Student performers shine at Turner Sims
Southampton music students have been in the limelight with outstanding contributions to gigs by major jazz artists at Turner Sims. Student band Ghostnote was chosen by Serious - among the UK's leading live music promoters - as the support act for renowned saxophonist David Murray and his quartet, for the Southampton leg of their UK tour on 17 October. And on 25 October, student singers performed with Denys Baptiste in his multimedia extravaganza 'Let Freedom Ring' and its brand-new prequel, 'Now is the Time'.
Ghostnote was selected to open for David Murray through Serious's search for outstanding support acts for the artist's first UK tour in many years. Ghostnote is a 7-piece band who fuse influences from a wide range of music including jazz, gospel, soul and hip hop. Playing both original arrangements and straight covers of tunes from artists such as Snarky Puppy, Ghostnote combine the improvisational and harmonic foundations of the jazz tradition with infectious hip hop grooves.
2013 is the 50th Anniversary of Dr Martin Luther King's 'I Have A Dream' speech, and to mark the date Denys Baptiste reprised his critically acclaimed multimedia project, 'Let Freedom Ring!'. Now widely regarded as a jazz classic, it was commissioned by Cheltenham Jazz Festival in 2003 to mark the 40th anniversary of King's oration. For the new anniversary Denys revisited the speech to create a new piece, 'Now is the Time', as a prequel to his original work. Eleven Southampton Music students formed the gospel choir, performing alongside Denys and his 13-piece band in both pieces, which also featured poetry and voices of Ben Okri and Lemm Sissay, and live video mix by Yeast Culture.
Links:
Serious -
http://www.serious.org.uk/
Denys Baptiste -
http://www.denysbaptiste.com/
David Murray and Infinity Quartet at Turner Sims -
http://www.turnersims.co.uk/events/david-murray-infinity-quartet/
Denys Baptiste at Turner Sims
http://www.turnersims.co.uk/events/nows-the-time/