Dankworth 2011 Prizewinners Concert (photo by David Sinclair )

1) We interviewed Alec Dankworth about Saturday’s Dankworth Celebration and Prize Concert (Photo credit in player: Jordi Avellà)‏

Interview – Alec Dankworth by LondonJazz

2) Nick Smart – Head of Jazz, Royal Academy of Music – writes:

This Saturday night February 16th, the Academy is proud to be taking over the hosting duties (from Trinity Laban) of the concert and presentation of the Dankworth Jazz composition prizes at a concert in Kings Place Hall Two.

For this special occasion we are taking the focus of the music back to all things Dankworth, and celebrating this icon of British Jazz in a musical retrospective with his son, Alec Dankworth.

The Academy Big Band has made a point of celebrating the great British composers and arrangers for a number of years now, and amassed a truly impressive list of concerts and guests amongst the projects. But the truth is that the name of John Dankworth, one of the biggest names, had remained absent for too long. Taking over the hosting of the Dankworth Prize has provided too the perfect opporturnity to put this right.

On Saturday night we welcome Alec Dankworth to join the band as guest director, and guest bassist, alongside a truly family affair. We are very happy to announce that Dame Cleo Laine will also be singing with the band, and Jacqui and Emily Dankworth will be presenting the prizes to the small and big band category winners (in conjunction with and thanks to the Worshipful Company of Musicians, who organise the competition.)

The concert will include classics from the Dankworth Seven repertoire like “I Hear Music”, and big band classics such as “Composition With Colour”, “African Waltz”, pieces from “What the Dickens” and up to date “Dankworth Generation Band compositions and “Harvey’s Festival” from the recent “World Jazz Suite”.

The Academy’s “formidable big band” (The Guardian) features some outstanding soloists and our own vocalists: Emma Smith and for this concert only, Jacob Collier.

The names of the two Dankworth Prize winners are a secret which will only be revealed on the night – but I can tell you the music is sounding great!