The 15th annual Jazz on a Summer’s Evening concert took place for the first time on a Friday evening, enabling significant numbers of the pupil body to attend, an invitation which many of them gladly accepted, alongside a sizeable group of music enthusiasts from the Bradfield community.
Despite increasingly heavy rain arriving during the second half, spirits were not dampened with an audience of some 700 enjoying a relaxed but high-quality evening of jazz. Nearly forty pupils were involved representing all five year groups.
The Big Band got things underway with a fine rendition of Earth, Wind & Fire’s Fantasy followed by the Jack Browett Band’s rendition of Bobby Caldwell’s What You Won’t Do for Love and an instrumental masterclass of a performance of The Beatles’ Blackbird by bassist Herbie (F) and Saxophonist Arion (G).
The music again generated some really emotional moments. You should be justifiably proud of sustaining this golden thread of the Bradfield music scene.
A plethora of bands, duets and vocal groups took the show through to the interval, with an inspiring talk from Alex Brewer, CEO of Stepping Stones DS, a local charity which supports children and families with Down’s syndrome.
The rain arrived just as one of our premier pupil bands was performing, ironically, Another Day In The Sun and the wet conditions meant that the second half was a technical challenge. However, the musicians were unfazed and simply kept performing with their usual gusto and enthusiasm.
A special mention must go as always to our Upper Sixth Leavers, many of whom have performed in all five Jazz on a Summer’s Evening concerts in their time at Bradfield. Alma (I), Andriy (E), Ellen (I), Lara (K), Nora (J) and Savannah (M) all took centre stage as audiences were regaled with a variety of musical genres from a piano rendition of Gershwin’s I Got Rhythm and jazz classic Autumn Leaves to Blues numbers such as What A Wonderful World and twists on pop numbers such as Norah Jones’ Seven Years.
One guest summed it up shortly after the show remarking to Concert Director Mark Etherington: “Congratulations to you and all the pupils and staff on another superb Jazz on a Summer’s Evening! Very high quality performances, a wonderfully warm atmosphere, high production values and an appreciative and resilient audience. I thought the music again generated some really emotional moments. You should be justifiably proud of sustaining this golden thread of the Bradfield music scene at such an impressively high standard.”
