In the style of Quincy Jones' latter albums, 'Starting Over' features an array of Australasian talent both vocally & instrumentally in the genre of Jazz/Rock/RnB. As I'm not a lead vocalist, but have an enormous love for vocal music, I assembled a great band & singers & the end result is this album, 'Kere Buchanan' 'Starting Over'.

1. full name: kere julian buchanan. 2. dob: 27 June 1968, place of birth: christchurch, new zealand. 3. primary school: beckenham primary school 1973 to 1981. secondary school: cashmere high school 1982 to 1985. 4. summary of career: coming from a musical family, my brother lyn & I began learning piano, myself starting at age 3. lyn began learning drums when he was around 10 & this began rubbing off on me, which lead to me starting to play drums at about age 10 as well. i started doing gigs & sessions with my father, stu at about age 12 & these were mainly weekend gigs & jazz recordings for radio new zealand as well as various jazz festivals around the country. in 1981 i was a part of the darfield high school jazz band, (i played one tune on drums) that went to perform at the tauranga jazz festival of which we came second in the student big band competition, & i won an award called the george rawiri memorial trophy for the most outstanding young jazz musician of that year. my father, stu buchanan was strongly inspired with the success of 1981 & shortly after formed a big band consisting of christchurch’s strongest young jazz musicians, of which I was a part of & was called the csim big band. we regularly rehearsed at csim, (christchurch school of instrumental music). the group toured to the tauranga jazz festival in 1982 & won 1st prize in the annual student stage band competition. in 1984, my father did the same thing again, but this time with the cashmere high school big band & we won that year as well. i also won best young composer of 1984 & the bassist in the group russell stedman won the george rawiri trophy. in 1984 i was also a part of the new zealand high school jazz orchestra camp in wellington. this was chosen by audition only & consisted of two members from cashmere high school, andy bickers on tenor saxophone whom I work with ‘till this day, & myself. the following year i auditioned & was accepted again but this year in the new zealand youth jazz orchestra. both these years we recorded an album, did various concerts as well as a television performance on jazz scene. during 1985 i began to play & record with the rodger fox big band touring the country & recording jazz radio programmes for rnz as well as various television appearances. rodger recorded an album & toured nationally featuring two of la’s finest jazz/session horn players, gary grant on trumpet & bill reichenbach on trombone whom have worked with the likes of quincy jones, michael jackson, al jarreau, frank Sinatra, george benson to name but a few. then in 1986 i returned to christchurch full time & began working regularly in various groups, (some of them my own) & recording regular sessions for rnz & various other nz artists. in october of 1986 i was again part of the nz youth jazz orchestra touring to vancouver, canada performing at expo 86 & by invitation, a part of an arts youth festival with various groups from all over the world. in 1987 i worked non-stop around town & nationally as a freelance drummer doing a variety of sessions and gigs with my father, the chch symphony & local jazz & rock/pop groups. in 1988 i decided to move to australia to stretch my music knowledge, settling first in sydney & then briefly in brisbane. soon after i relocated back to sydney & soon began doing sessions & gigs & touring extensively with artists such as wendy matthews, james reyne & margaret urlich. in march 1996 i began working full time with marcia hines & during years 1999 to 2002 i was musical director, & i still continue to play in her band today, & hold a role as music supervisor. in 1998 i put a group together called ‘the beat goes on’ consisting of four drummers, including myself, along with gordon rytmeister, hamish stuart & andrew gander at the basement, a well known jazz club here in sydney. this band slowly evolved into a band consisting of the music of toto & steely dan, two of my all time favourite bands that i grew up listening to & learnt so much about music from. the band is now called ‘the bodacious cowboys’& we play the music of steely dan. (there’s a link to info/updates on the menu bar, as well as a link to another group i run called back on the block.) in 1999 i started branching out as a freelance producer, composer & arranger & continue doing this today. my first project was to co-write & produce an album for local singer/songwriter called louise perryman. we won various songwriting awards off of this record including no. 1 r’n’b song of 1999 at the australian songwriters association, (asa) awards in melbourne, as well as some overseas, & for the scala music awards in australia. the album is called louise perryman, whisper your name, & can be purchased at www.louiseperryman.com a part of my regular work is jingle work as a drummer. (television and radio commercials). in 2002 I toured to paris, france with local export singer/songwriter tina arena & performed three nights to sell out audiences at the famous ‘olympia theatre’ & recorded a ‘live’ album from these concerts. I toured nationally in 2004 again with tina extensively playing theatres, of which a dvd and ‘live’ cd was recorded & filmed at the sydney state theatre. in 2006, i released an album under the band name kerosene, with my co-writing partner glenn bidmead that was signed to indie label, hardrush music. my newest project is my new solo venture, called kere buchanan, ‘starting over’ featuring songs written by myself, & co-writes with glenn bidmead & steve clisby. this album features a host of local talent (over 20 people) in the jazz/rock genre such as vocalists steve clisby, michelle martinez, geoff robertson, (aka the robertson brothers), glenn bidmead, guitarists james muller, mark punch, chris kamzelas, keyboardists bill risby, brendan st ledger, bassists leon gaer, & alexander hewetson, percussionist tony azzopardi & saxophonist craig walters. the release date is thursday, july 23rd at the basement & features nearly all on the record. as well on the night will steve clisby, & bill risby promoting their new release, ‘golden ring’. for more info go to album on the menu bar. nz recordings: nz youth jazz orchestra rodger fox big band stu buchanan malcolm mcneil kiri te kanawa suzanne prentice midge marsden doug caldwell quartet doug caldwell big band alan slater doug kelly ian edwards helen mullholland room 501 nz bands/artists. stu buchanan chch symphony orchestra nz youth jazz orchestra nz youth orchestra rm 335 rodger fox big band midge marsden doug caldwell rise montage goldfish lemonade australia recording sessions: kasey chambers margaret urlich troy casser-daly hugh jackman marcia hines delta goodrem julie anthony tina arena (2 ‘live’ albums) louise perryman (producer/composer/arranger) juliette obsessed (producer) belinda moreira (producer/composer/arranger) bella adam harvey vince pizzinga felicity urquhart tamara stewart simon bruce iva davies steven jaymes ben crick shane nicholson karen lynne glenn bidmead danielle spencer kere buchanan kerosene australian bands/artists: wendy matthews margaret urlich rick price james reyne tina arena darryl braithwaite marcia hines grace knight renee geyer tommy emmanuel damien leith anthony callea john foreman steve clisby bodacious cowboys (steely dan) erana clark glenn shorrock back on the block (quincy jones) television work: an evening with ‘marcia hines’ studio 22 featuring ‘marcia hines’ hey hey it’s saturday strictly dancing popstars australian idol beauty and the beast the way we were various performances on the midday show denton at home with ray martin featuring ‘tom jones’ in siberia tonight (sbs) the big night in with john foreman... (assistant music director.) 5. interests outside of music: my main interest outside of music is running. i have completed six full marathons, 5 in sydney, and 2 in canberra, two half marathons and a number of 10km and 14km fun runs.