This event was part of the 2010 programme

Thursday 27th May 2010

19:30

Perth Concert Hall

The Scottish National Jazz Orchestra's Rhapsody in Blue takes George Gershwin's classic jazz age concerto on an unprecedented adventure. Re-orchestrated by SNJO director, saxophonist Tommy Smith, this Rhapsody in Blue of the twenty-first century was written to feature Scotland's world class jazz pianist Brian Kellock, who played the original Rhapsody as a music student in Edinburgh in 1981. Familiar themes, including the iconic clarinet glissando and Gershwin's heartbreaking nostalgic refrain, have been used - respectfully - as source material and reworked into a fifty-two minute epic that flows through exciting uptempo movements, rhapsodic blues passages, a sensational Cuban fantasia and hard swinging jazz choruses, showcasing SNJO's magnificent ensemble playing and top class, creative soloing.

"taking Gershwin full-bloodedly into the modern era" The Herald "TOMMY Smith is not one to do things by half measures."The Scotsman

The Scottish National Jazz Orchestra's Rhapsody in Blue takes George Gershwin's classic jazz age concerto on an unprecedented adventure. Re-orchestrated by SNJO director, saxophonist Tommy Smith, this Rhapsody in Blue of the twenty-first century was written to feature Scotland's world-class jazz pianist Brian Kellock, who played the original Rhapsody as a music student in Edinburgh in 1981. Familiar themes, including the iconic clarinet glissando and Gershwin's heartbreaking nostalgic refrain, have been used - respectfully - as source material and reworked into a fifty-two minute epic that flows through exciting up-tempo movements, rhapsodic blues passages, a sensational Cuban fantasia and hard swinging jazz choruses, showcasing SNJO's magnificent ensemble playing and top class, creative soloing. THE INDEPENDENT PHIL JOHNSON (5 stars)

Heard at the Brecon Jazz Festival three years ago, this seemed an absolute model for big-band projects, with Tommy Smith's re-orchestration of Gershwin's original played with love and passion by a very young group, and piano soloist Brian Kellock showing his genius for differing idioms throughout. The recording (from Edinburgh's Queen's Hall) takes a few minutes to get going but once you dig in, there's a continual round of treats as the hour ticks by. The standout is Smith's brilliant invention of an Afro-Cuban section, horns blazing. THE SCOTSMAN KENNY MATHIESON (4 stars)

Sponsors of Perth Festival of the Arts