Jeff completed his Bachelor of Music degree at the prestigious Berklee College of Music in Boston where he majored in Contemporary Writing and Production. After completing his studies he worked in a range of areas of the music industry, including writing music for the television show NOVA for PBS, and the films Silver City, No.2 Pencil and Chompers. He also worked as an audio engineer both live and in the studio and contributed to a number of albums for local artists either as a producer, co-writer, arranger or guitarist.  

Upon returning to New Zealand Jeff completed a Master of Music degree in composition and then a PhD at Waikato University. Jeff's PhD focused on trip hop music and included detailed musical analysis of the "Bristol Sound" pioneered by artists such as Portishead, Massive Attack, and Tricky. The creative component of his PhD thesis drew influence from these artists and consisted of compositions that honoured the downtempo, lo-fi aesthetic of the Bristol Sound while simultaneously incorporating compositional techniques from classical music, blending these two musical worlds together. Jeff released these compositions as the EP 'End of Season' under the moniker Massenai, and the written dissertation can be found here. Jeff has also written scholarly articles about Trip Hop for Organised Sound and Popular Music, published by Cambridge University Press.  

Jeff has worked extensively as a music educator in a number of capacities. He was the Programme Manager of the Music and Audio Institute of New Zealand (MAINZ) in Auckland, overseeing programmes of study in Music, Audio, DJ, Live Sound/Lighting, and Foundation studies. Prior to that he was the Programme Manager for the School of Music at the Southern Institute of Technology where he led the development and implementation of a redesigned Bachelor of Contemporary Music degree. He also helped develop and teach songwriting classes as well as teaching classes in music theory at Waikato University.  

In addition to composing music and teaching, Jeff remains active as a performing guitarist, bassist, and keyboardist, primarily in musical theatre productions including, Hands on a Hard Body, The Last Five Years, and The Quest. 

Phone: + 64 27 478 8089 
Email: jeffswragg@gmail.com