The Scottish National Jazz Orchestra has commissioned compositions from some of Scotland’s most exciting young jazz musicians for a series of concerts running in Edinburgh, Dundee and Glasgow from 31 January to 2 February.
Nu-Age Sounds – Planet World follows the conspicuous success of the inaugural Nu-Age Sounds tour of 2024, with Mercury Prize shortlisted acts corto.alto and pianist Fergus McCreadie joining singer kitti, saxophonists Helena Kay and Matt Carmichael, trombonist Anoushka Nanguy, bassist Ewan Hastie, and grooving powerhouse KARMA in creating new music with a science fiction narrative.
“Planet World depicts our solar system’s awe-inspiring majesty but there’s a nightmarish ecological downfall at the heart of the story,” says SNJO founder and musical director, saxophonist Tommy Smith. “The inhabitants of all the planets are sheltering on Earth, the lone survivor of a catastrophic event, and we have to save the entire solar system’s citizens and life forces. It calls for imaginative music and our composers are once again up to the challenge.”
With live video projections, Planet World is set to be a sound and light spectacle.
“All the artists in our line-up are award-winners,” says Smith, who has played a major role in creating Scotland’s currently thriving, internationally admired young jazz scene through the jazz course he established at the Royal Conservatoire of Scotland in Glasgow. “Planet World allows them to be super-creative as composers and to trigger their own creativity and that of the orchestra’s players in the heat of a live performance. It’s going to be quite an experience for everyone – the composers, the musicians and especially the audience.”
Nu-Age Sounds – Planet World opens at the Usher Hall in Edinburgh on Friday 31 January, visits Dundee Rep Theatre on Saturday 1 February and ends with a performance at Glasgow’s Celtic Connections festival in the city’s wonderfully atmospheric Old Fruitmarket venue on Sunday 2 February.
