Excited about a couple of 2027 performances in Southampton and London of a new piece, Standards, I wrote earlier this year for Oskar McCarthy (baritone), Ben Smith (piano) and fixed media.

I’m pasting the programme note here:

‘This cycle of four songs contains creative arrangements of some of my favourite jazz standards, combined with recordings of (political) speeches or, in one case, sounds from NASA moon landing footage. The piece developed out of Oskar McCarthy’s invitation to write a piece for him and Ben Smith that engaged with jazz in some way. I was struck when looking through a bunch of standards in search for an idea or concept to respond to the commission, how idealistic the lyrics often are. For example, Moonlight in Vermont celebrates the romance of place, nature, weather and even artificial structures (telegraph poles!). Shining Hour revels in the anticipation around the next meetings of lovers. Even when love is lost, the memory is nearly always idealised such as in There Will Never Be Another You or Darn That Dream.

It might be difficult in 2026 to feel idealistic about politics or the current cultural climate. The combinations of these recordings with the specific songs are intended to provoke. I’m under no illusion that these songs will actually change anything about the bin fire that is our world, but it feels negligent, even impossible, to simply ignore where we are’.