James Morrison plays Schifrin

Last Thursday I went to see James Morrison. Not the British singer-songwriter (who I always took as being a bit polished and pop, perhaps unfairly) but the Australian jazz trumpet legend. He and Ambre Hammond, a pianist of high standing, were playing a double symphony written specially for them, by Lalo Schifrin, a world-renowned composer, conductor, pianist, but who is perhaps best known for the theme to Mission:Impossible! Before the symphony we were treated to the Australian debut of two suites of Schifrin's orchestral music, played by the Sydney symphony, all excellent stuff (though as someone with a limited experience of orchestral music I don't have much to say on it). Then the soloists came out, and showed some incredible skills on their instruments, and the music was at times energetic and compelling, at times gentle and emotional, and swung from the classical to the jazz to, well, all sorts of stuff. Again, it was great to see people perform who are really, really good at what they do. But my favourite bit was the encores.



James Morrison and Ambre Hammond came back on to play an unaccompanied version of Basin Street Blues. Morrison played part of the theme with one finger, towards the end, and Hammond played a jazz improv-style solo, interspersed with some big Romantic piano chord runs. As if that wasn't enough, Morrison and Schifrin came on afterwards and played Theme from Mission:Impossible to us, Schifrin on the piano (a little shaky and out of time but pretty solid for a 75 year old) and Morrison playing the melody on the trumpet. The orchestra seemed pretty ready for it.



I really like these free Opera House tickets.