Second City Surge Jon3 31.x.11

[aka Calum Da Jazbo]

composer Sid Peacock and his Surge big band in an exclusive session for Jazz on 3. Over the last eight years the Birmingham-based group has earned a reputation as one of the most exciting large ensembles in British jazz. Peacock's kaleidoscopic music combines an avant-garde edge with party-like energy and is performed by strings and African percussion alongside more traditional big-band instruments. The session features new material and also includes a set for saxophone quartet and drums.

Birmingham? Boring?

[aka Calum Da Jazbo]

Monday 31 October at 11pm on BBC Radio 3

Some of the most memorable Jazz on 3 performances of recent months have been from big bands and large ensembles – think Darcy James Argue, Orchestre National de Jazz and Django Bates's T.D.E.s. Tonight, we have another – an exclusive session recording and national radio debut, no less, for Northern Irish composer Sid Peacock and his Surge big band.

Before we hear the whole ensemble, the saxophone section plunges alone into Peacock's soundworld. Their short set encapsulates both the festive energy and dark reflectiveness of his writing – it's a great taster for the main band.

Next up, Jez speaks to Sid about some of the musical influences that have shaped his work, in our now established MP3 shuffle – delving at random into the music he's got on his MP3 player to find out what makes him tick.

'A hallucinogenic, uplifting, chaotic, exciting and emotionally charged musical landscape' – that's how Peacock has described Surge's music, and the first number of their main set is all of those things. The music's vibrancy seems to come, not only from the composer, but from the crop of 16 young musicians brought together under the Surge umbrella. The middle part of the set runs together 3 pieces that approach group improvisation in different ways: the first – Left Direction – adopts 'conduction', with Peacock directing what is largely free improvisation with spontaneous hand gestures. Then to finish we're into the title track of their latest album, La Fête, combining a carnivalesque atmosphere with a darker undercurrent – perhaps the signature of what this exciting young band is all about.

There's a hint of the Latin to some of Surge's music, and at the end of the programme we take a look at the state of Latin jazz today. With its category dropped at the Grammys this year, are its best days behind it, or does the music still have something to offer to the cutting-edge of jazz?

Finally, just a reminder that the ballot for tickets to our live launch show for the London Jazz Festival closes at 12.30am tonight (that's early on Tuesday 1 November). To enter, go to http://www.bbc.co.uk/showsandtours/s..._festival_2011 - good luck!

from the newsletter

[Serial_Apologist]

I listened to this - did anyone else? The reason I ask is that, quite arguably due to body clock maladaption, I really found myself feeling musically browbeaten by what had promised much, and not up to the job of listening properly. The years are catching up with me... At the end of the programme I turned in mentally re-balanced only by the critical run-through of current Latin jazz, which I expect Ian Thumwood might also have appreciated?

If anyone recommends this set, I promise to Listen Again

S-A

[aka Calum Da Jazbo]

i caught a fragment and rather hoped it was representative, sounded promising but then failed to stop me nodding off ... i will have a go on iPlayer ... heard the stuff on Latin but unengaged by it .... grammy's have been cut and the genre dropped was the gist as far as i understood