2011’s London Jazz Festival opened with curator Guy Barker, conducting a forty-piece orchestra, leading singers as diverse as Ayanna, Shingai Shoniwa and Norma Winstone in celebration of anniversaries from a century of song.

Barker’s carefully scored accompaniment, balancing conservative song selection with moments of genuine daring, rarely fettered the vocalists’s improvisational flair. Rather, by exploring the limitations of the concert’s format the singers produced the evening’s highlights. Ian Shaw’s My Favourite Things, imitating vocally the pitch and timbre of different sections of the orchestra, blurred the usual distinction between vocalist and accompaniment. Gregory Porter’s 1960 What?, likewise undermining the division between singer and orchestra, halted the latter’s playing to engage them in vocal call and response.

Barker’s orchestration deserves praise for producing such moments that unsettled the familiar singer-accompaniment dynamic. These moments, subtle enough for casual listeners whilst offering something for enthusiasts, proliferated in a closing homage to Louis Armstrong’s 110th Birthday. Uniting onstage a vocal cast completed by Mary Pearce, Michelle Dockery, and Lucinda Belle, this was fitting finale for a well-balanced curtain raiser.

– Matt Ellis