Music News - The New Blue – Pixie Williams Reimagined
15 March 2021 - 0 Comments
The legacy of Pixie Williams, the evocative voice behind the number one 1949 hit Blue Smoke, continues with the reimagined album The New Blue, releasing Friday 9 April. Containing 11 tracks of reworked gems, recorded by a collection of contemporary Kiwi vocalists, the album celebrates the enduring yet brief singing career of New Zealand’s first number one pop song vocalist and wāhine Māori artist.
While Dean Martin famously covered, and had a hit, with Blue Smoke in 1951, a new generation of artists demonstrate that over 70 years later, the compositions remain as timeless as ever. The album includes the distinctive vocal talents of soul diva and te reo Māori champion Whirimako Black (MNZM), acclaimed musician, producer and songwriter Anna Coddington and modern soul singer Louis Baker. The collection of vocalists have all been chosen by the producers for their openness and unique sound, and are matched to each song’s temperament. New artists sing alongside the more established, with only the song to answer to – reflecting the priorities of the day when Pixie recorded Blue Smoke in 1949, fresh from hockey practice as a 20 year old.
The project has been a labour of love for Williams’ daughter Amelia Costello, who in 2011 released the album Pixie Williams: For The Record. This compilation of works set to digitally preserve the scarce collection of Williams’ 78rpm shellac single releases, the only format to remain from her original recordings. Costello explains how The New Blue began;
“I've always wanted to refresh the music with contemporary artists. I had started work on this when the technology made it possible to remaster the originals, which was first logical thing to do to save the music. The remastered album was so well received, it reinforced the interest in a reimagined album.”
Enter Mike Gibson, sound engineer to a wealth of local artists over the last three decades. Gibson restored and remastered the original shellac recordings for the 2011 release, and now returns as the executive producer and engineer for this new album. Gibson has constructed a unique production team with Riki Gooch (Eru Dangerspiel, Trinity Roots) and vocalist Lisa Tomlins (Fat Freddy’s Drop, L.A.B, Hollie Smith), who bring a refreshingly natural and effortless beauty to the production. “The key was stepping out of this modern world and allowing the space for each song to guide us,” says Gibson.
Alongside a healthy collection of composer Ruru Karitiana’s works, the album features a tune by another great songwriter of the time, Sam Freedman; responsible for writing the iconic Haere Mai. First recorded in 1949, and now reimagined and recorded in te reo Māori, Freedman’s Māoriland is a fitting bridge between eras, when recording in te reo would not have been a consideration.
The New Blue – Pixie Williams Reimagined
Track listing:
Saddle Hill ft The Victory Dolls
Let’s Talk It Over ft Anna Coddington
Ain’t It A Shame ft Whirimako Black
Bellbird Serenade ft Rachel Fraser
Blue Smoke ft Pixie Williams, Lisa Tomlins and Kirsten Te Rito
Sweetheart in Calico ft George Rutherford
Sailing Along on a Moonbeam ft Amba Holly
Señorita ft Lisa Tomlins
Māoriland ft Kirsten Te Rito
It’s Just Because ft Deanne Krieg
Windy City ft Louis Baker
The album was recorded during 2019 and 2020, utilising the world class facilities at Massey University’s recently-built Wellington music studios.
“Making this record has been a wonderful journey of revisiting the musical landscape of Pixie Williams and Ruru Karaitiana” states Gooch, “It has been musically fulfilling.”
The New Blue releases on Friday 9 April through Blue Smoke Records and is distributed through Rhythmethod.
ABOUT PIXIE WILLIAMS:
Pixie Williams (Ngati Kahungungu) was an unassuming, yet gifted, vocalist who achieved a series of musical firsts. She was the first wahine Maori vocalist to reach number one on the New Zealand singles chart. That single, Blue Smoke, was recorded in 1948 and was the first release to be locally recorded and manufactured in New Zealand. The single was also the first release on the local label TANZA and spent six weeks in the number one spot, selling over 50,000 copies.
A self-taught and highly sought-after vocalist, Pixie went on to sing on several more recordings through 1949 and 1951 before stepping out of the limelight to raise a family in Dunedin.
In 2011, For the Record: The Pixie Williams Collection was released. RIANZ recognised Williams with a triple platinum award for Blue Smoke and single platinum award for the song Let’s Talk It Over at the album launch event.
Williams’ legacy, alongside that of composer Ruru Karaitiana and guitarist Jim Carter was honoured with an induction into the New Zealand Music Hall of Fame in 2019, to mark the 70th anniversary of the release of Blue Smoke.
For further information on Pixie Williams:
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