SNJO celebrates in style with Corea tribute
Friday, February 28, 2003
Scottish saxophonist Tommy Smith has put together an ambitious project to celebrate the tenth anniversary of the Scottish National Jazz Orchestra next month.
It takes the form of a tribute to Chick Corea and takes place during the Edinburgh International Jazz Festival at the Hub on 30 July. Featuring Corea band member drummer Gary Novak as a guest with the orchestra, Smith has commisioned a number of jazz musicians to arrange works by Corea. Geoff Keezer, Joe Locke, Mario Caribe, Christian Jacob, Florian Ross and Smith himself are among the musicians who have worked on Corea pieces such as 'Eternal Child', 'Crystal Silence', 'Humpty Dumpty', 'Tones For Jones' Bones' and 'Spain'.
The orchestra gave its first concerts at major jazz festivals in Scotland in the mid 1990s and has helped develop the local jazz scene with ambitious programmes and guest collaborators who have included John Dankworth, Bobby Watson, Peter King, Kenny Wheeler and Jim Mullen over the years. New works have also provided a core part of the orchestra's repertoire with John Taylor and Keith Tippett just two of the writers who have worked with the SNJO. Smith has also pioneered the perfomance of jazz classics such as Porgy and Bess and Sketches of Spain, Ellington's Shakespeare Suite and rare Billy Strayhorn works.
The orchestra gave its first concerts at major jazz festivals in Scotland in the mid 1990s and has helped develop the local jazz scene with ambitious programmes and guest collaborators who have included John Dankworth, Bobby Watson, Peter King, Kenny Wheeler and Jim Mullen over the years. New works have also provided a core part of the orchestra's repertoire with John Taylor and Keith Tippett just two of the writers who have worked with the SNJO. Smith has also pioneered the perfomance of jazz classics such as Porgy and Bess and Sketches of Spain, Ellington's Shakespeare Suite and rare Billy Strayhorn works.