Photo credit: Paul R Grove Photography
Brass Breakout Jazz Orchestra & Froxfield Choir re-invigorate a Duke Ellington masterpiece at the Petersfield Musical Festival
There is no doubt that the USA was the breeding ground of major jazz artists. These included Billy Strayhorn, Johnny Mercer, Cootie Williams, Artie Shaw, trumpeter Kenny Baker, Earle Hagen and Patrick Williams, and up there with the greatest of all time was Edward Kennedy ‘Duke’ Ellington. And so, on Saturday evening, the sold-out audience at the Petersfield Musical Festival was treated to a concert featuring music by these jazz legends.
This was, as they say, a game of two halves. The first forty or so minutes was presented by the spectacular Brass Breakout Jazz Orchestra, an ensemble made up of many of the best players in the South, well known to jazz aficionados in the Portsmouth area. All the musicians in the band can strut their stuff brilliantly as soloists, and most of them got a chance to prove just that in this section of the concert. We heard star-turns from the trumpets, trombones, piano, tenor and alto saxes and clarinet, and when they weren’t the leading light, they settled back into this always tight ensemble, recreating that 1940s big-band sound which never fails to please.
Brass Breakout, directed by Jan Zawada, goes to great lengths to produce authentic sounds, and many of the arrangements have been painstakingly transcribed from original manuscript copies. The repertoire was mostly connected to Duke Ellington, and the evening kicked off with Take the ‘A’ Train, his signature tune, taking us on a journey planned so as to contrast lively numbers against gentler standards, including Satin Doll and In a Sentimental Mood. Their set ended with Just one of those things from Patrick Williams’ celebrated Sinatraland vinyl album, followed by a rip-roaring rendition of Here Comes the Bull, which featured a long and virtuosic solo on drum kit.
There was a significant change of gear after the interval. As the programme informed us, in the last years of his life Ellington wrote ‘three tremendous works that combined jazz, classical music, choral music, spirituals, gospel, blues and dance’, calling them his ‘Sacred Concerts’ and performing them in churches and cathedrals worldwide. He considered them the most important things he had ever done. Nowadays, performances are rare, though these compilations have been adapted and presented most often by Youth orchestras and choirs. On this occasion, the musicians performed a 1993 version which combines the works and is called ‘Sacred Concert’ – it gives choir and brass band equal prominence.
The vocal element was provided by the ever-enthusiastic Froxfield Choir, with soprano solos added by Gloria Miller, all accompanied by Brass Breakout. An American-style jazz band accompanying a choir drawn from the South of England may sound like a mis-match, and to be honest, it took a little time for the sonorities of these very distinct groups to meld. The vocal intonation was initially insecure, and the dynamic balance between the band and the chorus took a while to settle. Nevertheless, by the time we got to Freedom these issues were resolved. The singers took on the persona of a gospel choir convincingly, with some even swaying and rocking in time to the swing idioms offered up by the band.
This was music of real variety, sometimes with the full band providing the accompaniment, sometimes only the rhythm section underpinning the chorus. Soprano Gloria Miller, accompanied by solo piano, came up with the most magical, wordless sounds, which brought to mind Messiaen’s use of the Ondes Martenot in his Turangalila- I suspect Duke Ellington knew the Symphony.
Quite the most extraordinary part of the evening, which prompted the gentleman sitting by me to say to his friend, ‘I wasn’t expecting that!’ was the inclusion of a tap dancer. The engaging and celebrated performer, Michael Lin, produced a breath-taking display, accompanied by the choir and the band, and he returned at the very end of the evening as part of the Finale which featured everyone on the stage.
This was a lengthy concert, finishing just before 10 pm, but it was engaging throughout, and if you get the opportunity to hear Ellington’s Sacred Concert yourself, you should jump at the chance. Saturday’s audience left the Festival Hall with beaming smiles on their faces.
Peter Rhodes
