Although born in Long Island, New York, Nigel has long been a featured player in New Zealand’s eclectic music scene, particularly in Auckland. He has played guitar, banjo, mandolin, bass, glissentar – indeed, almost anything with strings – with the Nairobi Trio, the Fondue Set, the Jews Brothers, Lorina Harding, Wayne Gillespie, Whirimako Black, Richard Adams, Caitlin Smith, the Blue Bottom Stompers, Below the Bassline, Jonathan Besser’s Bravura and his own Snorkel, amongst others.

An active and keen mentor to young artists, Nigel founded and directed the guitar-ensemble concept bands Gitbox and Gitbox Rebellion (which, in turn, have produced some fine guitarists of their own). They were met with much interest and success.

In 1990, he received an invitation from Robert Fripp (of King Crimson fame) to travel to the US in order to teach the latter’s own guitar ensemble, Guitarcraft, some of his Gitbox techniques and material. Following this international collaboration, he was hired to tour the world with them, giving concerts and workshops, as well as working on several of their albums.

While his skills as an accompanist inevitably lift and enrich any project he is asked to contribute to, the core of Gavin’s work can be found on the four solo albums he has composed and interpreted in various settings over the past 18 years. His original compositions are a cross-cultural and interstellar combination of a vast variety of musical traditions and philosophical influences.

Nigel’s beloved acoustic seven-string guitar was handmade from kauri by the master luthier Laurie Williams. He has also been known to play a glissentar – an 11-string, fretless, acoustic instrument which is a deeply resonant oud-like variation on the guitar.