Jazz review: National Youth Jazz Orchestra of Scotland

Published on Sunday 19 July 2009 22:15

*** QUEEN'S HALL, EDINBURGH

FOR a format that supposedly succumbed to economic pressures by the mid-1940s, the jazz big band has proved remarkably resilient, and has found a particularly viable niche in youth music.

The National Youth Jazz Orchestra of Scotland (an off-shoot of the National Youth Orchestra of Scotland) is one of a number of such bands achieving high standards in Scotland, despite the inevitable rapid turnover of personnel. This line-up, recruited from around the country, came together only this summer but played with conviction and sound ensemble discipline.

The opening set was led by Andrew Bain, while his co-director, Malcolm Edmonstone, took over after the interval. Bain steered the young musicians through a challenging set of arrangements of classic and contemporary jazz, and they coped well.

The rhythm section provided drive and momentum, the horn section was well-integrated, and the various soloists gave the sense that they knew where they were trying to go in articulating their ideas, even where wrong notes crept in.

The second set was devoted to an even greater challenge when they were joined by the guitarist Mike Walker to play arrangements of his complex jazz-funk album Madhouse & The Whole Thing There, released last year.

Edmonstone directed from the keyboard (including cueing various electronic effects and recorded voices), Walker soloed superbly, and the band played with a maturity well beyond their years and limited experience. Kudos all round.