JAZZ ORCHESTRA PROGRAMMES
Below are a collection of our most popular programmes and special projects
For more information please get in touch with our Bookings Manager cameron@nyjo.org.uk
State of the Nation – NEW
State of the Nation is currently in development.
What you can hear…
NYJO takes the opportunity, post-Brexit debate, to take stock of homegrown British jazz.
The British jazz scene has developed a culture of its own in the 100 years since the Southern Syncopated Orchestra and Original Dixieland Jazz Band toured here in 1919, and is now as diverse as our population. This concert will celebrate the big names flying the flag for British jazz today, but also explore how we got here: the Dankworths, Humphry Lyttleton, Ronnie Scott, Afro-Carribbean influences arriving with the Windrush generation, in fact, influences from musical traditions far from jazz and from all around the world. This melting pot of cultural influences has made British jazz what it is today, and we think that’s worth celebrating.
Legends of Jazz
Legends of Jazz is a programme celebrating the greatest jazz classics ever written. Featuring tunes by the indisputable jazz masters, such as Ellington and Monk, explore some landmarks of the jazz canon with NYJO.
What you can hear…
St Louis Blues – W. C. Handy
Such Sweet Thunder – Duke Ellington
First Circle – Pat Metheny
Caravan – Juan Tizol
Know Where You Are – Kenny Wheeler
‘Round Midnight – Thelonious Monk
Groove Merchant – Jerome Richardson
Rockin’ in Rhythm – Ellington, Carney, Mills
“A blazing Proms premiere of Duke Ellington’s 1930 Rockin’ in Rhythm quickly established that NYJO’s collective temperature has gone up.”
John Fordham, Guardian
Female Jazz Icons
Female jazz musicians have long been an important part of the jazz scene, celebrated as singers but often under-represented in other roles. This concert celebrates women’s contributions to jazz through history, from Ella Fitzgerald, trumpeter Valaida Snow and composer and pianist Mary-Lou Williams; to contemporary artists like Maria Schneider, Esperanza Spalding, Nikki Iles, Yazz Ahmed and Mercury nominee Laura Jurd, .
What you can hear…
Feeling Good (made famous by Nina Simone)
That Old Devil Called Love (by Doris Fisher, made famous by Billie Holliday and Alison Moyet)
El Viento (by contemporary US composer Maria Schneider)
Special commissions as part of this theme from UK composers:
Wild Oak – Nikki Iles
No Man Is an Island – Laura Jurd
What is Hip?
What is Hip? is a a programme full of music to make you groove.
From the forties to the naughties, classic tunes by Duke Ellington rub shoulders with hits from Kylie Minogue, Kool & The Gang and Tower of Power in this brilliantly eclectic collection.
What you can hear…
Sub Hub Hubbub – Jason Yarde
Can’t Get You Out Of My Head – Kylie Minogue
Rush Hour – Yellowjackets
Harlem Airshaft –Duke Ellington
Crankmaster General – Stefan Redtenbacher
Open Sesame – Kool & The Gang
London’s Burning – traditional arr. Louis Armstrong
Li’l Darlin – Count Basie
Mama Badgers – Julian Siegel
What is Hip? – Tower of Power
The Great American Songbook
NYJO’s Great American Songbook programme explores the very best jazz standards from the 1920’s – 50’s, with classics from Cole Porter, George Gershwin, Hoagy Carmichael and more.
What you can hear…
My Romance – Rogers and Hart
Embraceable You – George Gershwin
Georgia on My Mind – Carmichael and Gorrell
I’ve Got You Under My Skin – Cole Porter
Here’s That Rainy Day – Van Heusen and Burke
That Old Black Magic – Arlen and Mercer
Lullaby of Broadway – Warren and Dublin
NYJO’s Cool Yule
Listen out for swinging jazz classics and NYJO’s take on popular carols in this special festive programme.
What you can hear…
Sleigh Ride
O Come, O Come Emmanuel
Deck the Halls
Noel Nouvelet
Everybody’s Waiting for the Man with the Bag
The Christmas Song