12 February 2019
Woldingham’s musicians shook things up a little last week and the result was a mellow, melodious, marvellous Jazz Night. We moved from auditorium to Live Lounge and our multi-talented musicians swapped clarinet for bass guitar and pianos for keyboard and saxophone, and followed in the vocal footsteps of Ella Fitzgerald, Nina Simone, Ray Charles and Etta James.
The music of George Gershwin featured several times in the programme: Director of Music, Mr John Hargreaves, explained that this important 20th century composer was both influenced by jazz and, in turn, himself influenced jazz music. A more recent composition, sung by Amaris was a ‘Latin/Jazz’ combo, in the form of Bob Chilcott’s A Little Jazz Mass, composed in 2004.
That Woldingham’s wonderful Jazz Band (Mr Beagley, Angel, Charlotte, Clemmie, Florence, Gabriella, Georgia, Isabella and Poppy) kicked things off with Green Onions and closed the evening with Blue Salsa couldn’t have been more fitting for such a colourful evening.
