The TSYJO: December Concerts

The Tommy Smith Youth Jazz Orchestra is delighted to help start your festive season with two afternoon concerts of swinging jazz.  Playing two new venues for the orchestra, we start in Glasgow at The Renfield Centre and then travel to Leith Theatre in Edinburgh for concerts that will feature a fantastic line up of young musicians

The TSYJO: October Concerts

The Tommy Smith Youth Jazz Orchestra is delighted to open their autumn season at the Roxy Theatre, Edinburgh for the first time and then to return to the Drygate, Glasgow for concerts that feature a fantastic line up of young musicians, each showing endless talent, improvisational skills, exuberance and verve.

Jazz Re-Imagined: A well deserved 5* Review

Scottish National Jazz Orchestra – “Jazz Re-Imagined” with Florian Ross brought to The Queen’s Hall Edinburgh a selection of music from the songbooks of Jazz masters.   With music arranged and conducted by Florian Ross, they explored the re-imagined musical worlds of John Coltrane, Wayne Shorter, Chick Corea, Charlie Parker, Michael Brecker,

Jazz Re-Imagined: a Review

For its penultimate project of 2018 the SNJO turned the focus on the art of arrangement with one of the orchestra’s most frequent collaborators, Florian Ross. The Cologne-based pianist and composer’s assignments have included re-orchestrating the great Scottish tenor saxophonist, Bobby Wellins’ previously neglected Culloden Moor Suite, the haunting epilogue of which featured here, and […]

Jazz Re-Imagined: Florian Ross on reimagining jazz classics for the SNJO

Being “creative in disguise” is the way to do it, according to celebrated jazz composer and arranger Florian Ross, who joins the Scottish National Jazz Orchestra for a three-venue showcase of the arranger’s art entitled Jazz Re-Imagined. The Cologne-based pianist – his surname may sound Scots but is derived from old German for “horse” – first […]

The Count & The Duke

The Count & The Duke

It’s time to swing again, as the SNJO celebrate jazz legends Count Basie and Duke Ellington. Pivotal to the evolution of orchestral jazz, Basie and Ellington created music that defined an era. The SNJO have chosen to feature two of their landmark albums in this concert, The Atomic Mr Basie and Ellington’s Black, Brown & Beige.

Kenny Wheeler’s Sweet Sister Suite

SNJO Sweet Sister Suite

The Scottish National Jazz Orchestra are delighted to announce that our CD,  Sweet Sister Suite featuring Laura Jurd and Irini Arabatzi is  available to purchase on the Spartacus Record label.

A New Chapter In Jazz from SNJO: Kenny Wheeler’s ‘Sweet Sister Suite’

The history of jazz is littered with tales of unsung heroes and overlooked genius. It could be argued that trumpeter and composer, the late Kenny Wheeler was one such musician. He moved almost invisibly through the mainstream milieu, yet, he was universally admired by his peers for his important contributions to jazz composition.

A great Review for our latest CD: Kenny Wheeler’s “Sweet Sister Suite”

In 1996, the Scottish National Jazz Orchestra’s director, Tommy Smith commissioned the late Kenny Wheeler to write a suite which, some twenty years on, has been recorded by the seventeen-piece big band. Joining the all-star line-up on this Spartacus Records’ album are Laura Jurd (trumpet) and Irini Arabatzi (voice).

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