What a great Evening of Jazz we had on Thursday 29^th March.  It was a fitting evening to record as a memory of the high standard of jazz being played by the pupils in 2012.  The original idea to make a recording this year came from the fact that the majority of Hot Jazz had reached their final year – they had first been put together in the Junior School by Mr Steve Thompson, and arrived in the Senior School in 2005 as Hot Seven.  But in the end the audience all agreed that the overall quality of music being made by the boys and girls in all the different groups was excellent.

The evening was begun and finished by the Jazz Orchestra under the direction of Mr Norman Levy. Their Big Band sound was full of energy and power, and for the first time that I can remember the Orchestra was full of current pupils, with no OEs and only two adults, Messrs Thompson and Coates.

The great thing about the evening was that we were given the full range of Jazz styles with the Dixieland, the R ‘n’ B, the Sax Quartet,  the Django Jazz Guitar Group (a first outing!), as well as Hot Jazz themselves and their heirs, Cool Jazz, the youngsters following in the seniors’ footsteps!  In the spirit of a true Jazz Evening soloists were invited to improvise throughout.  I really enjoyed Eleanor Barton’s work on the Saxophone, Jack Worlidge on the trombone and Louis Barclay on the trumpet. Tom Wilson improvised in a different way when he lost one of his drumsticks in Tequila, showing considerable presence of mind to keep the piece moving.  It was a delightful surprise to have Amy Cleary’s dulcet tones in front of the Jazz Orchestra, and Patrick Pamment coming off keyboards to sing with Hot Jazz.  Perhaps there were a few too many improvisations? - it is always a difficult line to tread between being self-indulgent to the leavers and giving a chance to learn the skill to the young ones.

Steve Thompson and Michael Coates provided wit and humour, as they introduced their ensembles, while Norman Levy (right) gave us the stories behind the songs and their composers; he can be really proud of his achievements – the only thing missing of this night was his traditional and repeated appeal to the audience to give the “Jazz Orchestra” their appropriate praise at the end of the evening.  We didn’t mind – we were happy to cheer the “Jazz Orchestra” anyway!