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Adrian Tilbrook told me in advance that Issie Barrett's scores were challenging - he may have used an earthier description - and he was right! Fortunately, the VOTNJO boys proved themselves up to the occasion and the result was, for me, a landmark not just in local or even British Jazz but big band jazz without frontiers.
Ms Barrett, who not only composed and arranged her scores but also used her full body language to conduct them, is without doubt one of the most outstanding writers in the jazz field and, no doubt, beyond.
At times, the ensemble sounded as if Ellington had arranged something by Schoenberg for the Kenton Band. The power of the brass, often voiced atonally, contrasted with the harmonic variations from within the sax sections whilst punched along by a rhythm section that rarely saw four beats in any one bar and yet, in a roundabout sort of way, it swung!
Not to be outdone, VOTNJO leader John Warren's own comps and arrangements also drew the best from the orchestra. Lew Watson's tenor solo on JJ's "Lament" - a moment of beauty - was a case in point. However, it is unfair of me to single any one player out - this was a team effort and, as such, all were deserving of the highest of accolades.
Sunday November 23rd
12.00 noon - 3.00pm
JAZZ @ THE GEORGIAN
Green Dragon Yard, Stockton on Tees
Doors open 12.00 noon admn £6.00/£5.00 advance
Tickets & info 01642 674115 Full card service available at our box office; telephone bookings and face to face sales
buy tickets on-line from www.teesmusicalliance.org.uk or www.seetickets.com
credit/debit card sales will incur a booking fee
'World premiere of "Noneffency" by Issie Barratt Commissioned by Jazz Action for the VOTN.
With a reputation as one of the best jazz orchestras in the UK the 'Voice Of The North' has worked with some of the most creative composers and soloists in the world, including John Surman, Bob Mintzer, Tommy Smith, Andy Sheppard, Tim Garland, Mark Nightingale, Steve Waterman, Michael Garrick and its resident musical director John Warren. For this very special concert VOTN has commissioned a brand new piece of music from innovative composer Issie Barratt.
Issie Barratt is an internationally active composer, conductor, arranger, baritone sax player and educator, who has performed at a majority of Britain’s leading concert halls, jazz clubs and festivals.
Known for her commitment to composing works that forge creative relationships between musicians from the orchestral and jazz worlds, Issie has been awarded commissions by the Philharmonia Orchestra, Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment, 4th Dimension String Quartet, Delta Sax Quartet, Vortex Foundation Big Band, Conservatoires UK Big Band and more recently Sweden’s Bohuslän Big Band and UK’s Voice of the North; was twice awarded funds from both The PRS Foundation for New Music and Youth Music and was featured as one of the Jerwood Foundation’s Rising Stars in the Cheltenham Jazz Festival of 2001.
www.issiebarratt.com
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