London Intercollegiate Jazz Orchestra
(The Vortex, 17 September 2024. Review by Tom Hardy)
Tuesday 17 September presented an exciting new venture by one of London’s most recently formed big bands, Finn Genockey’s London Intercollegiate Jazz Orchestra. The band unites the talents of top musicians who have recently emerged from London’s prestigious music schools, and features instrumentalists – and a vocalist – from the Royal Academy, Trinity Laban and the Guildhall School of Music. Genockey warmly introduced the band in the spirit of collaboration rather than competition between the institutions.
This Vortex concert was the band’s maiden full-bill show, following on from their inaugural gig when they burst onto the London Jazz Scene with a crackling performance in November of 2023 as part of The London EFG Jazz Festival at the Barbican.
The brand-new ensemble has been created by Genockey to perform exciting, rarely-heard repertoire, from both new and old voices, with a band formed of the top pick of London’s (mostly) young jazz musicians: they form a supergroup of both early-career and well-established musicians. The band perform a wide selection of music all the way from students’ own compositions to the works of jazz giants Bob Brookmeyer, Jim McNeely and Maria Schneider.
The evening featured a fantastic selection of music, including three new compositions from Genockey plus his arrangement of Wayne Shorter’s Go. The set opened with a band favourite from their Milton Court debut – Genockey’s beautiful The Tree Atop The Hill, with a lyrical flugelhorn solo from Josh Short. The night included a fantastic rendition of Maria Schneider’s Wyrgly (with a blazing solos from Joe Garland and James Wade-Sired), excellently complemented by a performance of Christine Jensen’s Nishiyuu, elegantly featuring the band’s very own Matt Redmond. The set concluded with Genockey’s fiery Tacet Trust: hot off the presses, this latest offering from Genockey featured powerful Vanguard-style writing with impressive solos from Scottie Thompson and Matt Hollick in the rhythm section.
The second set included a moving premier of Genockey’s Hymn for Mum (with the show on her Birthday!) along with some of McNeely and Brookmeyer’s notorious complexity in Ad Parnassum and Boom Boom, the show’s final tune. Throughout the night the audience were treated to Brinley Heywood-Snell’s formidable lead trumpet playing, and the tunes were excellently commandeered by LIJO’s very experienced rhythm section.
LIJO will be to returning to their home ground with another late-November show at Milton Court for the EFG London Jazz Festival, with exciting future performances in tow as they move further into London’s Big Band scene. We wish them luck, and look forward to future performances as brilliant as their Vortex Debut!
PERSONNEL
Conductor/ MD: Finn Genockey
Reeds: Mike Anning, Kasper Rietkerk, Matt Redmond, Zac Taylor-Schindler, George Shrapnell
Trumpets: Brinley Heywood-Snell, Josh Short, Josh Elcock, Gabriel Taylor, Toby Young
Trombones: James Wade-Sired, Joe Evans, Matt Seddon, Olivia Hughes
Piano: Scottie Thompson
Bass: Matt Hollick
Drums: Simon Spies
Guitar: Joe Garland
Vocals: Aitzi Cofre Real
SETLIST:
1st Set:
The Tree Atop The Hill – Finn Genockey
Wyrgly – Maria Schneider
One For My Echoes – Tom Hardy
Nishiyuu – Christine Jensen
Tacet Trust – Finn Genockey
2nd Set:
Go – Comp. Wayne Shorter, Arr. Finn Genockey
Ad Parnassum – Jim McNeely
Hymn for Mum – Finn Genockey
The Weeks Ahead – Finn Genockey
Boom Boom – Bob Brookmeyer
