The Circling Sun

The Circling Sun is a spiritual jazz collective from Tamaki Makaurau, New Zealand. Their music is inspired by Sun Ra, Alice Coltrane, Yusef Lateef, and Pharoah Sanders, among others. They explore African, Latin, and modern and vanguard music from across the globe, and meld it with a South Pacific aesthetic. While the band's members have vast experience, the birth of TCS resulted after four of their seven members left the hip-hop jazz group Avantdale Bowling Club. The formation of TCS was greeted with enthusiasm by the jazz community. They played throughout New Zealand and Australia, including on the main stage of the Wellington Jazz Festival. The septet signed with Soundway for 2023's Spirits (band percussionist Julien Dyne is a label alumnus). Following tours of the South Pacific region, they played summer music and jazz festivals in Europe. After returning to the studio in late 2024, they released their sophomore Soundway album Orbits in July 2025 to global critical acclaim.The Avantdale Bowling Club comprised five of the group's musicians -- double bassist Ben Turua, drummer/percussionist Dyne, Cameron Allen, and Jong-Yun (J.Y.) Lee on reeds and winds, and brass and reed master Finn Scholes (leader of Carnivorous Plant Society) -- who, along with pianist/electronicist Guy Harrison and synth and choir director Kenny Sterling (who also performs as Matt Hunter), rose from the ashes and formed TCS.They spent six months rehearsing and playing local gigs and they signed with Dyne's former employer the Soundway label. They spent months collectively writing tunes for their debut album then entered the studio in early 2023, emerging with the six-track, 37-minute Spirits, which drew acclaim from the jazz press internationally. The album's lineup also included harpist Chris O'Connor and an eight-voice vocal choir under Sterling's direction. With an album under their belts, they found it easier to get work and played throughout the countryside and in Australia, where they performed on the main stage of the globally renowned Wellington Jazz Festival to a standing ovation.Following their tour, Harrison left the group and was replaced by session pianist/guitarist Joe Kaptein. They worked with producer and mixing and recording engineer Dyne in his studio in Tamaki Makaurau armed with seven new tracks and a large guest list playing brass, reeds, guitars, and synths; they also used Sterling's nine-voice Love Affinity Choir. The latter provided vital textural dimension and narrative force to the proceedings. Soundway released Orbits, Circling Sun's sophomore album, in July 2025.
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