Coming Soon, Gershwin in Hollywood

Chris and I spent a rather wonderful evening at the Royal Albert Hall last night, where the final concert of the John Wilson Orchestra's much-praised Gershwin tour was being recorded for release on Warner Classics next spring. Featuring original orchestrations of songs from including Shall We Dance?, Girl Crazy, An American in Paris and Funny Face, Wilson's virtuoso hand-picked orchestra (made up, as he demonstrated with a show of hands last night, from players from leading West End shows, the major London orchestras, and several distinguished chamber ensembles) are joined by one of their regular guest-singers Matthew Ford (who gave a stand-out performance on last year's Cole Porter disc) and newcomer Louise Dearman, who had the packed hall hanging on her every word in a mesmerising account of 'Someone to watch over me' at the end of the evening. As a fellow North-Easterner (Wilson hails from Gateshead), I've long been an avid follower of the JWO, but Chris (hearing them live for the first time last night) was open-mouthed at the range of colours and timbres on display, particularly the serious technical wizardry from the principal trumpet and trombone!

Gershwin in Hollywood will be released on May 6th 2016.

Other discs from the John Wilson Orchestra