It may seem unfair to dismiss some of Ellington's finest work played by sixteen of the UK's top jazz musicians with those three words but, so be it.
The difficulty for me was the attempt to integrate the music with the various ecclesiastical, often quite lengthy, portions of the concert/service.
The fact that the congregation, that filled the caverness and architecturally beautiful building, appeared to comprise of jazz people, regular churchgoers, tourists and curious freeloaders meant that what appealed to one didn't necessarily appeal to the other with the exception of Junior Laniyan whose hoofing pressed everyone's buttons.
Solely from a jazz point of view the music couldn't be faulted. The singers and the choirs blended in well with the orchestra. Soprano Koço was magnificent her vocal range akin to that of Ryan Quigley who played the part of Cat Anderson in the trumpet section. The powerful combination of orchestra and choir echoed - and I use the word advisedly - to reach every worshipper no matter how many cubits they were away from the chancel.
I did have a quiet chuckle at the finale that had His Eminence the Archbishop himself strutting down the aisle like as if this was a Harlem prayer meeting which, in a sense, by proxy it was. Now that's what I call bringing religion to the people! Needless to say, as these occasions usually do, it brought to mind Steve Allen's legendary Jazz Mass poem published in DownBeat back in 1959. Lance
The Clark Tracey Orchestra: Nathan Bray, Mark Armstrong, Ryan Quigley, George Hogg (trumpets); Mark Nightingale, Callum Au, Pete North (trombones); Andrew Panayi, Alan Barnes, Colin Skinner, Mike Hall, Jay Craig (reeds); Steve Melling (piano); Andy Cleyndert (double bass); Matt Skelton (drums) Clark Tracey (MD)
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