A celebration of Music at Grammar - Matthew '91 and Aron Ottignon '96
Wednesday, 14 August 2019
Auckland Grammar School commemorated its 150th anniversary in May 2019 with a grand celebration of 27 events held across nine days. Acknowledging the past while embracing the future of the School, current parents, students and staff, Old Boys, and members of the wider Grammar community came together to celebrate this momentous occasion.

As part of the celebrations, four musical evenings - each featuring a different style - brought together talent from the current student body alongside several Old Boys, each of whom have forged a career in the music industry.

Two of those Old Boys were Matthew Ottignon '91 who performed alongside his younger brother Aron '96 with the School's award-winning Jazz Combo at the first of the musical evenings - the Jazz and Contemporary Music event held on Monday 20 May.

A brilliant jazz saxophonist and songwriter, Matthew has performed on stages around the world with some true musical legends, including Lou Reed from Velvet Underground, and Steve Cropper and Donald Duck Dunn (guitarist and bass guitarist for Booker T. & the M.G.'s). He has also appeared on recordings for numerous bands, including Portishead, and Australian musicians such as Jimmy Barnes, Marcia Hines and Guy Sebastian.

However, when he and Aron were asked to help the School celebrate its sesquicentenary, it was an opportunity they could not pass up. "Performing at Grammar's 150th was a chance for us to reconnect with the place of our musical upbringing, and hopefully inspire current students, just as we were inspired back in the day."

The Music department was Matthew's "haven" while he was at Grammar, having taken Music as a subject throughout his four years at the School - "the department almost felt like a school within itself" - and the staff saw his talent and abilities early on.

Aron is also an internationally renowned jazz musician, having established himself as one of the finest jazz pianists while he was still at Grammar. Aron was the junior winner of the School's annual Minister's Plate in 1997 and the senior winner in 1998. Keeping it in the family, several years earlier, their brother Eden was the junior Minister's Plate winner in 1993, playing bass guitar.

"We had teachers who more than encouraged our musical endeavours. It was a large part of our musical education, and gave us valuable experience that helped us to choose music as our respective careers. Various musical artists visited the School over the years and these concerts and workshops made an enormous impression on us."

Having performed all over the world (Ethiopia, South Korea, Brazil, Columbia, and Germany, to name a few) and learning from local musicians, Matthew continues to write original compositions for his own band, Mister Ott, which takes their influence from these cultural experiences. His songs have particular reference to Ethiopian music, aligned with the free-form improvisation and syncopation for which African-pedigreed jazz is renowned.

Being a full-time musician and combining his love and passion for it as a full-time profession is something that Matthew does not take lightly, as it has always been his goal and his dream to perform music and tour the world.

"While in my early years, I was seeking recognition in the form of awards. However, today I have found it more important to contribute as an integral member of the various bands and projects I am involved with. I have found this to be very rewarding and it has led to a number of international tours."

Even as a Form 3 student, one master commented that Aron was "a very good musician - he will have this as his occupation, no doubt", with his Form 6 Music master saying that he was "a brilliant jazz musician with huge potential" and that he would have international success in music composition.

Now based in Berlin, Aron composes and produces an EP every six months. His style of music mixes jazz with roots, Caribbean and Afro-beats, to name a few genres. He has collaborated with a range of artists, included Senegalese percussionist Bakane Seck (featuring Grammy nominee Baaba Maal from Black Panther), and Puerto Rico based ÌFÉ.

Two current student members of the Jazz Combo were fortunate enough to perform with Aron at the Musical Extravaganza, the last of the performance evenings on Thursday 23 May. Senior Prefect Ben Lerner (on alto saxophone) and Form 6 student Tivoli Levi (on drums) performed "No Kai Blues, written by Aron and featured fellow Old Boy Mat Fieldes '85 on the bass, a fantastic opportunity for the two budding musicians.