Mass in Blue Nonsuch Singers, L'estranges in the Night & Tom Bullard

• 1 Mass in Blue, Op. 28 (Version for Jazz Trio & Choir): I. Kyrie 06:39
• 2 Mass in Blue, Op. 28 (Version for Jazz Trio & Choir): II. Gloria 03:46
• 3 Mass in Blue, Op. 28 (Version for Jazz Trio & Choir): III. Credo 08:10
• 4 Mass in Blue, Op. 28 (Version for Jazz Trio & Choir): IV. Sanctus 04:50
• 5 Mass in Blue, Op. 28 (Version for Jazz Trio & Choir): V. Benedictus 04:38
• 6 Mass in Blue, Op. 28 (Version for Jazz Trio & Choir): VI. Agnus Dei 09:00
• 7 Love Walked In 02:59
• 8 On a Clear Day 05:35
• 9 Someone to Watch Over Me 04:50
• 10 Beyond the Sea (After Trenet's "La mer") 03:55
• 11 Li'l Darlin' 04:45
• 12 Back Bay Shuffle 03:35
• 13 How Do You Keep the Music Playing? 04:33
• Total Runtime 01:07:15

Info for Mass in Blue

“It’s wonderful to have a new recording of Mass in Blue available, this time in the piano trio version rather than the original full band scoring. Nonsuch Singers and conductor Tom Bullard have done a fine job of giving a new spin on the piece, with sparkling contributions from soloist Joanna Forbes L’Estrange and pianist John Turville. The choral timbres are vibrant and engaging and the energy of Mass in Blue shines through in spades.” (Will Todd)

Many choirs have tackled Mass in Blue in its short history, and it has become a staple of the “lighter” choral repertoire. Choral jazz itself is a hard thing to define – modern British composers such as John Rutter and Bob Chilcott have woven jazz into their musical styles for many years, yet to find a choral piece that puts jazz style front and centre, as with Will Todd's Mass in Blue, is a surprisingly rare thing. After a very successful concert performance in June 2015, I chose to present it here, as then, in the context of some of the jazz standards that are the fabric of the musical world that Mass in Blue inhabits.

Joanna, Alexander and I have all been lucky to count Ward Swingle as a mentor and friend during our time in The Swingle Singers, and so I jumped at the opportunity to do some of Ward’s big band arrangements, from the group’s 1979 album Skyliner, with a choir. Rarely tackled due to its complexity (the arrangement is scored for no less than 13 voices, expertly imitating the sax, trumpet and trombone sections of a big band, with lyrics by Jon Hendricks), Ward’s arrangement of Back Bay Shuffle was an instant hit with the choir! Alongside one of Alexander’s ingenious Great American Songbook arrangements, originally written for the King’s Singers, I wanted to pay tribute to one more of the great vocal jazz groups, New York Voices, with Darmon Meader’s effortlessly cool reimagining of On a clear day, plus a beautiful a cappella arrangement by Jamey Ray of the Gershwin classic, Someone to watch over me. ​

All these standards, and the legacy of vocal jazz that they have inspired, form the backdrop for Mass in Blue, bringing Nonsuch Singers a world away from the classical world that we normally inhabit and into the realm of close-harmony singing, using my own background in the Swingle Singers to mould the choir’s sound into that of a close-miked jazz choir, presenting the Mass as it has never been heard on CD before. It is a huge privilege to work alongside my own predecessor as Musical Director of the Swingle Singers, Joanna Forbes L’Estrange, and the multi-talented performer and producer Alexander L’Estrange, as well as their amazing trio, to bring this wonderful piece to life. (Tom Bullard)

Nonsuch Singers
Tom Bullard, conductor
Joanna Forbes L’Estrange, soprano
John Turville, piano
Alexander L’Estrange, bass
Felix Higginbottom, drums

Joanna Forbes L’Estrange
is an internationally renowned British soprano and jazz vocalist, specialising in contemporary music of all styles. A Master of Arts music graduate of Oxford University, she began her career as soprano and Musical Director of the five-time Grammy® award-winning a cappella group the Swingle Singers and, since then, has enjoyed a busy freelance career as a concert artist, studio session singer, song writer, choral composer and choral leader. She has also appeared on television as a judge for the Sky 1 series Sing: Ultimate A Cappella.

Joanna has performed on many of the world’s most famous stages, from New York’s Carnegie Hall to Tokyo’s Orchard Hall to La Scala Milan and the Châtelet in Paris. In the UK, she has sung to a packed O2 Arena with Pete Tong and the Heritage Orchestra and at the Proms, Edinburgh International Festival and Glastonbury as well as for the Royal Ballet at the Royal Opera House, Covent Garden. She is much in demand as the soloist for Will Todd’sMass in Blue and her solo concert repertoire also includes Howard Shore’s Lord of the Rings trilogy, Duke Ellington’s Sacred Concerts and numerous works by Steve Reich, Stockhausen, John Adams and Luciano Berio, whose iconic masterpiece Sinfonia she has performed fifty times with the world’s leading orchestras and conductors. Recordings include a cappella and solo jazz albums, contemporary orchestral works, CDs with the award-winning chamber choir Tenebrae and hundreds of soundtracks to video games and Hollywood films.

Joanna’s choral compositions and songs are published by RSCM, Faber Music and andagio. In 2018, she made history by organising and conducting the first ever entirely female recording session at London’s Abbey Road Studios, recording her song Twenty-first-century Woman as a charity single for International Women’s Day with an all-female band, choir and production team. All proceeds from downloads of the song—available from all music platforms— go to charities supporting girls’ education worldwide.

Nonsuch Singers
High-quality singing, innovative programmes and communicative performances are the hallmarks of Nonsuch Singers. The choir has gained a reputation for stylistic versatility in a cappella and accompanied works ranging from the Renaissance to the present day. Concerts have featured a great many works by living British composers.

Founded in 1977, Nonsuch Singers owes its name to the location of its first—informal— rehearsal, held on the site of Nonsuch Palace. The choir of some 40 members typically gives six or seven concerts a year, regularly performing with some of the UK’s leading instrumental ensembles and nest young vocal soloists.

The choir has had four Music Directors over the course of its history: Garrett O’Brien (1977- 1981), Michael Hodges (1981-1996), Graham Caldbeck (1996-2012) and Tom Bullard, appointed in January 2013.

Highlights have included Monteverdi’s Vesperswith His Majestys Sagbutts and Cornetts at St Martin-in-the-Fields (recommended as ‘Critic’s Choice’ in the Times); a critically acclaimed concert of French Baroque works, edited by Lionel Sawkins, with an orchestra led by Catherine Mackintosh and soloists including Andrew Kennedy and Emma Kirkby; and the first complete modern performance of Joseph-Nicolas-Pancrace Royer’s opera, Zaïde, Reine de Grenade, celebrating the 300th anniversary of the composer’s birth. In 2017, the choir celebrated its 40th anniversary with a performance of Bach’s St Matthew Passion in Southwark Cathedral.

Nonsuch Singers has given a number of world premieres, including John Tavener’s Exhortation and Kohima in the Royal British Legion Festival of Remembrance at the Royal Albert Hall (televised) and Wild Ways, Roxanna Panufnik’s setting of Zen poems for double choir and shakuhachi (a Japanese flute). In October 2014, the choir was privileged to give the first UK performance of To the Field of Stars by Gabriel Jackson, and in 2016 released its first commercial recording, with Convivium Records, featuring To the Field of Stars alongside other pieces on the theme of stars and the heavens.

Tom Bullard
trained at King’s College, Cambridge, and enjoys a varied career as solo baritone, teacher, choral director and vocal coach, having studied singing with Russell Smythe. In January 2013, he was appointed Musical Director of Nonsuch Singers.

Recent solo performances have included Mozart Requiem, Vaughan Williams Five Mystical Songs, Haydn The Creation, Reich The Cave and Einhorn Voices of Light (with the LSO). Stage roles include Marcello in La Bohème, Jack Rance in La Fanciulla del West, Figaro in The Barber of Seville, and Dandini in La Cenerentola, as well as Sky Masterson in Guys and Dolls and Anthony Hope in Sweeney Todd. Other highlights have included Berio’s Sinfonia with Antonio Pappano and the Accademia di Santa Cecilia at the BBC Proms, as well as with Zubin Mehta and the Vienna Philharmonic Orchestra, and the world premiere of Azio Corghi’s opera, ¿Pia?, at the Teatro dell’Opera in Rome.

From 2001, Tom spent eight years with The Swingle Singers, the last four as Musical Director. Under his direction, the group toured Europe, the USA, Asia and South America, and performed with some of the world’s nest orchestras and conductors. Tom’s own arrangements have been recorded on a number of The Swingle Singers albums and have proved popular with choirs and ensembles worldwide.

In addition to his post with Nonsuch Singers, Tom is Head of Singing at Eltham College, and also teaches singing at Westminster Under School, as well as working as a vocal coach for National Youth Music theatre. Recordings include several albums with the Choir of King’s College for EMI, and The Swingle Singers. He has also recorded MacMillan’s Since it was the Day of Preparation for Delphian, and was musical director for Nonsuch Singers’ debut album, To the Field of Stars, for Convivium.

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