Gwilym Simcock,

The Mercury nomination is sure to raise Gwilym’s profile – previously both Led Bib and Kit Downes received increased attention as a result of their nominations. Gwilym is appearing at the Brit-Jazz Fest in Ronnie Scott’s on 11th August in a double header with Stephano D’Silva.

Congratulations to her for being the winner of the Big Band category in the Dankworth Prize for Jazz Composition 2011. Laura is in her second year studying jazz trumpet and composition at Trinity Laban and has been awarded the prize for her new composition ‘La Danza de la Selva’.

A diverse musician, she plays and writes a wide variety of music, drawing upon classical, jazz, folk and pop influences. Laura has particular interests in jazz and contemporary classical composition, studying with trumpet player Chris Batchelor and composer Issie Barratt. She has also studied with jazz trumpet player Steve Waterman, principle trumpet of the Philharmonia Orchestra, Mark David and composers Martin Read and Errollyn Wallen. Influenced by the likes of Stravinsky, Messiaen and Bartok as well as Miles Davis, John Coltrane and the current European improvised music scene, Laura is currently working with a string quartet and improvising musicians, in a project which combines elements of classical composition and improvisation.

As a trumpet player Laura can be found playing with a number of ensembles as well as NYJO, including Tomorrow’s Warrior’s Jazz Orchestra and the London Soundpainting Orchestra. She also leads her own newly founded quartet which can be found playing jazz venues around London and the South East.

Laura’s piece will be premiered by Trinity Laban’s Contemporary Jazz Ensemble at the legendary Ronnie Scott’s on 15 February as part of a special concert featuring the music of Duke Ellington. The ensemble will also premiere November’s Song by Alex Roth from the Royal Academy of Music, which won the Small Band category.

To book tickets for the Ronnie Scott’s performance,
please contact their Box Office on 020 8463 0100 (tickets cost £15 – £28)

The band will be performing 5 new commissions as the ‘5445’ series in the first set.

The ‘5445’ series is largely funded by the PRS for Music Foundation and was commissioned to celebrate the 45^th Anniversary of NYJO. Five pieces of new music were written by Julian Arguelles, Tim Garland, Mike Gibbs, Nikki Iles and Jason Yarde. The band rehearsed with each of the composers and they can’t wait to play the new work in public for the first time at Ronnie’s on 3^rd January.

New commissions:

Julian Arguelles           Fort Worth

Tim Garland                Dawn before Dark before Dawn

Mike Gibbs                  In the Scheme of Things

Nikki Iles                      Hush

Jason Yarde                Sub Hub Hubbub

The second set will feature Mark Armstrong’s ‘Solstice Suite’ and/or a selection of NYJO favourites written and arranged by previous and current members of the band.

Tickets can be purchased direct from Ronnie Scott’s.

As a special discount, 20% off is available for the 4 January if customers mention NYJO discount before booking.

The band personnel:

Callum Au (Trombone 1)

Alex Paxton (Trombone 2)

Peter Whitehouse (Trombone 3)

Ross Anderson (Trombone 4)

Barry Clements (Bass Trombone )

Anna Drysdale (French Horn)

Tom Stone (Tenor 1)

Nadim Teimoori (Tenor 2)

Lucas Dodd (Alto 1);

Simon Marsh (Alto 2)

Ben Mallinder (Baritone Sax)

Helen Wilson (Flute);

Tom Walsh (Trumpet 1)

Rob Greenwood (Trumpet 2)

Mark Perry (Trumpet 3)

Laura Jurd (Trumpet 4)

Reuben Fowler (Trumpet 5)

Chris Eldred (Piano)

Dave Elliott (Percussion)

Rob Luft (Guitar)

Sandy Suchodolski (Bass)

Scott Chapman (Drums)

Emma Smith (voice)

Kwabena Adjepong (voice)

Music Directors

Mark Armstrong

Bill Ashton OBE

Are you young, gifted and jazz?

If you are an established young jazz musician who would like to take part in some personal development and teach some younger musicians how to play in a big band at the same time….one of the four available positions could be yours…

Take a look at the MusicLeader trainee job description for more details.

If you are interested in applying please e-mail fiona@nyjo.org.uk

Leader of the LVP choir and famed educator and arranger Pete Churchill often provides advice to NYJO, so we were interested to find out what effect Kwabena’s and Emma’s involvement with the Bobby McFerrin project had had on them and, looking back, how they saw their contribution to this famous gospel jazz groove collective.

Q. How were you approached/did you get involved with the London Vocal Project?

Kwabena Adjepong: Up until the beginning of the Bobby McFerrin project I’d not been able to join the LVP, because I rehearsed with another choir on the same day. Thankfully this opportunity gave me enough reason to join, at least temporarily, and work on this great music. Pete Churchill called me to let me know that LVP would be doing the gig and I just knew I had to go for it.

Emma Smith: I was approached by Pete Churchill, my teacher at the Royal Academy, to sing with the LVP in December 2009. I started as a soprano but gladly became an alto for Bobby’s gig.

Q. Was this your first public performance with the LVP as a group?

KA. Yes it was my first performance with the LVP. The group ordinarily do groove jazz and gospel material for their gigs but I was thrown in at the deep end when I joined – most of Roger Treece’s (the man who composed, arranged and recorded the material on Bobby McFerrin’s album) music consisted of unfamiliar words and syllables. I felt like I was learning another language.

ES. In the short time I’ve been with the LVP I have performed at the 606 Club, Pizza Express Dean Street, Fairfield Halls in Croydon and taken part in Christmas concerts and school workshops.

Q. How long were you rehearsing before the Bobby McFerrin event?

KA. We rehearsed for about three months before the gig. The rehearsals were extended (between 3¹/₂ to 4 hours long) and we had bass, tenor, alto and soprano sectionals outside of rehearsal time to concentrate on our specific sounds. It was intense.

ES. We calculated over 60 hours of rehearsal time before the gig and that’s not including extra sectionals. Roger Treece, the composer of all the music on the new album, came and spent three days rehearsing with us before the gig and it was an incredible experience to spend time with the man who actually wrote this music! The concept of ‘Circle Songs’ (the improvised choral music which Bobby did a touch of on the gig) was introduced by Roger and we spent a long time with him exploring the different texture tonalities and time feels that can be created through this technique.

Q. Did you have much interaction with Bobby before the concert?

KA. We saw Bobby at around 5:30pm on the day of the gig – such is the on-the-hoof nature of his style. I can’t say many of us talked to him but I was quite content with just being in his presence. He is just ridiculously good.

ES. Playing at The Barbican was amazing, everything was so professional (and they fed us!) Bobby McFerrin was great and is always an inspiration and it’s a shame that we did not get chance to rehearse the music any deeper than a sound check with him, although the time we spent with Roger was worth the months of rehearsal!

Q. Have you ever performed at the Barbican before? What gave it the extra buzz?

KA. I’ve never performed at the Barbican before. It’s special because when you watch performances at The Barbican, the Royal Festival Hall or other venues of repute you never imagine, even for a second, that you might end up performing on the stage. It leaves me speechless even to think about it. Also, the sound check adds another dimension to the whole experience – it’s scary! The soundmen have very honest comments about how you sound when you sing into the microphone: good or bad. It’s then that you realise you have to perform better than you have ever performed.

ES. The Bobby gig was the BEST musical experience of my life so far. The music was so well written by Roger Treece, it was a privilege to sing it.

Q. Has the experience made you think differently about your voice, your direction in music, how you perform as a vocalist?

KA. It has made me think completely about my voice. There are sounds on Bobby McFerrin’s album that I never realised I could or would ever have to make. I suppose you could say it’s added to my library of vocal sounds. It has taught me how to get extra musicality out of a phrase and how to get more meaning out of words. There were not many English words in the music but I think a lot of the music and the syllables we sung were chosen to signify certain emotions. It’s probably worth listening to ‘Messages’ or ‘Brief Eternity’ to understand that a bit better. In addition, singing material this difficult requires you to really memorise it – even if we were reading it on the gig we’d still have to have memorised all the most difficult lines. It’s really not ear-led stuff. I suppose doing this project has increased my ability to learn and improved my musical memory. Also when I consider that, in a way, singing is just muscle memory, it has also helped that as well. Also, as a bass in the choir, my ‘useable’ vocal range shifted downwards about a tone, which I as fairly sure wasn’t possible but you live and you learn. I might start calling myself a Bass. All these factors, plus Bobby’s amazing level of ability lead me to believe that I can really acquire a lot of skills as a singer – skills that I had not thought about acquiring before.

ES. The attention to detail on this music has changed my approach to singing; Roger talked a lot about finding the ‘place in your life’ from where you can create an authentic sound – it has made me think about how much music I just throw away that could be explored deeper.

Q. Who is next on your list of vocalists that you’d like to perform with?

KA. I just have no idea. I would love to work with Roger Treece, who is also an amazing singer as well as composer. To be frank I’d be interested in singing with any singer who has worked as hard as Bobby, Roger, Pete Churchill – people who have worked on their trade. They would have to be people who had skills and ideas to share, and then I’d have a great learning experience as well as an enjoyable time.

ES. I’d love for the LVP to get the chance to work with groups like Take 6 and the New York Voices – that would be great for developing our sound even further.

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Next year NYJO is planning to collaborate on certain projects with the LVP – more news on this exciting 2011 development nearer the time…