(Press release)
The SNJO is
delighted to welcome the outstanding American vocalist Jazzmeia Horn on her first visit to Scotland for three nights of
spellbinding vocal artistry and enthralling orchestral jazz. In this concert
series, a big band meets a big voice, but both will be bringing mind, body and
soul to the art of performance.
Jazzmeia Horn is the foremost jazz singer of her generation
and very much a voice for our times. Musically, she has journeyed through jazz
history from its earliest beginnings, absorbing every nuance, influence and inflection
along the way. It is an approach that has made her one of the most articulate
and relevant voices in improvisational music.
Anyone hearing Jazzmeia Horn for the first time will be
struck by several things at once. There is explosive power, raw emotion, boundless
energy, great strength and consummate control. Yet, there is something else. It
is identity and it commands your
attention. That much has already been recognized with a GRAMMY Award nomination for her debut album, A Social Call.
It would be a lapse into cliché to say that Jazzmeia Horn’s music
speaks for itself. She has, in any case, explained her relationship with jazz herself,
and in the clearest possible terms; ‘when
I’m scatting, I don’t think about a horn player, I just become the horn player’.
Nevertheless, one jazz journalist was moved to comment that, “Jazzmeia is a performer for whom every word, gesture, and
ornament becomes an expression of her total conviction and she completely comes
alive in the moment”.
The SNJO’s acknowledged elegance and commitment to emancipated
expression perfectly matches the bravura artistry of Jazzmeia Horn. The scope
of their collective vision is self-evident in a set-list featuring sparkling new
arrangements by Bill Dobbins. The selections include affectionately re-imagined
standards such as I Remember You and Darn That Dream, alongside a
bittersweet romance in The Peacocks. Also featured is Jazzmeia’s recent
composition Free Your Mind, which appears on her recently released 2nd
album Love and Liberation on Concord Records.
We confidently predict that Jazzmeia Horn, in live
performance with the SNJO, will be among the most memorable events of
the jazz year, just about anywhere. But, don’t take our word for it. Come and
hear for yourself. Prepare to be amazed, to be moved and to be uplifted, but be
there!
Friday 22nd
November 2019 at 7.30 p.m. Perth Concert Hall
Saturday 23rd
November 2019 at 7.30 p.m. Glasgow Royal Concert
Hall (New Auditorium)
Sunday 24th November 2019 at 7.30 p.m.
Edinburgh Usher Hall
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