Young musicians from Hull and East Riding head down to London this Sunday to perform in a special one-off show at the newly re-opened Queen Elizabeth Hall.
The performance is the culmination of The Jazz Ticket, a nationwide project led by award-winning jazz development agency Tomorrow’s Warriors. Over the past year, young musicians from around the country have had the chance to work with leading jazz professionals, developing their performance and improvisation skills and exploring the rich and inspiring history of the genre and six of its pioneering artists born in 1917.
Professional musicians from Nu Civilisation Orchestra led workshops with schools and youth jazz ensembles in Hull and East Riding last Autumn. 75 young musicians took to the stage alongside Nu Civilisation Orchestra in November, and blew the roof off Hull Truck Theatre at one of the closing gigs of Hull Jazz Festival’s 25th anniversary.
And now they get the chance to do it all again, but this time in the incredible surroundings of the Queen Elizabeth Hall. They’ll be joining young musicians from across the country, coming together to celebrate six Giants of Jazz.
20 members of City of Hull Youth Jazz Orchestra will be performing Neal Hefti’s Fantail, made famous by Count Basie in the late 1950s. Sean Miller, from Hull Music Hub, says: “The Jazz Ticket event held as part of the Hull Jazz Festival in November 2017 was a fantastic project to be part of, helping young musicians from across the City develop their understanding of the history of Jazz; improve improvisational and ensemble skills, and watch and listen to professional musicians at the top of their game. To be able to follow this up at the Tomorrow’s Warriors Gala event in London is fantastic, enabling the band to perform with and listen to other young musicians from across the 9 cities that have also been involved in the project.”
Ella Fitzgerald
And 19 members of East Riding Youth Jazz Orchestra will be joining them, performing Ella Fitzgerald’s version of Get Happy and Josef Zawinul’s Mercy, Mercy, Mercy. Ben Croombs, from East Riding Music Hub, says: “We have thoroughly enjoyed working with Tomorrow’s Warriors on the Jazz Ticket Project. Pupils have grown in confidence and developed skills in Jazz improvisation through working with the amazing musicians from the Nu Civilisation Orchestra. Together they have created bespoke arrangements and explored Jazz tonality, melody and rhythm. This project has provided the young people with the opportunity to perform on big stages with professional musicians – an experience they will never forget!”
Big thanks to our friends at Tomorrow’s Warriors, Hull Music Hub and East Riding Music Hub for making the project possible. And break a leg for Sunday’s show to all our talented young musicians – can’t wait to hear how you get on!