Upcoming Gigs

Duke Ellington's The Queen's Suite tour 2009 launches this month with an open rehearsal at the South Bank, coinciding with the launch of the Cultural Olympiad, it is the very first rehearsal of The Queen's Suite where Peter Edwards introduces the music to the newly formed Tomorrow's Warriors Jazz Orchestra. Tomorrows Warriors will provided insight to what they do best, by inviting everyone to experience firsthand some of the creative processes involved in composing/arranging the music, and gain an insight into the roles of, and interaction between, the music arranger, MD and musicians as they prepare and rehearse a new piece ahead of a national tour in 2009.

The tour is made up of the sixth edition of Warriors featuring some of the brightest and most stunning young jazz musicians in the country, with many already tipped by the critics to be major stars of the future. Mentored by Tomorrow's Warriors founder and Artistic Director, Gary Crosby, they make up one of the finest and most outstanding editions of Tomorrow's Warriors yet.

As with all previous editions of Tomorrow's Warriors, they're exciting, full of energy, and come with an utterly refreshing dose of hip and contemporary. But, most of all, they swing hard.

The cream of young British talent.TimeOut

The most promising recent jazz arrivals.Guardian

Featuring
Peter Edwards | Piano
Mark Crown | Trumpet / Flugelhorn
Zem Audu | Saxophones
Pete Randall | Bass
Andrew Chapman | Drums

On 18th October 1958 Duke Ellington was presented to Queen Elizabeth II and the Duke of Edinburgh at a private reception to mark the bicentenary of Leeds Festival. So inspired was Ellington by this meeting that he promised to compose a suite in honour of The Queen.

Inspired by the beauty and majesty of nature, The Queen's Suite - one of Ellington's greatest and most beautiful works which he dedicated to HM The Queen - remained hidden from the public until after Ellington's death when it received its premiere in 1998 in Oldham, UK performed by the Bob Wilber Orchestra. The last known performance of The Queen's Suite in its entirety was by the same orchestra at the Royal Festival Hall, London on 23 January 1989.