Sam Eastmond plays the music of legendary Downtown composer and alchemist John Zorn.

For the last decade Eastmond has been Zorn’s go-to large ensemble arranger for his recording projects, Eastmond has arranged and recorded critically albums in Zorn’s MASADA Book Two, MASADA Book Three, and the Bagatelles series, the only artist to have done so in all three, and the only UK artist in any of these series.

Zorn composed hisBook of Bagatelles– 300 new tunes, each generally consisting of 3-line melodies – as constructs from which musicians can explore and present vast, free ranges of possibility, lines of thought, complexity, juxtapositions, and extensions.

Through Eastmond’s expansive and highly sophisticated poly- stylistic arrangements that draw from a rich palette of jazz and European improv, avant-rock, and modern classical traditions, Eastmond imaginatively takes Big Band music to unheard places. These pieces are launchpads for a joyful transcendence.

Eastmond’s Big Band more than rises to the challenge posed by these selectedBagatelles. Arranged for 12 musicians, the ensemble features some of Europe’s most celebrated creative musicians and improvisors alongside young rising stars of the UK scene. Across the work, there’s the sense of choreography and the speed with which the players interact and slip in and out of the spotlight, the precision with which they follow the demands of Eastmond’s arrangement and directions, the blurred virtuosic handling of improvised and written material, the way they switch moods and tones, from the ferocious to the mellifluous, is astounding.

“...what they made was a wonderful, innovative music - something that could at any time evoke the power ofMingus' big band, the swoon of Ellingtonian orchestration, the witty non-sequiturs of Sun Ra, the cartoonishirreverence of Spike Jones or the urgent thrash of Zorn's Simulacrum.”

Tony Benjamin, Jazzwiselive review at Cafe Oto.

“..a stunning big band interpretation ofThe Bagatelles. Brilliantly arranged by Sam Eastmond (Spike Orchestra)this is one of the most exhilarating instillments in the series. Sam outdoes himself here with a set of expansive arrangements that touch on jazz, rock, classical, sound-tracks and more. Spine-tingling music from one of the most creative ensembles in the world.”

John Zorn

Conductor & Arranger - Sam Eastmond

Saxophones - Chris Williams, Asha Parkinson, George Garford, Mick Foster

Trumpets - Noel Langley, Charlotte Keeffe

Trombone - Joel Knee

Tuba - Tom Briers

Guitar - Moss Freed

Piano - Olly Chalk

Bass/Toys/Gong - Fergus Quill

Drums - Alasdair Pennington