Woven Not Stranded is the third in Ryan’s M2M (Mississippi to Mauao) trilogy of original electro-jazz. The new collection is a homage to his expansive musical roots from playing disco in Auckland clubs six nights a week in the 1980s, years of touring playing rock and rhythm’n’blues with Midge Marsden and The Narcs through the 1990s, later forays in to jazz in Tauranga Moana and, before all of that, his love of classical music playing violin in orchestras in his home town, Christchurch.
Ryan works out of his Torch Music studio in Waihi. The title, Woven Not Stranded, is a nod to Ryan’s grandmother Elsie who was a weaver and poet. “She practised her art in the middle of nowhere up the Awatere Valley in the South Island NZ. I often feel the same solitude working on my music in the provinces – especially in The Time of Covid. Isolation is a common experience for all. And yet we all remain connected by the internet. And by the strands of whanau and aroha that bind us. Woven Not Stranded.”
“I wanted to make the most positive sounding music I could muster in these times,“ says Ryan. “It’s eclectic; it’s all here.” The album contains nine tracks including electro – jazz tracks like Soul Refrain and Cosmic Lounge, world beat flavours on Afrodisiac and Waltz for Amanda and tributes to funk (Get Jive!) and uptown blues (Royal Blues and Love Letter to the Blues). Also featured is a remix of Soul Refrain which uses a poem written by Ryan:
“My attempt to capture the rich atmosphere of playing with the Legendary Mudsharks on any Mudshark Monday night at the Harbour View Hotel in Raglan in the 1980s.”
The album was released on all digital platforms on Friday November 12, 2021. Check it out here.
