Bringing together two big bands from music conservatories on different sides of the Atlantic, and leavening the ensemble with celebrity guests for two days at Abbey Road might seem a daunting prospect. But directors Nick Smart and John Daversa have succeeded in creating an excellent ensemble to interpret the highly individual (yet equally influential) scores of trumpeter, composer and sometime bandleader Kenny Wheeler.

All the ingredients are here that I remember from so many of Kenny’s own concerts and broadcasts, nowhere better exemplified than the title track, the ‘Some Days Are Better Suite’, in which fully-scored passages are interspersed with moments of freedom when, initially, Norma Winstone and Evan Parker, and then Evan with the drums of Ananda Brandão, take off into improvised flights. Yet these performances of Wheeler’s music contain other contrasts as well, not least between the lyricism of Ingrid Jensen’s trumpet and that of Emma Rawicz’s soprano saxophone on the opening ‘Smatta’. Emma also shines on ‘Some Doors Are Better Open’, where she follows the strong, yet lyrical, trumpet of Etienne Charles, who conjures up aspects of Kenny’s own playing, not least in the effortless leaps between registers, although some of his more rapid-fire phrasing takes its own course.

There are new lyrics from Norma Winstone on ‘Sweet Yakity Waltz’ along with dynamic playing from Chris Potter. James Copus’s trumpet work shines on ‘Dallab’ after a fine intro from pianist Shelly Berg, while up-and-coming saxophonist Donovan Haffner stars on ‘Who’s Standing In My Corner?’ I’ve singled out individual players because so much of Wheeler’s work was written with specific people in mind as well as containing fine ensemble writing. Where this project really succeeds is in taking virtually un-played scores from over half a century ago, finding new individual solo voices to fit alongside Wheeler’s own colleagues from the time, Evan and Norma, and bringing the music to life with tremendous verve and confidence. Never does one think this is a student orchestra – it’s a first-rate big band by any measurement.