George Russell’s New York N.Y. Receives World Premiere At Milton Court

Guildhall Induction Jazz Orchestra & Choir
Milton Court Concert Hall
Guildhall School of Music & Drama
London
September 27, 2023

Addressing the audience before the Guildhall Induction Jazz Orchestra's recreation of George Russell's first large-ensemble masterpiece, New York N.Y. (Decca, 1959), director and conductor Scott Stroman explained the choice of repertoire. This is the induction edition of GJO, he said, representing the 2023 cohort of new Guildhall students, who had only been at the college for one week. "We like to set the bar high," said Stroman. "We like to present the students with a challenge right from the start, give them something to aim for."

Many other compositions for jazz orchestra present as tough a challenge, but Stroman pointed out that 2023 is the 100th anniversary of Russell's birth. Stroman also observed that the concert would, remarkably, be the first ever live performance of Russell's suite anywhere in the world.

So a little bit of history was about to be made—with, it is good to report, the active involvement of Russell's widow, Alice Russell, who had made available her husband's original scores and parts from the 1958-59 recording sessions for the album. The only significant departure from that performance was that guest narrator Tommy Blaize, standing in for the late Jon Hendricks (and exchanging his native Liverpool accent for 1950s' NYC hip), would sing Vernon Duke and George Gershwin's "Autumn In New York," which Russell had scored as a feature for pianist Bill Evans (check the YouTube below).

In addition to Evans and Hendricks, the orchestra on Russell's album has a collective lineup which includes saxophonists Phil Woods, John Coltrane, Al Cohn and Benny Golson, trumpeters Art Farmer and Ernie Royal, trombonists Bob Brookmeyer, Frank Rehak and Jimmy Cleveland, bassist Milt Hinton and drummer Max Roach. A hard act for anyone to follow. But the 20-strong Guildhall orchestra rose to the challenge. It would be unreasonable to expect first-year conservatoire students to solo on the same level as Russell's band, but on the ensembles they did a mighty fine job, aided by a few seasoned Guildhall associates and alumni. (Was that Noel Langley in the trumpet section? Yes, it was).

New York N.Y. was written near the start of Russell's late 1950s/early 1960s New York-based belle epoque. It endures, like the 1957 musical West Side Story, as a vivid evocation of a particular period in the city's life. Russell intended his suite to be a celebration and it stands as an emblem of optimism and cultural inclusivity, even as in 2023 (and anticipating 2024) the malign forces of Amerikkka threaten to engulf the city and what it stands for. That uncomfortable realisation gave tonight's performance an undercurrent of poignancy.

The suite was the second half of the concert. The first half was largely taken up by the Guildhall Induction Jazz Choir directed by Clare Wheeler. There was a New York connection here, too, in guest singer and tenor saxophonist Darmon Meader of New York Voices. Meader arranged four of the five songs in the set: Alan Lerner and Burton Lane's "On A Clear Day," Hampton Hawes and Annie Ross's "Jackie," Paul Simon's "Cecilia" and Burt Bacharach and Hal David's "Alfie." Meader added a stirring sax solo to the fifth and closing number, Peter Eldridge and Lauren Kinhan's "The World Keeps You Waiting." The performance of the 21-strong choir, which was also aided by a few seasoned alumni, was, like all choir performances, uniquely moving. Vocalese was much to the fore. There is something undeniably retro about the style, but charmingly so.

Postscript: It is high time New York N.Y. had a remaster and general sonic upgrade. In the meantime, two of Russell's finest small band albums of the period—Ezz- thetics (Riverside, 1961) and The Stratus Seekers (Riverside, 1962)—have been released with vibrant new audio as Ezz-thetics & The Stratus Seekers Revisited (Ezz- thetics, 2022).

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