0475 Shorty Rogers National Youth Jazz Orchestra [Born Again] FLAC 12(55.08)

Contributed by bluebird, who writes:-
"The National Youth Jazz Orchestra (NYJO) is 50 years old in 2015 and it is still going strong.
Founded by Bill Ashton O.B.E. in 1965 as a vehicle for young musicians under the age of 25 interested in playing big band jazz, it has gone from strength to strength and produced many musicians of note over the years. Many of these found fame in the jazz world whilst others made their living in other spheres of music
Nigel Hitchcock, Gerard Presencer, Guy Barker, Frank Riccotti, Dick Pearce, Chris Biscoe, Stan Sultzmann, Geoff Castle, Pete Saberton and Sean Whittle (Tommy's son) are some of the better known names on today's jazz scene and who went through the ranks.
For this special celebration BritJazz is pleased to present a 1982 recording of a NYJO Concert under the musical direction of special guest and soloist Shorty Rogers.
In 1982 Shorty came over to the UK for a short tour with NYJO and this particular concert, which was part of the Bath Jazz Festival programme, was recorded and later broadcast by the BBC.  He brought with him the original charts written for his 1950s big bands and played flugelhorn with the band. It was his first recording since 1967.
The concert was also issued commercially only as a cassette (remember those?) on NYJO's own label and the music heard here is taken from that source. It was the only issue.
I saw Shorty with this band on a couple of occasions, one of them at Mansfield, and at this one I spoke to one of the alto sax players in the interval. He was so thrilled to be playing these original charts and the band part he had was that of Art Pepper which contained Art's original hand-written notes for his solos.
NYJOS's leader and Musical Director, Bill Ashton, who sat in with the band to provide an extra baritone voice, also told me with some regret that they never got paid for that gig.
These are familar Rogers tunes and arrangements and most of us can recall the original solos but here the young ones obviously go their own way which comes as something of a shock after living with those solos of Art Pepper, Jimmy Giuffre, Bob Cooper, Bud Shank et al for so many years.
The programme is tackled with great gusto and great skill though and the performance makes for an interesting comparison with the recordings of the original Rogers bands.
Happy 50th NYJO !

Shorty Rogers - flugelhorn
Simon Gardner - trumpet
Mike O'Gorman - trumpet
Mark Chandler - trumpet
Paul Higgs - trumpet
Paul Spong - trumpet
Neil Sidwell - trombone
Fayyaz Virji - trombone
Ralph Pearson - trombone
Nigel Barr - trombone
Nick Gallant - trombone
Jane Hanna - french horn
Jamie Talbot - reeds
Paul Weimar- reeds
Julian Crook - reeds
Adrian Bullers - reeds
Gerald Levy - reeds
Bill Ashton - baritone
Richard Symons - flute
Andy Vinter - piano
Chris Watson - guitar
David Hage - bass
Mike Smith - drums
Hazel Peat - percussion
Litsa Davies - percussion

01 Sweetheart Of Sigmund Freud
02 Infinity Promenade
03 I’m Gonna Go Fishin’
04 Contours
05 Topsy
06 Short Stop
07 Walk Don’t Run
08 Viva Puente
09 Boar Jibu
10 Manteca
11 Un Poco Loco
12 Jazz Waltz

Label: NYJO CNYJ004
Recorded: October 23 1982 Bath Jazz Festival
Lineage: cassette tape>FLAC
Scans: Front and back covers