As part of its multimillion millennium outlay, the Canadian government not only connected up the last portions of the epic 16,000 km Trans Canada walking trail but also commissioned the country’s most famous name in jazz, Oscar Peterson, to compose a suite to commemorate the achievement. The result, Trail of Dreams, a joint effort between Peterson’s quartet and the string ensemble of Michel Legrand (a touch of political correctness here, including the Frenchman?) is a set of 12 “soundscapes” that seek to capture the breadth of Canadiana, geographical and cultural.

Sunday News, News, by Lee Umbers
The Popstars phenomenon hasn’t been true bliss for the woman who trained the Kiwi all-girl group.
Tonight, the debut single by TrueBliss has gone gold in its first week and is expected to enter the New Zealand charts at No. 1. But the group’s vocal coach Caitlin Smith [...]

Brass Publication, written by Helen Ravlich
If there’s one woman you’d like to see draped over a grand piano whispering sweet nothings into a microphone whilst you swig the last of your martini, it’s jazz diva Caitlin Smith.  Partially blind, with a voice to rival the love child of Mariah Carey and Ricky Martin, and [...]

Music, The Fondue Set blends standards, styles and techniques in its jazz recipe by Brenda Ward
The Fondue Set is no as cheesy as it sounds. It’s the name of an Auckland-based jazz trio that has just put out a similarly whimsically named CD, Stick a Fork In It.
Vocalist for the trio is Caitlin Smith, [...]

CAITLIN SMITH AND THE FONDUE SET, In Review by Lesley Staniland
CAITLIN SMITH’S stage presence is as enormous as the Empire State Building, her voice as smooth as Baileys.
This jazz singer, it seems, can handle anything with the greatest of ease, from Spring Can Really Hang You Up the Most to Burt Baccarach’s swingier What the [...]