920s and early 1930s and taken up with enormous enthusiasm worldwide.
''Some people call it blues, others call it jazz. It crosses over into jazz, but is more related to the swing-jazz of the early 1930s. It has a driving feel to it,'' Preston explains.
''Boogie-woogie is generally in a major key.
''It has a happy sound. Moreover, the three great boogie piano players of the 1930s - Meade Lux Lewis, Pete Johnson and Albert Ammons - would play popular songs of the time with a boogie beat. That's where the famous Swanee River Boogie came from.
''I even do a version of Beethoven's Fur Elise as a boogie. It doesn't have to be based on 12-bar blues. It's defined by an eight-beats-to-the-bar, magnetic groove in the left hand. You can drive any tune like that.
''Basically, the left hand has to swing. That old saying 'it don't mean a thing if it ain't got that swing' refers to the left hand.
''There was a lot of that boogie sound in early rock 'n roll.''
The sister of New Zealand film-maker Gaylene Preston, the 62-year-old Preston's earliest musical memories are of sing-alongs at the piano with one aunt playing piano and another on violin. All the Prestons sang and played some instrument, even if it was only tea-chest bass.
Born in the South Island, she studied classical piano and singing from an early age. After completing a music degree, she joined the infamous Red Mole Theatre troupe in Wellington, toured New Zealand with Split Enz, and was musical director for the Red Mole Cabaret shows in Wellington.
In the late 1970s she moved briefly to New York where she listened to a range of great rhythm and blues piano players before returning to New Zealand and forming rock-reggae band Coup D'Etat, whose 1980 single Doctor I Like Your Medicine was a top-10 hit.
The same year, Preston headed to Sydney, where she remains based, although she is considering moving back to New Zealand: ''My husband and I have vague plans to relocate to New Zealand eventually. I miss New Zealand more as the years go by.''
Having played numerous music festivals in Australia, New Zealand and Europe, composed and performed music for silent films and written film scores for drama and documentary productions, Preston has won awards for both her soundtrack work and her performances.
The reality of being a working musician means Preston needs to get out on the road, to ''take the music to the people''. And despite her comment, ''I tour so much it is difficult to say where home is'', she is happy to be so busy.
''I have a 21-year-old son who is quite musical, but he works as a spray painter.
''He says he has seen, too closely, how tricky it is to have a career in entertainment.
''We are touring this show in Australia as well and also have some festivals lined up. So we are all go until December.
''We will then have a bit of breathing space.''
Still, Preston's hands are unlikely to be too far removed from her beloved black and white keys.
''I'm very much a product of the piano era - a time when one in four homes in New Zealand and Australia had a piano. Even up to the 1970s, New Zealand used to have about 500 piano tuners working regularly. Now, the number is much lower. The piano has been replaced by the entertainment unit. The rightful place of a piano is in the centre of a living room.
''It doesn't matter if it's boogie-woogie or classical that people are playing; the main thing is that people play the piano. Bring it out of the back room and give it a spin. Pianos need people to play them. I think it's the most wonderful instrument invented.''
See her, hear her
Jan Preston performs ''My Life As A Piano'' at the Mayfair Theatre, Dunedin, on Wednesday, September 25.
Giveaways
The Otago Daily Times has five copies of Jan Preston's album My life as a piano to give away. To go in the draw, email playtime@odt.co.nz with Preston in the subject line.
