An inspired choice for the sole jazz concert in the first-ever Wimbledon Music Festival, Tony Kinsey delighted his audience with an evening of excellent big band music, all of which he either composed or arranged.

Kinsey is renowned as the brilliant drummer who came to prominence in the 1950s with the Johnny Dankworth Seven and his own successful quartet and as accompanist to jazz legends such as Billie Holiday, Ella Fitzgerald, Sarah Vaughan, Oscar Peterson and Ben Webster.

Now a trim, youthful and witty 80-year-old, his drumming skills were undiminished – crisp and precise on fast tempos, subtle and supportive on ballads. But it was his exceptional talent as an orchestral jazz composer and arranger that was the revelation for many in the audience. Starting with a brisk ‘On Green Dolphin Street’, with solos from sax men Jimmy Hastings, Chris Biscoe and Vasillis Xenopoulus and from brass men Guy Barker and Rob Harvey, Kinsey moved on to his own compositions – the up-tempo ‘Sky High’, two pieces from his Embroidery Suite: ‘the Dance of the Architects’ featuring trombonists Mark Nightingale and Dave Horler and ‘Life at the Inn’ a blues in 3/4 time with notable solo offerings from Andy Panayi on soprano sax and pianist John Horler.

Guy Barker excelled on the trumpet feature ‘Stay With The Dance’ and, following a fine series of sax solos from Biscoe, Xenopoulus and Sam Mayne on ‘Henley Ho’ from his 2005 River Thames Suite, Kinsey concluded the piece – and the first set – with a rousing drum solo. The six-part Anatomy of a Jazz Festival Suite completed a most satisfying concert by a world-class band playing great orchestral jazz.

– Charles Alexander