Great fun was had by all at the Sax in Shanghai workshop and concert thursday evening at JZ club. Great Britain’s National Saxophone Choir, led by Nigel Wood, managed to fit nearly all of their twenty-plus members onto the stage at JZ, and for a few tunes with at least ten or twelve more guest sax players together! It was quite a sight, but even more amazing was the sound of almost forty saxophones playing fantastic arrangements together. Nearly all the music peformed was written or arranged by Nigel himself, and included a splended rendition of Ravel’s Bolero. The group also performed a few pieces in smaller configurations, some of which featured Nigel playing the eensy-meensy soprillo saxophone right next to the woman playing the massive Tubax, which is a type of contrabass sax (both pictured here, sort of in the dark. Sorry I’m a terrible photographer).
Also a student saxophone quartet from the Shanghai Conservatory played a few numbers, which I thought was quite interesting and impressive as well. All in all, it was a great time and everyone enjoyed it thoroughly.