Clear Path Ensemble, Lord Echo(DJ), Benny Salvador

Presented by: Meow Nui, Wellington Jazz Festival, & Jonathan Crayford

Described by Ban Ban Ton Ton’s Cal Gibson as “Return To Forever and In A Silent Way updated and reinvigorated for the now,” Clear Path Ensemble is the live project of the Wellington-based drummer, percussionist, producer and DJ Cory Champion, aka Borrowed CS. Over the course of two well-regarded albums for Cosmic Compositions and Soundway Records, Self-Titled (2020) and Solar Eclipse (2022), Champion has riffed on jazz-fusion in the mode of Chick Corea, Miles Davis and Weather Report while folding elements of ambient, house, techno and broken beat into his borderless, highly exploratory soundworld.

For this special presentation at Meow Nui during the 2024 Wellington Jazz Festival, Champion will be joined on stage by a luminary cast of local jazz, funk and soul instrumentalists, including Johnny Lawrence, Daniel Hayles, Louisa Williamson, Mike Fabulous, and Mike Isaacs. Fittingly, outside of Clear Path Ensemble’s performance, the evening will be bookended by DJ sets from Aunty Records founder Benny Salvador and Mike Fabulous, best known for his internationally loved disco-reggae project, Lord Echo.