Youth & Jazz

National Youth Choirs of Great Britain and the National Youth Jazz Collective

Barbican 25 April

Jerry Westall

I have just witnessed just over 200 14-18 year olds singing in a wonderful choir together with ten jazz musicians of the same age. They were performing to a packed enthusiastic audience at the Barbican on Easter Monday and being there was an unforgettable experience.

There were three interpretations of Duke Ellington numbers: a lively ‘Drop me off in Harlem’, a superb ‘Mood Indigo’ and a short ‘Come Sunday’. There was a lovely, dreamy ‘Lil’ Darlin’, Neal Hefti’s composition for Count Basie, Irving Berlin’s ‘Steppin out with my baby!’ and a surprisingly accessible Kenny Wheeler melody ‘Breugel’. New compositions included Issie Barratt’s ‘Some folk do say’ in a world premiere, Dominic Peckham’s lively ‘Mash’d’, Karl Jenkins ‘Scatty!’ and Peter Churchill’s ‘Expectation’.

In most cases the composers themselves conducted either the full Choir, or sections of it.

After just one intense week together the pick of Britain’s accomplished young singers embraced jazz music with enthusiasm and extraordinary ability, although at times a more relaxed looseness would have improved the jazz empathy. On occasions the sounds were quite beautiful as with ‘Mood Indigo’, arranged by Peter Churchill. The Duke would have been overjoyed at a fresh generation singing this lovely composition with such discipline and tunefulness.

The Choir were accompanied by the National Youth Jazz Collective, a handpicked band from among the best of today’s young talent. They were both solid in complementing the Choir and startling with individual talent. There were some all too brief solo vocals, signalling some truly outstanding performers who could sing with most jazz outfits in the land. Julian Joseph, a vice-President and a Trustee of the National Youth Jazz Collective introduced most of the music, shedding a few years at one time to join the Collective in a fine piano solo.

For any open minded person this was an enthralling experience. In this context Ellington is a key figure, within jazz where he links the major streams of the music and in the wider world where he entices the classically trained enthusiast.

My personal fancy would be to widen the jazz framework. It might include something from Jelly Roll Morton – perhaps my favourite ‘Sweet Substitue’ - or even some New Orleans sounds with tunes like ‘Didn’t he Ramble’ or ‘St James Infirmary’. Perhaps a Mahalia Jackson gospel song or a composition from Abdullah Ibrahim would give other perspectives.

Karl Jenkins sums up my feelings completely when he writes: ‘In these days of ‘dumbing down’ and crass TV reality shows the National Youth Choir’s pursuit of musical excellence is a lesson to those in government and elsewhere that there are pockets of today’s youth that are to be admired, cherished and extolled’. That there are such youngsters flourishing answers the despair of those who worry about the continuance of jazz in this country.