23 Jun 2026
Raised in the wide, open landscapes of Mohua/Golden Bay, Jake Baxendale grew up with a deep sense of curiosity and connection to place. Now based in Wellington, the saxophonist and composer has built a reputation for blending jazz with expansive cross-cultural influences.
Fresh from a nationwide tour, Jake returns with Waypeople, a new album featuring a collective of Aotearoa New Zealand’s leading jazz and contemporary musicians. Creative New Zealand’s Creative Fellowship Fund gave him sustained time and space to complete the work, while additional support through the Creative Impact Fund enabled the full realisation of the project, from development and recording through to manufacture and release.
Jake recalls falling in love with Ursula K. Le Guin’s translation of Lao Tzu’s Tao Te Ching: A Book About the Way and the Power of the Way around five years ago, after it was given to him by his partner. Jake was immediately struck by its rhythm and phrasing, which quickly sparked the idea of setting the text to music. A 2023 commission from the Wellington Jazz Festival provided the first opportunity to realise these ideas in performance, resulting in an initial suite of works.
“Waypeople is a journey through a selection of verses from the Tao Te Ching. I’ve drawn the lyrics from an English-language version by Le Guin. I think of the album as having three main voices: a mother, a sage, and an anarchist. The mother’s voice delivers wholesome and practical truths, playfully and warmly; the sage invites us to observe the mystery of existence, to find stillness and flow; and the anarchist loudly denounces society, war and violence,” says Jake.
Key collaborators include vocalist Chelsea Prastiti, guzheng player Jia Ling (Jessie), and saxophonist and co-producer Callum Passells. Chelsea’s delivery of the text is central to the project, bringing clarity and a strong improvisational sensibility. Jessie’s guzheng anchors the music to the ancient roots of the text, with a timbre that shifts between mystery and warmth between verses.
Callum Passells joined the project as co-producer, a role that proved important in shaping the recording process. Jake acknowledges that having another sharp musical mind in the room helped ease the pressure and allowed the sessions to run more smoothly. The rhythm section of Dan Hayles (piano), Johnny Lawrence (bass), and Cory Champion (drums) also play a defining role in the record, each leaving a distinct and lasting imprint on the sound and feel of the album.
While the project was not without its hurdles, Jake reflects on how both his composing and improvising evolved through the process.
“My composing changed a lot in response to the new instruments and material I was working with, as well as this being the first major compositional work I did after the arrival of my first child. It became much more piecemeal, with more note-taking and revisiting of ideas, rather than the long, uninterrupted writing sessions I used to do.”
In many ways, Waypeople feels like a meeting point of place, philosophy, and people. What began as a spark from a gifted book has grown into a work that carries both intimacy and scale, reflecting Jake’s practice as an artist and composer.
“I’ve drawn more on the philosophy of the Tao on the bandstand. ‘Wu-wei’, or doing by not doing, is something I still grapple with, but it’s helped me think about allowing things to unfold naturally, without force.”