Marilyn and Edwina

The two women first met at the Cambridge Music School one summer in the early 1970's. Edwina was a schoolgirl playing trumpet, Marilyn, slightly older, sang soprano in the Early Music Consort.

Marilyn went on to become the youngest Member of Parliament in New Zealand, and is now professor of Public Policy at AUT University in Auckland. Edwina graduated from the prestigious Berkley School of Music in the United States with a Bachelor of Music and is called 'New Zealand's Premier Lady of Jazz'.

Thirty years after their first meeting the two women have got together to perform jazz…. Dr Marilyn Waring voice, Edwina Thorne trumpet and voice.

Marilyn trained in singing at Victoria University and England, and was doing a Bachelor of Music until she was selected to stand as National candidate for Raglan in 1975. 'Once I was in parliament', she says, 'the music had to go because there was no time to practice'.

Edwina says the two met on and off, and then at an all woman concert marking the closure of that famous performance venue 'TheGlue-Pot Tavern' in Ponsonby. Edwina then suggested they should perform together. Now the pair have performed in Bangkok, the Whangarei Jazz festival, and are in demand at private gigs.

For Spectrum, David Steemson spends time with Marilyn and Edwina.