One group, though, will be preparing to leave the city for a prestigious gig of its own.
In March, Strathclyde Youth Jazz Orchestra (SYJO) won the gold award at the National Concert and Big Band Festival in Cardiff. The prize was welcome acknowledgement of the orchestra’s talent and hard work, as were the three outstanding soloist awards picked up by baritone saxophonist Heather MacIntosh, trombonist Kevin Garrity and bassist James Lindsay. Of arguably more practical value, though, was the invitation from one of the adjudicators, Iain Darrington of Wigan Jazz Club, to open his club’s new season, following in the recent footsteps of the Gene Krupa Centenary Orchestra and Carol Kidd.
“Any reward for your efforts is good,” says SYJO director Stewart Forbes, “but it’s especially heartening to have someone like Ian asking us down. It’s a lunchtime gig, so we have a 7.30am start on Sunday and drive straight back afterwards, but who knows what might come out of playing down there.”
SYJO is no stranger to cross-border travel. In its early days, shortly after forming in time for the first Glasgow International Jazz Festival (GIJF), in 1987, the orchestra toured Poland to considerable acclaim. Two years later it became the first youth jazz orchestra to be invited to appear at Montreux Jazz Festival in Switzerland and subsequently toured Florida and South Africa.
Under the direction of its founder and guiding light, Bobby Wishart, the band also worked with GIJF composers in residence, including Benny Carter, Gerry Mulligan and Carla Bley, and can take credit for nurturing many of today’s leading Scots jazz talents. SYJO alumni from Wishart’s time include trumpeters Ryan Quigley and Tom MacNiven, saxophonists Konrad Wiszniewski, Laura Macdonald and Brian Molley, and drummer Alyn Cosker.
Today’s SYJO is part of a new chapter, though. After Wishart retired in 2004, the band went into hibernation. Forbes, who had been with the band from its inception, lending his saxophone playing experience and knowledge alongside Wishart, recalls the latter arriving unannounced with news of his retirement and handing over the band’s library of music, which after nearly 20 years had grown into a sizeable volume of work.
“It was quite a thought to carry on without Bobby because he was such a dynamic character but eventually, taking the history into consideration, I thought, ‘We have to keep this thing going,’” says Forbes. “Besides, there are so many good young musicians coming through that moulding them into a band and hearing them going for it is its own reward.”
He’s been helped by the arrival of Derek Hart, a professional percussionist and teacher who moved into orchestra management with the West of Scotland Schools Orchestra Trust and was appointed manager of SYJO in 2007.
“Having Derek take care of the administrative work – liaising with the councils within Strathclyde with regard to funding, for example, which isn’t my forte – allows me to concentrate on the music and bringing the musicians along,” says Forbes, whose wide experience outside of SYJO includes appearances with the likes of Tony Bennett, Natalie Cole and George Shearing.
Together Forbes and Hart have created a strong organisation that not only supports the “first team” (there are plans for a SYJO 2) with monthly gigs at West Bar in Glasgow and other dates such as Glasgow Jazz Festival – and a possible return to Montreux in 2010 – but runs the SYJO Jazz School, the SYJO Sextet and an outreach programme that takes jazz into schools and colleges.
Based at the University of Strathclyde’s Jordanhill Campus, where Forbes is a full-time instrumental instructor working with the university’s Applied Music students, the SYJO Jazz School trains musicians between the ages of 12 and 18 and is seeking applicants. It welcomes students at two levels: those at Grade 3+ who have no experience of improvising and those at Grade 5+ who have developing skills and some knowledge of jazz improvisation.
“The school meets weekly and it’s great to see students coming along who have good skills in classical music but have never played a jazz solo and find a world of possibilities opening up,” says Forbes. “There’s maybe an element of fear at first but, the way we run the school, there’s a lot of fun involved and we’ve had a number of good examples, some as young as 12, who discover they have a natural aptitude for this music.”
From the school, the students can progress to SYJO itself, which is geared towards Grade 7+ students between the ages of 16 and 24 and which, since its re-emergence in 2007, has provided plenty of role models for the younger musicians to follow. No fewer than three of the five finalists in the Young Scottish Jazz Musician of the Year 2009 competition came through SYJO and the orchestra has already seen one of its new generation, saxophonist Paul Jefferson, go on to study at Berklee College of Music in Boston.
With Montreux pencilled in for 2010 and a trip to China on the cards for 2011, there’s still much to aspire towards beyond Sunday’s coach trip to Wigan.
“Yes, with that early start I can see us having to stop outside the Europe Jazz Network jam session in the Park Inn to pick up a few players as we’re leaving Glasgow,” says Forbes, “but it’ll give them a taste of the professional musician’s life.”
SYJO plays West Bar and Restaurant, Glasgow at 2.30pm on Sunday, October 4. For information on SYJO and the SYJO Jazz School, visit www.strath.ac.uk/caas/syjo. For details of the Europe Jazz Network showcase concerts visit www.jazzfest.co.uk.
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