Jazz band with choir?

I saw a Facebook status comment saying someone was watching jazz with a choir. The friend throught that was pretty strange. It was us! Jazz Republic was playing with the Rhythm Syndicate choir. It was a gig for the C100 Musical Offering, at the Brassey Hotel. Our pianist, Mike, is the accompanist for RS and he drew us in to read charts for a few tunes. It was an interestingly mixed gig. RS sang with Mike for some songs, with JR for about 10 others, and JR played several short sets in between. RS sang standards and rock & roll and early jazz, but also Sting’s Field of gold, with some more complex harmonies. I particularly enjoyed The nearness of you, given it’s such a lovely ballad, and a cute song of innocent film seduction called Baby it’s cold [outside] (girl plans to leave, boy warns of snow and cold, mmm). On the contrary, our JR sets were hot with fast takes on a string of tunes, especially a take on My finest hour at breakneck speed, but also a few funky numbers, Chameleon, of course, and Wayne Shorter’s Adam’s apple. This was fun and good practice in chart reading and hits. A very enjoyable outing at the Brassey. BTW, the first Sunday each month is Big Band afternoon at the Brassey. Good to keep in mind.

Rhythm Syndicate was accompanied by Jazz Republic at the Brassey Hotel. RS is led by Shilong Ye (musical director, conductor) and accompanied by Mike Dooley (piano). JR are Mike Dooley with Richard Manderson (saxes), Eric Pozza (bass) and Brenton Holmes (drums).