"Stuff with effects and pedals," Randel says. "Lots of ambient stuff, I guess."
Randel is in demand as a session musician, applying his appreciation of different musical styles — which extends to the experimental soundscapes he creates himself under the moniker Accordion Tube Road — and his ability to play them, to others’ recording projects.
But he’s talking jazz on this occasion, his big love, ahead of a gig on Friday at The Dish.
"Something slightly different to the jazz that’s normally played in Dunedin," he says of the set list he’s settled on. "Still conventional jazz except, I guess, like ‘50s and ‘60s-inspired stuff. Lots of modal jazz and angry stuff."
Not all angry, he qualifies, some more traditional charts too. But also angry.
"Lots of dissonant and complex harmonies that don’t necessarily resolve as nicely as most do.
"I’ve always liked that sort of stuff," he says.
The players for the evening will coalesce under the banner The Isaac Randel Quintet. Extra brass comes by way of trombonist Finn McKinlay and keyboards courtesy of Jack Ta, while bassist Darcy Monteath, also of Dunedin, and drummer Harry Lentell will lock the rhythm down.
"The drummer isn’t actually in Dunedin yet, because he’s from Wellington, so we’re having a practice, I think, the day before," Randel says.
That’s not nearly as highwire as it sounds as Randel knows his players well.
"Essentially, it is a band I have been used to playing with at the jam sessions at The Dish as well. I’m pretty familiar with the players in the combo already, so even though we only have one practice I think we know how each other plays."
Those week-night jam sessions at The Dish last year spun off the Dunedin players’ involvement in Bill Martin’s Dunedin Youth Jazz Orchestra, allowing them the time and space to roam, experiment and connect — McKinlay, Ta and Monteath were all regulars.
But Lentell is also a familiar collaborator.
"If you go to Wellington you’ll probably see him busking on Cuba St," Randel says by way of introduction.
The pair met in the capital playing in jazz competitions and attending workshops. Randell was a finalist there in the national jazz improvisation competition last year, at Wellington’s New Zealand School of Music.
"I recently did a workshop in Wellington with a trumpet player from New York and he was the drummer in the combo, so we did a lot of playing together for about a week," Randel says of their most recent meeting.
Friday’s set list includes music by John Coltrane, an innovator in modal jazz, the legendary US saxophonist a big inspiration, Randel says.
When Coltrane played with Miles Davis early on, there was a lot of straight-ahead bebop but the sax player’s music evolved, Randel says — getting simpler and more complicated.
Among other notable exponents of the modal and the angry that Randel looks to are the likes of Joe Henderson and Wayne Shorter, both also supplying tracks for the gig.
Randel, and the quintet’s bass player Monteath, are both heading north next month, joining the drummer in Wellington at the city’s jazz school. Randel plans to be there for the next four years.
"I am really looking forward to it," Randel says. "There will be lots of people to play with, lots of music, but I think the main thing I am excited for is just being able to work really hard without the distraction of having to get my level three calculus paper done."
The gig
- The Isaac Randel Quintet, the first of a DJC pop-up series at The Dish, 8 Stafford St, Dunedin.
- Friday, February 3, 7pm. Doors 6pm.
