Voice of the North Jazz Orchestra at Georgian Theatre Stockton

Adrian Tilbrook told me in advance that Issie Barrett's scores were challenging - he may have used an earthier description - and he was right! Fortunately, the VOTNJO boys proved themselves up to the occasion and the result was, for me, a landmark not just in local or even British Jazz but big band jazz without frontiers.

Ms Barrett, who not only composed and arranged her scores but also used her full body language to conduct them, is without doubt one of the most outstanding writers in the jazz field and, no doubt, beyond.

At times, the ensemble sounded as if Ellington had arranged something by Schoenberg for the Kenton Band. The power of the brass, often voiced atonally, contrasted with the harmonic variations from within the sax section whilst punched along by a rhythm section that rarely saw four beats in any one bar and yet, in a roundabout sort of way, it swung!

Not to be outdone, VOTNJO leader John Warren's own comps and arrangements also drew the best from the orchestra. Lew Watson's tenor solo on JJ's "Lament" - a moment of beauty - was a case in point. However, it is unfair of me to single any one player out - this was a team effort and, as such, all were deserving of the highest of accolades.

Photos.