NYJO provides an opportunity for gifted young musicians from around the UK to perform big band jazz in major concert halls, theatres, and on radio and television, and to make recordings, commission new works from British composers and arrangers, and to introduce a love of jazz to as wide an audience as possible, but especially to schoolchildren.
The performing band is selected by audition and invitation, and has a maximum age of 25. It performs around 40 gigs a year across the UK, the vast majority involving additional inspirational educational workshops for local schoolchildren, in partnership with the local Music Hub. It rehearses every Saturday at Woolwich Works, part of Woolwich's Royal Arsenal Riverside complex.
For this July concert NYJO have created the The Blue Note Legacy programme: an opportunity to write and arrange big band scores from the wealth of material created by the greatest jazz record label of the 20th century.
NYJO will be playing music by Thelonius Monk – including “Round Midnight” and “Well You Needn’t” ; more recent compositions from Herbie Hancock, such as “Maiden Voyage” and “Dolphin Dance”, along with songs including Hoagy Carmichael’s “Skylark” and (made famous by Doris Day) Harry Warren’s “Lullaby of Broadway” – both recorded on Blue Note by Diane Reeves, and many more.
This will be a wonderful opportunity for our audience to enjoy the music of brilliant young musicians who are the stars of tomorrows jazz scene.
