Baroque gets all jazzed up

Ivan Hewett in the Telegraph on our Monteverdi concert with Julian Joseph: 'Time was when the performance of Baroque music was all about "getting it right", but fortunately those days have passed. The "early music" world has woken up to the fact that improvisation and risk-taking are what really bring this music to life. That's also true of many other traditions, and it was only a matter of time before someone tried to mingle the Baroque form of improvisation with another...... In these cross-cultural enterprises one side always calls the shots, and here it was definitely Monteverdi's ravishing sound-world, with its strummed lutes and dancing violins and high sopranos trilling and sighing in ectasy or agony...... It was when the jazz players felt able to ignore their 'charts' and rely on gut instinct that things caught fire. Joseph's harmonic side-shifts and cadences took on his usual energising swing, but also a Monteverdian "sigh" that seemed completely natural. The choir, too, loosened up; in one number there was a flamenco-ish tang at the end of a phrase, which Joseph was able to seize and run with. The final Salve Regina worked best, especially at its final flourish, where Joseph and [bassist] Hodgson spun a superb riff over the concluding cadence. For a work in progress, this was impressive. Let's hope it's only the beginning.'

Julian Joseph joins The Sixteen

Two more concerts at the Spitalfields Festival tonight: pure Monteverdi at 6.30pm (sold out) and then at 8.30pm our Monteverdi collaboration with jazz pianist Julian Joseph, who has also established himself as a jazz pioneer in the classical world. He was the first jazz musician to be invited to give a series of all-acoustic concerts at London's most prestigious classical venue, the Wigmore Hall. He has recorded duets by Milhaud, Stravinsky and Poulenc with Brazilian pianist Marcelo Bratke, combining them with his own arrangements of music by Duke Ellington, Chick Corea and Bill Evans, and collaborated with concert violinist Viktoria Mullova on her fusion project, 'Through the Looking Glass'. As a soloist, he has given recitals of Bartók and Prokofiev sonatas and performed Gershwin's Piano Concerto in F and the Rhapsody in Blue with some of the most renowned symphony orchestras in Europe. At the same time, Julian's own classically-oriented work never ventures too far away from his jazz focus. This is particularly evident in his writing for big band and strings or full symphony orchestra, in which he demonstrates an exceptional ability to orchestrate complex textures of rhythm and sound without losing the essential groove that is at the heart of jazz.

In this way he is ever pushing the boundaries, whilst building on the legacy of the great jazz composers ~ Duke Ellington, Gil Evans, Herbie Hancock and Jaco. The bass player tonight is Mark Hodgson. Details here (a few tickets still available as I write).