Scottish National Jazz Orchestra: Sweet Sister Suite

Spartacus Records

The SNJO chalks up another triumph with this recording of music its director Tommy Smith commissioned from the late trumpeter and composer Kenny Wheeler two decades ago. Wheeler’s complex but melodically rich music is eloquently championed here, as the orchestra glides, simmers or erupts alongside guest soloists – trumpeter Laura Jurd and Glasgow-based Greek singer Irini Arabatzi. The suite opens auspiciously in

Sweet Sister, with Jurd’s plaintive flugelhorn joined by Arabatzi’s wordless vocalising while in Worlds

Apart, Arabatzi’s chanting signals in unison with Rob Luft’s guitar, the band murmuring with controlled power. Limpid vocals and piano introduce Keeper of the Light before Smith’s tenor sax glides in, while other SNJO regulars deliver with customary verve, such as Martin Kershaw’s soprano sax echoing the vocal line in Constant Star.n