 Graham McDonald introduces the evening concert
Jacob 'Takes Five'
Lucy solo Bastian solo
Sophie on clarinet
audience enjoy the music
Sam on the drums
Logan on the Double Bass 
Vote of thanks from the Malawi team, bearing gifts to present to the organisers |
| | | Beeslack Jazz Band Concert - 1 February 2020 |
Report and photos - Jim Paterson
Click on the link to hear the music
St.
Mungo's church hall was jumping to the sound of music on Saturday 1
February. The Beeslack high school jazz band entertained the audience
with music from musicals, films, big bands and more. Band leader for
the evening, Graham McDonald, introduced the event,
which was raising funds for Beeslack music department and the Malawi
2020 project that four of the jazz band student members are involved
in. The Malawi group had setup a tombola and raffle, and were providing
the refreshments at the interval.
 The band played a selection of 24 tunes over two sets, including three solo pieces. The first set started off with ‘It Don't Mean a Thing
(If It Ain't Got That Swing)' is a 1931 composition by Duke Ellington,
whose lyrics were written by Irving Mills. It is now accepted as a jazz
standard
This was followed by ‘Opus One',
a popular song, composed in 1943 by Sy Oliver, with lyrics by Sid
Garris. The tune It has become a standard song in the swing, jazz and
big band repertoire.The song was a big hit for the Tommy Dorsey
Orchestra in 1944. Keeping up the pace the band played 'Stompin at the Savoy' a Louis Armstrong number from 1957. Cooling it down, just a little bit we headed 'Downtown' made famous by Petula Cark, composed by Tony Hatch in 1964, which became an international hit.
Our
first soloist was Jacob, who this evening was playing trumpet. For his
solo piece he chose piano to play the well known jazz piece 'Take Five', becoming the signature tune for the Dave Bubeck Quartet in 1959. It is the biggest-selling jazz single ever.
 Mood Indigo,
originally titled "Dreamy Blues". was the first tune Duke Ellington
wrote specially for microphone transmission, People raved about the
tune, with Irving Mills putting a lyric to it, renaming it Mood
Indigo". it became another jazz standard.
Henry Mancini's 'Moon River', originally written for Audrey Hepburn in the 1961 film Breakfast at Tiffany's, was followed by 'Moondance', the 1970 tune penned by Norther Ireland singer / songwriter Van Morrison
'Let's go Latin' was a compilation of latin music, starting with Copacabana. Keeping the Latin theme led us into 'Tequilla' a 1958 Mexican-flavoured rock and roll instrumental.
Time for another solo, this time from Lucy playing the flute. She chose 'By the River' an unaccompanied piece for solo flute, written in 1978 by Gordon Jacob CBE, an English composer.
To finish the first set before the interval the band struck up a couple of Big Band items starting with the 1937 'Sing Sing Sing' performed by Benny Goodman. This moved into a Glen Miller medley, including the all time favourite Moonlight Serenade.
The
band took time out to recover from a full 50 minutes continuous
playing, while we all grabbed some refreshments, and a couple of raffle
tickets to be drawn later.
Into the second set, starting with the 1929 'Fats' Waller 'Ain't Misbehavin'. This rolled straight into the 1940 'Tuxedo Junction' from the Glen Miller band. A switch to tango music with the 1974 'Libertango' by Astor Piazzolla.
"Stray Cat Strut" brought us into the 1980's with this number from American rockabilly band Stray Cats, released in 1981.
Our third solo was presented by Bastian on trombone, accompanied by Graham McDonald on piano performing 'Send In the Clowns', a song written by Stephen Sondheim for the 1973 musical A Little Night Music.
No concert would be complete without a Beatles number, and the 1968 'Hey Jude' from the pen of Paul McCartney was the one chosen.
 Back to the 1930's with "Georgia on My Mind" written by Hoagy Carmichael and Stuart Gorrell. It is often been associated with Ray Charles.
Our
final solist of the evening was Sophie McDonald, daughter of Graham.
Tonight she switched from saxophone to clarinet to play George Gershwin's variations, based on on the well known I got Rythmn.
For those who remember growing up during the Sesame Street days of children's TV instantly recognised the theme tune 'Sesame Street',
composed in 1969 by Joe Raposo, a writer and composer of many of
television shows' songs. This was followed by th e1973 Herbie Hancock
number 'Chamelion'.
THe final numberr for the evening was the 1977 "Birdland", a jazz/pop piece written by Joe Zawinul of the band Weather Report as a tribute to the Birdland nightclub in New York City.
A great
evening being entertained by such a talented group of enthusiastic
young musicians. Lets hope they keep up their Tuesday lunchtime
practice sessions at Beeslack school, so they can continue to entertain
audiences across the county.
Published 4 February 2020
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