Magazine: The Guildhall Big JAZZ Band at Swinburne

The Guildhall Jazz Band at Swinburne Hall, Colchester Institute

The Guildhall Jazz Band, comprising of 19 members with expert direction by Jazz veteran Scott Stroman hail from one of the UK’s premier musical establishments The Guildhall School of Music and Drama.

Comprising of final year students, the band showcased their incredible musicianship leaving the audience amazed at the talent of tomorrows, undoubtedly, top musicians.

Billed as a Big Band, they were certainly more big JAZZ band than big band, so anyone expecting Glenn Miller Classics may have been disappointed. Repertoire was varied ranging from classic jazz standards to compositions by the performers themselves, all delivered in a well-rounded professional package. Rhythmically the ensemble was sound, with good intonation and phrasing, Ample opportunities were given for solos, which were generally well defined however soloists perhaps could have taken a more risky approach, with the audience left feeling that the solos were disjointed and scripted at times.

Guildhall Jazz Band are one of the best large ensembles around and should not be missed. The venue itself has a superb acoustic for live music, with a large stage and comfortable classic seating. Staff were professional and friendly, an Interval bar throughout provided refreshments and the atmosphere felt welcoming making my visit most enjoyable. A truly enjoyable evening and I look forward to seeing more performances from CMPA Live for the remainder of the season.
 

Colchester Institute team up with GrapevineLive

Grapevine have recently launched an active website called GrapevineLive and are promoting themselves across the East Anglian region. It seemed a good idea to work with The Colchester Institute for some shared promotion! Sally Fisher continues......

This is an exciting time for the Colchester Institute Centre for Music and Performing Arts as we have recently launched CMPA LIVE! to replace the Swinburne Hall Concert Series that has been successfully running in recent years. The new branding also sees a move from the traditional Wednesday evening events to a more extensive series incorporating the principal professional events now occurring on Thursdays complemented by a range of other events on Wednesdays and Fridays. Another new venture is the launch of our Young Artists Platform on Wednesday nights where recent graduates and current students perform in a variety of ensemble and solo performances.

The Swinburne Hall itself is a great venue with a wonderful acoustic and had significant improvements to the fabric of the building over the summer break with more extensive refurbishment planned for the coming months.

An important new role of CMPA LIVE! is to promote the performance activities of all courses in the centre and to publicise the many events taking place in our main campuses in Colchester, Braintree and Clacton as well as performances staged in external venues. During the 2012-2013 season we are again presenting a broad range of professional and student events, from classical to contemporary, from theatre to rock.

The Institute made GrapevineLive very welcome and treated us all to a stunning evening of watching who will surely be, outstanding musicians in the future.

Kim Williamson - GrapevineLive

Guildhall Jazz Band review contributed by student Richard Brett

Colchester Institute editorial from Sally Fisher - Events Manager - CMPA Live! 

Scott Stroman, director of Guildhall Jazz Band, stands alongside GrapevineLive promotion

Photography by Tony Bell - www.tonybellphotography.com