Here’s what happened at WYJO’s AW25 show with Artist in Residence, Giacomo Smith, by Flora Millward
On Sunday 12 October we hosted Giacomo Smith for his second concert as WMC Artist in Residence – an exciting collaboration with Wiltshire Youth Jazz Orchestra (WYJO) and Wiltshire Jazz Academy (WJA), celebrating young jazz talent in the Southwest.
The concert opened with a mix of traditional jazz pieces – including some incredible 1920s inspired ragtime tunes – and original compositions arranged by Giacomo and previous collaborators. The third piece was Giacomo’s own work, “Careful”, a vibrant composition capturing 20th century ragtime music. Throughout, Giacomo also shared his wide-ranging knowledge of Jazz from this period.
For the musicians of WYJO and Jazz Academy, working with Giacomo has not only been an exciting experience, but also an enriching way of preserving jazz for today’s young musicians. Giacomo highlights how as a student his music teachers and the school band room provided a space for him to explore musically, and how “in this day and age that space is going farther and farther away from youth”.
Members of WYJO who took part on Sunday shared their experience performing the exciting jazz repertoire after the concert.
“The guidance we get from guest musicians and Mike Daniels, WYJA’s director and trumpeter, is incredibly valuable, as is the extra support from very knowledgeable WYJO alumni. It has really helped to develop my playing” – WYJO member
The group spent two weekends rehearsing with Giacomo and Mike, who played an instrumental role in the culmination of the workshop. Mike says that working with Giacomo and his tunes “has been infectious”, enabling the WJA musicians to explore more early forms of jazz than they’re used to.
If you’re a young musician interested in joining our jazz programme, sign up to Wiltshire Jazz Academy using the page below.
