Young talents combine in orchestra's planet suit
The Scottish National Jazz Orchestra has commissioned new music from some of Scotland’s most exciting young talents for a series of concerts that begins at the Usher Hall on Friday January 31.
Nu-Age Sounds ll: Planet World follows on from the successful tour that the orchestra staged in Spring 2024. It features Mercury Prize shortlisted acts corto.alto and pianist Fergus McCreadie along with singer kitti, saxophonists Helena Kay and Matt Carmichael, trombonist Anoushka Nanguy, bassist Ewan Hastie and the band KARMA in a cross between a jazz gig and a science-fiction adventure.
“Planet World includes a musical depiction of our solar system's awe-inspiring majesty but there’s a nightmarish ecological downfall at the heart of the story,” says SNJO founder and musical director, saxophonist Tommy Smith. “The inhabitants of all the planets are sheltering on Earth, the lone survivor of a catastrophic event, and we have to save the entire solar system’s citizens and life forces.”
With live video projections accompanying the music, Planet World is set to be a sound and light spectacle.
“All the artists in our line-up are award-winners,” says Smith, who has played a major role in creating Scotland’s currently thriving, internationally admired young jazz scene through the jazz course he established at the Royal Conservatoire of Scotland in Glasgow. “Fergus McCreadie was the first jazz musician to win the Scottish Album of the Year Award and he has also won recognition including BBC New Generation Musician status, which only a small number of jazz musicians have achieved.”
McCreadie also made the shortlist for the Mercury Prize in 2022, with corto.alto, the stage name of trombonist Liam Shortall, following suit last year. Ewan Hastie is a BBC Young Jazz Musician winner. Helena Kay is a former Young Scottish Jazz Musician of the Year and Matt Carmichael won the Best Band title with his quintet at the Scottish Jazz Awards 2024. Anoushka Nanguy has won the Rising Star title at the Scottish Jazz Awards, kitti has twice won the Best Singer title at the same awards, and pianist Peter Johnstone, who features in KARMA, is also a former Young Scottish Jazz Musician of the Year.
“Planet World allows these young talents to be super-imaginative as composers and to trigger their own creativity and that of the orchestra’s players in the heat of a live performance,” says Smith. “It’s going to be quite an experience for everyone – the composers, the orchestra and especially the audience. We can’t wait to present it in the Usher Hall.”