Jazz meets the Symphony with Lalo Schifrin

Lalo Schifrin has been doing ‘Jazz meets the Symphony‘ for a while now. In this case, he’s brought together James Morrison (trumpet), Christian McBride (bass) and Gordon Rytmeister (drums) together with the Sydney Symphony Orchestra.

Schifrin either wrote or arranged the whole performance, and he’s done a great job. The Orchestra can feel like a bit of a support act when the soloist’s get carried away, but generally the Jazz musicians and the SSO work well together. I really liked the first half, but thought the Tribute to Bix in the second half was just too long, and too brassy for my liking.

The audience seemed to contain a lot of James Morrison fans, who seemed to think the Opera house was joking when they said no cameras. I thought Christian McBride was a better, more interesting performance than Morrison.

Despite the music being full of rhythm, the audience stayed stock still for the entire performance. Maybe it’s the effect of the concert hall, but I think I would have enjoyed it more in a smaller, more jazz friendly venue. Something serving wisky, and with red velvet.

Apart from the Mission Impossible theme at the end, a great night out:

My Rating: 4 stars