Dorset Youth Jazz Orchestra (DYJO) Concert

On Saturday 18 th April an enthusiastic audience, including the Mayor Cllr Anne Rickard, gathered at the Bridport United Church, where they welcomed fifteen musicians of the Dorset Youth Jazz Orchestra, under their director and conductor Terry Quinney, and enjoyed a varied concert of Jazz.

The evening was organised by by our Club. President Tony Williams explained that the event was helping to raise funds for the Portable Ventilator Appeal at Dorchester County Hospital.

The evening started with an arrangement of the Charles Mingus classic, Nostalgia on Times Square.
This was followed by The Peanut Vendor, made popular by Stan Kenton. Next up was Witchcraft, this was followed with Africa by Toto and the first half concluded with an arrangement of the Beatles Hey Jude.

After the interval the orchestra continued with the Jimmy Forest standard Night Train. The audience were then treated to a spicy rendition of Chilly Pepper which was followed with Swinging The Blues. A TV theme, which was a favourite with Terry the conductor, Sesame Street, was the next piece. The final piece was Victory Dance from The Ezra Collective.

After a great ovation for the performance the audience were treated to an encore of Birdland, a standard of Weather Report.

A number of members of the orchestra gave virtuoso performances throughout the programme. The orchestra meets on a monthly basis and are committed to do so in addition to their normal studies.

The orchestra act under the auspices of the Dorset Music Service which meets in Blandford Forum and aims to deliver high quality music education for young people across Dorset. The members of the orchestra on Saturday certainly demonstrated that high quality.