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SONIA BULLOT |
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.jpg) As a ten year old I was very excited when my parents said I could learn the trumpet. The said trumpet was my brother’s but he wasn’t very interested in it, being more sports’ orientated, so I got my hands (or should I say lips) onto it and started having lessons with Ray Palmer at Dargaville Primary School. It wasn’t long before I was the loudest musician in my school (there were no electric guitars in primary school!). Next came playing in the Dargaville Intermediate band then the High School jazz and concert bands. It was playing in the school jazz band that had such a profound effect on me and ultimately led me along the path of becoming a professional musician. At the age of 12 I performed with the band at the Tauranga and Bay of Islands jazz festivals (I have been to almost every Bay of Islands festival since then). Here I watched many musicians performing who are still attending today and have become close friends. Ironically some of those friends I made early on were indeed those boys from the original Kokomo Blues. I recall my mum coming to tell me of a great band she heard so, being a typical teenager, I avoided them the whole weekend until I happened upon them at the Sunday night jam session and they were awesome! At the age of 13 I met Edwina Thorne after winning her award at the Tauranga Jazz Festival and ended up recording in her studio. We became good friends and many a weekend was spent at her place talking trumpet and going to her gigs where I got to do a lot of jamming and learning. I then made the move to Auckland to attend Kings College for a year and played with the Queen City Big Band. I just couldn’t wait to start being a musician in earnest so I enrolled for the jazz course at the conservatorium of music in Wellington, the stage had been set and I knew what I wanted to do with my life. The greatest part of the jazz school was the fantastic friends and musical associates I made. Once studying commenced I was determined to get a band together for the Jazz Festivals, and FLIBBERTY JIBBET was born. The band comprised of Simon Bowden (guitar), Andrew Menzies (bass), Darren Mathiesson (drums), Kate Robinson (Sax and flute) and myself. We headed up to the Tauranga Jazz Festival where we banged into those Kokomo boys again. (I should have seen the signs!) Unfortunately Kate couldn’t do the Bay of Islands so Warren Maxwell (sax) and Julia Deans joined us on vocals. It was such a success that FLIBBERY JIBBET continued going up to the Bay until I moved to Tauranga. Many more musos played for the band, Erna Ferry joined on vocals for a number of years, Phil Costello (sax), Teriu LeMon (bass), and Chris O’Connor (drums). I also worked for other bands in Wellington such as ska group SKAPA and APOLLO 10 with some of my fab friends from Flibberty and other talented musos and straightening out my eighth notes for the Air Force Band. One evening my Tauranga born flatties Damian Forlong (trombone – Shaken Not Stirred) and Grant Winterburn (keyboard/piano virtuoso) took me out to see Kokomo as they were on tour and playing in Wellington. This was the first time I had seen the boys other than at jazz festivals and the three of us ended joining in for a great jam. After that I caught up and jammed with Kokomo every time they came to Wellington and then joined them on a tour of the South Island. Well that was it really, I became an official hanger-on of Kokomo and to top it off realised that I had fallen hard for their cute harmonica player!!! It was during this trip that Grant asked me to move in with him and though it was hard to leave Wellington I decided to make the move up to Tauranga. I played with Kokomo every gig after that, at the start playing 2 or 3 songs in a jamming fashion and then over time Derek started adding the trumpet in more and more and writing songs with the trumpet in mind. 5 years later my internship was complete. Grant and I married and I was announced as a full member of the band. Over the last ten years living in Tauranga I have completed a Bachelor of Teaching and have worked as an itinerant music teacher around the Bay. I’m currently teaching trumpet, trombone and saxophone and taking jazz combos at Mt Maunganui College 2 days a week along with our band work. But through everything my greatest achievement has been becoming a mum to my two beautiful girls. Ella (2003) and Georgia (2007). It’s a juggling act but they are and always will be an inspiration to me. Here’s to many more fantastic memories and a lifetime of making music! |
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