[Dixielandjazz] Trad Jazz in Edinburgh (was Trad Jazz in London)

[Ken Mathieson]

Hi Dave,

If you're going to be in Edinburgh during its jazz festival (19 - 28 July), you'll find there's a lot of jazz's earlier styles to be heard. You can see the full chronological programme at:

http://www.edinburghjazzfestival.com/programme.html

Evan Christopher is around for a few days working 2 gigs with Roy Percy's Sextet (I think the theme will the music of the John Kirby Sextet, but it may be a bit broader than that) and one (on 23 July) with my band, The Classic Jazz Orchestra, where we'll be exploring a couple of themes: One is the great New Orleans Clarinet Tradition and the other is unpublished works by Jelly Roll Morton. My band has got a couple of formidable clarinettists in their own right and I'm writing a pile of new charts featuring Evan and them, so there should be lots of interesting music and fun. The Morton material was mainly written in the last year of his life for an abortive bigband project in LA, so, aside from its musical qualities, it's got a lot of curiosity appeal as it differs radically from his approach in the 1920s and 30s and shows him to have been heading in an entirely different musical direction.

Check out the full Edinburgh programme because there will be something for your tastes, whatever they are, pretty well every day and, if you make it to our gig on 23 July, please come up and say hello.

Cheers,

Ken Mathieson