The Grand Central Band

For almost seven years now THE GRAND CENTRAL BAND have been delighting Auckland listeners. Their distinct sound, heavily influenced by jazz, R&B and blues has evolved over time under the guidance of lead singer Chris Melville. Melville is a self trained vocal phenomenon who can take anything from a classic jazz standard to one of his own catchy originals and turn it into a listening adventure. The Band recently celebrated the release of their second CD, named after the title track “Brightest Star”. All ten tracks on the album are original songs written by Melville and executed beautifully by his talent-laden band. The release of Brightest Star follows “Cook Street Sessions”, their fist album released in 2000. “ People kept asking when we were going to do a new album, so we knew there was a demand out there” says Melville. The line up changes from time to time but the essence of that Grand Central sound always seems to remain. Band members include Hammond whiz Alan Brown, earthy bass player Junior Turua, Guitar genius Joel Haines and the unmistakable quick beats of drummer Josh Sorenson. “Those are our core members at the moment but I play with a lot of other great musicians. We joke about it as the extended family” laughs Melville. They started out playing in Ponsonby at The Grand Central Bar. From those humble beginnings they have gone on to perform at the prestigious APRA Silver Scroll awards, play to a frosty crowd of 12,500 at the Queenstown Winter Festival and join the line up of national and international jazz stars at The Waiheke Jazz Festival. The real point of difference with this band is its jazz roots. They don’t rehearse, what you see is evolving right before your very ears. This combined with Melville’s unique arranging and songwriting style leaves listeners feeling like the only place they’re going to get this experience is with The Grand Central Band.