Results for "Grand Union Orchestra"

Grand Union Orchestra

About Grand Union Orchestra Grand Union, the UK's most successful and diverse world/jazz orchestra was established in 1984. The Grand Union Orchestra is the acknowledged pioneer and leading exponent of original, cross-cultural music making. It assembles musicians from virtually every part of the world to create and perform new work drawing on their own experience, culture and musical background. Grand Union’s priority is live performance and touring. Early shows include The Song of Many Tongues, A Book of Numbers and Songlines, followed by Freedom Calls, The Rhythm of Tides, Now Comes the Dragon’s Hour and If Paradise…

Grand Union Orchestra: Made By Human Hands

by Chris May
June 3, 2022

Grand Union Orchestra, which has mentored many young London jazz musicians over four decades, is approximately aligned with the grassroots organisations Tomorrow's Warriors and Kinetika Bloco. The longest established of the trio, Grand Union took wing in 1982, Tomorrow's Warriors in 1991, Kinetika Bloco in 2000. Made By Human Hands is a greatest hits compilation celebrating ...

From George Coleman to Meeco: Ten Overlooked Classics

by Chris May
May 10, 2022

The only thread running through this installment of Building A Jazz Library is that of unsung quality. No particular artist is spotlighted, nor any particular genre. There are simply ten, randomly selected albums, recorded in the US and Europe between 1953 and 2021, which show jazz off at its finest, but which, for one reason or ...

New Jazz From London: Top 20 Paradigm Shifting Albums

by Chris May
June 1, 2020

After a lifetime trying to get on an equal footing with its American parent, British jazz has finally come of age. Since around 2015, a community of young, London-based musicians has forged a style which, while anchored in the American tradition, reflects the Caribbean and African cultural heritages of many of its vanguard players. The scene ...

Paul Booth: Travel Sketches

by Chris May
August 16, 2019

The intense media interest surrounding the rise of the British woke jazz movement is welcome, but it is increasingly monopolising local bandwidth. Great British jazz which adheres more closely to the founding American tradition is becoming sidelined. Babies and bathwater come to mind. One of the few British labels looking at the 360-degree picture ...

We Out Here: The Fast-Forward Evolution of British Jazz

by Chris May
July 25, 2019

After a lifetime in the shadow of its American parent, British jazz is finally coming of age. A community of young, London-based musicians is forging a style which, while anchored in the American tradition, reflects the modern Caribbean and African cultural heritages of the majority of its vanguard players. The music also addresses the race, class ...

The Grand Union Orchestra at Shoreditch Town Hall on December 9th at 8pm

December 4, 2018

Uncharted Crossings- The Backstory of the Windrush Generation Uncharted Crossings may well be Grand Union Orchestra’s most powerful and politically committed show in its thirty-year history. The music traces the contribution to British culture of the people who came to these shores from the Caribbean from the late forties onwards. In many ways, theirs was just ...

Lokkhi Terra meets Dele Sosimi: Cubafrobeat

by Chris May
August 12, 2018

A younger version of London's Grand Union Orchestra, founded by world-jazz pioneer Tony Haynes in 1982, Lokkhi Terra was put together by keyboard player Kishon Khan in 2005. Both ensembles have made a specialism of jazz / South Asian fusion, with Lokkhi Terra also giving as much attention to music from Cuba, where Bangladeshi-born, London-based Khan ...

Presenting Problem

by Duncan Heining
January 30, 2018

Jazz often appears to exist within its own cultural and artistic paradigm, isolated from other arts and in its own discreet musical corner. Worse still from the perspective of those who would hope to make a living from it, it often seems that more people want to play the music than listen to it or, more ...

Grand Union Orchestra at Wilton's Music Hall

by Duncan Heining
June 20, 2017

Grand Union Orchestra Wilton's Music Hall London June 14, 2017 Song of Contagion, Grand Union Orchestra's latest show, would be a strange subject indeed for any other ensemble. But for leader/composer Tony Haynes and his comrades, it sits perfectly within the orchestra's progressive dialogue between the musics and ...