Remember when ... Tommy Smith’s Scottish National Jazz Orchestra

RUSSELL LEADBETTER

IT was back in 1995 that the saxophonist Tommy Smith founded the Scottish National Jazz Orchestra. It has since earned an international reputation.

Its 11 albums include Celebration, for the prestigious ECM Records. The SNJO has reinterpreted revered works by Mozart, Gershwin, Duke

Ellington and Miles Davis, has championed new compositions by

Smith himself, and has revitalised neglected jazz classics by British-canadian trumpeter Kenny Wheeler and the Glasgow-born tenor saxophonist Bobby Wellins.

Among the top-level guests who have travelled to Scotland to tour with the orchestra are Grammy-winning vocalists Dame Cleo Laine and Kurt Elling, leading trumpeter Randy Brecker, top saxophonist Joe Lovano, former Weather Report drummer Peter Erskine, and guitarists John Scofield and

Mike Stern, both of whom worked with Miles Davis.

The SNJO’S 25th anniversary concert, streamed worldwide from Perth Concert Hall, attracted viewers from as far afield as the US, Norway and Australia, and it is available online until January 4. SNJO 25 Jazz: Past, Present and Future featured two young players of major promise – trombonists Anoushka Nanguy, 21, and Liam Shortall, 24 – who between them won three of the five recent Scottish Jazz Awards given specifically to musicians.

Alan Morrison, Head of

Music, Creative Scotland, said: “For 25 years, the SNJO has put world-class jazz on to the concert hall stage, breathing fresh life into the big band repertoire with daring original compositions and new arrangements of archive classics. Each and every concert is a gem in itself, as virtuosic solos punctuate rich ensemble textures.

“But it’s the body of work, built up lovingly over a quarter of a century, that makes the SNJO such an indispensable cultural institution at home and proud ambassador for Scotland’s music abroad.”

The concert is available at https://livestream.snjo.co.uk/