“Sometimes a musician doesn’t know when he’s got a hit on his hands...!”

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This observation comes from an article published in London Jazz News to celebrate the 20th anniversary of the first performance of Will Todd’s Mass in Blue. The premiere took place in 2003 to a modest-size audience and the composer recalled thinking that it was unlikely ever to be performed again.

 

However, the work has undoubtedly proved to be a hit, having become an international success with more than 500 performances worldwide. Todd is a successful and prolific composer. He studied music at Bristol University where the realms of jazz and classical music were kept far apart. “It was a double life – by day I was doing serial-style pieces in the music department then at night playing jazz in clubs and pubs. For a while it led to a schism in my head about what is good composing – the tradition of the western composer versus the improvising musician.”  Both elements fused, though, when he wrote his breakthrough piece, which blends jazz and blues with choral singing, and has been rapturously received by audiences around the world.

 

The programme also includes the collection Fly Me To The Moon and other jazz classics which contains five classic jazz standards (Fly Me To The Moon; Misty; Caravan; Moonglow; All The Things You Are) superbly arranged in a vocal jazz style by Gwyn Arch.

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In addition we will also perform The Gospel Express, a medley of three spirituals, Get On Board, Little Children; Mary Had a Baby; and Bound for Glory composed for Danesborough Chorus by a former choir member, Ken Storry. The concert will also include a set for jazz quartet.

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