His most ambitious artistic undertaking yet, respected British flautist, composer and educator Gareth Lockrane’s debut big band project interprets eleven original works on an exciting, cinematic scale in Fistfight at the Barndance. Known for his considerable work with smaller ensembles such as Grooveyard (with saxophonist Alex Garnett), as well as being a familiar sideman on the UK scene, here Lockrane distils all of his experience into leading a 20-piece which sparkles with ebullient expression.

He has pretty single-handedly put the ‘big’ back into big band.Jazzwise

The Gareth Lockrane Big Band was formed in 2008 and is a fruition of all his musical interests – performing all his original material and combining his cinematic influences of greats such as Lalo Schifrin and Bernard Herrmann with the soul jazz and unrestrained improvisatory nature of his Grooveyard group and the intricate through-composed nature of his septet writing. Also influenced by, amongst others, Gil Evans, Maria Schneider, Kenny Wheeler, Jim McNeely, Thad Jones, Basie, Mingus and many more, the band blends heavy grooves and luscious orchestrations to spectacular effect.

The album title is a tribute to Lockrane’s late father, whose 6/8 blues harp riff of the same name (in which he jocularly envisaged the implosion of a convivial barndance) is the basis for the call-and-response between flute and brass at the centre of the title track’s bustling maelstrom. Each tune on the album has its own history, the big attraction for Lockrane being the weaving together of all kinds of influences – gospel, funk, straight-ahead jazz, soundtrack – as well as the challenge of harnessing and pacing the potential power of a big band.

This concert launches the long-awaited album on Whirlwind Recordings and will be a Radio 3 live broadcast.

If you wanted a fiercer experience, you’d have to move beyond music altogether and spend a couple of hours in a lion enclosure.London Jazz