Beauty and the Beast: A CD Review
“…a magnificent achievement by all concerned.” Part 1: After a Kentonesque intro (had Kenton still been around) Bill Evans, who isn’t a reincarnated pianist nor an aka Yusef Lateef, erupts on soprano. This is definitely the Beast. Part 2: A change from major to minor mood suggests that the beast is eying up a young […]
A Christmas Festival of Jazz: A Review
A Christmas Festival of Jazz with the SNJO and TSYJO They better watch out, better not cry, better not pout because, as the song doesn’t go on to say, the next generation might be after their jobs. There was no sense of anti-climax in the “feeder team” – the Tommy Smith Youth Jazz Orchestra – […]
The Songs of Mancini and Mandel
Award-winning master vibraphonist Joe Locke and singer extraordinaire, Kenny Washington join the Scottish National Jazz Orchestra to weave their unique spell around the timeless songbooks of Henry Mancini and Johnny Mandel.
Porgy & Bess and Sketches of Spain
Miles Davis and Gil Evans gifted Porgy & Bess and Sketches of Spain to jazz as vibrant, sultry and enormously satisfying pieces of modern music including such tracks as Summertime and It Ain’t Necessarily So.
The Legend of Charlie Parker: Herald Review
Preservation and renewal were at the heart of this excellent celebration of one of jazz’s major pioneering figures. In the sixty-one years since his death, many have sought to capture Charlie Parker’s spirit. His tunes are still rites of passage for jazz players, and not just for those who take up his chosen instrument, the […]
The Legend of Charlie Parker: Scotsman Review
The past few years have seen the Scottish National Jazz Orchestra consolidate their international status and eclectically adventurous repertoire, having their sweet way with a Mozart piano, deconstructing Gershwin’s Rhapsody in Blue, collaborating fruitfully with American singers and Scandinavian bassists and, just this month, releasing yet another live concert album, this time recorded with US […]
The Tommy Smith Youth Jazz Orchestra: Winter concerts
The Tommy Smith Youth Jazz Orchestra is delighted to be returning to The Tolbooth, Stirling in an afternoon of jazz with festive numbers and a few other surprises!
The Jazz Legacy of Charles Mingus: A 5* Review
Of all the many hours of music that the Scottish National Jazz Orchestra has played and shared over the past twenty-one years it’s the ensemble’s affinity with Charles Mingus that’s the most striking. The orchestra celebrated this most characterful of jazzmen’s work in the early years of this century with a firecracker of a concert […]
Beauty And The Beast feat. Bill Evans
The SNJO are delighted to announce that our latest CD, Beauty And The Beast featuring Bill Evans has just been released on the Spartacus Record label.
The Tommy Smith Youth Jazz Orchestra: Autumn concerts
The Tommy Smith Youth Jazz Orchestra is once again delighted to return in a series of concerts with a new line up of endless talent, improvisational skills, exuberance and verve.
