The Spirit of Jazz: SNJO's 2022/23 season

As the summer days start to dwindle, the Scottish National Jazz Orchestra (SNJO) is giving us something to look forward to with the launch of their gorgeous 2022/23 programme, celebrating some of the genre’s past greats as well as some rising stars. What’s more, they’re making their forthcoming season accessible to all by way of their amazing concession rates, with those under 30 eligible for £10 tickets, under 25s eligible for £5 tickets and under 16s eligible for free tickets.

It’s an exciting time for jazz in Scotland, with exceptional talent everywhere we look, from 2022 Mercury Prize-nominated jazz pianist Fergus McCreadie to producer and label boss Rebecca Vasmant via singer-songwriter Georgia Cécile, all soon to surely become household names. It should come as no surprise, then, that the SNJO too features some of the country’s greatest players. Founded in 1995 by multi-award winning Edinburgh saxophonist Tommy Smith, the SNJO Director is joined in the orchestra by the likes of up-and-coming trombonists Anoushka Nanguy (Glitch41, Noushy 4tet), winner of the Rising Star award at the 2020 Scottish Jazz Awards and Liam Shortall (corto.alto, Tom McGuire & The Brassholes, Glitch41), winner of the Scottish New Innovation in Jazz award at the 2021 Scottish Awards for New Music.

Given the ongoing nature of the pandemic, the SNJO’s 2022/23 season will focus primarily on UK artists and will kick off this September with three special performances of Where Rivers Meet, an album released by the SNJO earlier this year celebrating the music of four of America’s most revered saxophonists: Albert Ayler, Ornette Coleman, Anthony Braxton and Dewey Redman. The performances will take place at The Queen’s Hall, Edinburgh (29 Sep), Queen’s Cross Church, Aberdeen (30 Sep) and Glasgow Royal Concert Hall (1 Oct), with Smith joined each evening by fellow sax players Konrad Wiszniewski, Martin Kershaw and Adam Jackson.

“These are new arrangements by long-time associates of the orchestra, Geoff Keezer, Paul Harrison, Paul Towndrow and myself,” Smith tells us. “Familiar themes include the ballad The Very Thought of You, the spiritual Goin’ Home, which informed Dvorak’s New World Symphony, and even When the Saints Go Marching In. We have a ball playing The Saints and hope the audiences will enjoy it as much as we do.”

Later in the year, another of America’s greats, jazz pianist Duke Ellington will be celebrated with In the Spirit of Duke, taking place at The Queen’s Hall, Edinburgh (1 Dec), Laidlaw Music Centre, St Andrews (2 Dec) and Glasgow Royal Concert Hall (3 Dec). Featuring music from the SNJO’s internationally acclaimed 2012 recording of the same name, the SNJO promise a truly authentic experience as they vow to transport you back in time. “It is important to bring audiences as close to the Ellington orchestra sound and experience as possible as many people never saw him play live,” Smith says, “which means meticulous attention to every last detail, including recreating the Ellington stage set-up, the choreography, limiting the sound to a more acoustic quality, using specially sourced period mutes and playing scores that, in some cases, were specially transcribed from Ellington performances.”

In the new year, the season is set to celebrate talent that’s closer to home, with music from Georgia Cécile, winner of Best Album at the 2021 Scottish Jazz Awards. While this won’t be the first time the Glaswegian has performed with the orchestra (she guested with them in December 2021), this tour will be the SNJO’s first full collaboration with her. “I found the experience so powerful and uplifting,” says Smith of that December performance, “that I decided to commission a full concert of new music from Georgia and Euan Stevenson, her co-composer and arranger.”

Performing across four nights at Eden Court, Inverness (23 Feb), The Queen’s Hall, Edinburgh (24 Feb), Glasgow Royal Concert Hall (25 Feb) and Perth Concert Hall (26 Feb), Cécile tells us of her excitement: “This concert series will be a special joining of forces, with my original songs being arranged in this way for the first time. It has always been a dream of mine to sing them with a jazz orchestra and I’m very excited to hear them in this context.”

Completing the SNJO’s 2022/23 season is a series featuring newly commissioned music from Gwilym Simcock, taking place at The Queen’s Hall, Edinburgh (27 Apr), Glasgow Royal Concert Hall (28 Apr), Gardyne Theatre, Dundee (29 Apr) and Music Hall, Aberdeen (30 Apr, aka International Jazz Day). Hailing from Bangor in North Wales, the jazz pianist and composer won the Rising Star award at both the BBC Jazz Awards and British Jazz Awards in 2005, later going on to receive a Mercury Prize nomination for his 2011 album Good Days at Schloss Elmau. “When I heard Gwilym live playing a solo piano concert, I was transfixed by his sheer genius and loved every minute,” Smith says.

“It’s fantastic to have the opportunity to write for such a brilliant, world-famous ensemble,” Simcock tells us. “As a composer, you want your music realised to the highest level, so I’m extremely excited to create this programme of music, especially for the SNJO.”