Composed by Johannes Brahms
Arranged by Nicholas Orr

The inspiration for this arrangement came from a Gordon Goodwin take on Mozart's 40th Symphony, where the original themes were used in a sort of jazz symphony through varying movements. At the time I was listening to a bit of Brahms and I loved the really strong melody of Hungarian Dance No. 1 and the way it used almost jazz harmony, so decided to give it the 'Gordon Goodwin' treatment. 

Recording personnel:
Cameron Pearce – Trumpet
Jimmy Rainey – Soprano saxophone
Julian O'Brien – Tenor Saxophone
Heather Webb – Guitar
Nicholas Orr – Piano
Sebastian Taylor – Bass
Cameron Burnett – Drums
Engineered by Joseph Bennett; Recorded at CPIT Jazz School Studio: 6 & 12 November 2014
With thanks to Cameron Pearce for guidance, encouragement and helping my ideas to come to life. 

Hungarian Dance No 1

Composed by Frederick Loewe & Alan Lerner - from the musical My Fair Lady
Arranged by Nicholas Orr

This arrangement was birthed one night when I was mucking around and discovered this song was beautiful as a bossa nova. I started to write the arrangement as such but decided it needed a bit more pizzaz, so borrowed the approximate form and concept of Next Year Baby by Jamie Cullum (which starts in a nice and pretty latin-ish style, goes nuts on a montuno for a while, and then back to the original feel). The aim of the chart is not to sound like an impressively complex arrangement (although a lot of thought has gone into keeping it dynamic and exciting), but it is meant to be a fun chart to play or listen to, that is supposed to make anyone that hears it want to dance, as per the title!

Recording personnel:
Cameron Pearce – Trumpet
Jimmy Rainey – Alto saxophone
Julian O'Brien – Tenor Saxophone
Scott Taitoko – Trombone
Nicholas Orr – Piano
Sebastian Taylor – Bass
Cameron Burnett – Drums
Engineered by Joseph Bennett
Recorded at CPIT Jazz School Studio: 6, 12 & 17 November 2014
With thanks to Cameron Pearce for guidance, encouragement and helping my ideas come to life.

I Could Have Danced All Night

Composed by Nicholas Orr

This is probably my most out-there piece I've written to date, but I think that's a good thing! The process of writing it was quite theoretical in nature, but in spite of that this is a song all about the mood and the sound: first the groove and the rich rhodes sound giving a hip and sophisticated feel; then the huge piano riff and drum groove, and the 3 melodic instruments juxtaposed at odd angles. This tune should be easy to listen to and enjoy without understanding any of the theory behind it (but feel free to ask me if you are interested!!), and I hope that's exactly what you'll do. :)

Recording personnel:
Cameron Pearce – Trumpet
Gwyn Reynolds – Tenor Saxophone
Heather Webb – Guitar
Nicholas Orr – Piano/Rhodes
Sebastian Taylor – Bass
Cameron Burnett – Drums
Engineered by Joseph Bennett
Recorded at CPIT Jazz School Studio: 6 & 12 November 2014
With thanks to Cameron Pearce for guidance, encouragement and helping my ideas come to life.

State Of Synergy

Composed by Nat Adderley
Arranged by Nicholas Orr

I've always loved this head since the first time I heard it, and this is a no-nonsense, straight-forward arrangement of it that is everything good about the blues and swinging hard.  This is perhaps not the most complicated arrangement ever, but it is fun, with enough points of interest to carry the tune; it swings hard; and it is the kind of chart a band could pull out at a gig and, with the help of a bit of good musicianship and onstage energy, blow the audience's faces off with!

Recording personnel:
Cameron Pearce – Trumpet
Gwyn Reynolds – Tenor Saxophone
Heather Webb – Guitar 
Nicholas Orr – Piano
Sebastian Taylor – Bass
Cameron Burnett – Drums
Engineered by Joseph Bennett
Recorded at CPIT Jazz School Studio: 6 & 12 November 2014
With thanks to Cameron Pearce for guidance, encouragement and helping my ideas come to life.

Work Song

Bedford Bounce

Call this what you will(EDM, fusion, synth pop, whatever), this is my latest offering. I had a lot of fun making it (when I probably should have been doing other things!!)and I hope you have a bit of fun listening to it. :)

Isolation

Here is my latest recording session, for my Year 3 Performance assessment at Jazz School. I did the whole session on the Rhodes piano - an instrument I have absolutely fallen in love with, and the concept for this session was to show off all the pretty sounds it can make.

This one's a version of a jazz standard that I like for no other reason than that I like it. :) My take on it is inspired by a version performed by Diana Krall at her Paris concert, but while that performance was just done with a  quartet, I arranged some cool horn stuff to go with it as well. Check out the awesome tenor solo, courtesy of the extraordinary Gwyn Reynolds!

Personnel:
Rhodes - Nicholas Orr
Bass - Nick Bosman
Drums - Joseph Bary
Trumpet - Raynor Martin
Tenor Saxophone - Gwyn Reynolds

Devil May Care

Here is my latest recording session, for my Year 3 Performance assessment at Jazz School. I did the whole session on the Rhodes piano - an instrument I have absolutely fallen in love with, and the concept for this session was to show off all the pretty sounds it can make.

This song was originally written by Elliot Smith - an alt pop piece with quite a dark lyric about the depths of addiction. I came across it on an album by jazz pianist Taylor Eigsti, with vocalist Becca Stevens, who transformed it into more of a jazz ballad, and I have based my version on theirs. Once the lyric is dropped this becomes a very delicate and beautiful ballad that can be about anything you want it to be. I particularly love the guitar textures in this recording, provided by Robert Daglish and his many effects pedals. :)

Personnel:
Rhodes - Nicholas Orr
Guitar - Robert Daglish
Bass - Nick Bosman
Drums - Joseph Bary

Between The Bars

Here is my latest recording session, for my Year 3 Performance assessment at Jazz School. I did the whole session on the Rhodes piano - an instrument I have absolutely fallen in love with, and the concept for this session was to show off all the pretty sounds it can make.

This track is a rendition of Thelonius Monk's stunningly beautiful ballad, "Round Midnight". It has both a melody and a chord progression that sends a tingle down my spine! Musical beauty personified!

Personnel:
Rhodes - Nicholas Orr
Bass - Nick Bosman
Drums - Joseph Bary

Round Midnight

Here is my latest recording session, for my Year 3 Performance assessment at Jazz School. I did the whole session on the Rhodes piano - an instrument I have absolutely fallen in love with, and the concept for this session was to show off all the pretty sounds it can make.

This is a piece I wrote earlier in the year, after listening to a lot of funk music by groups like Phat Phunktion and the Nils Landgren Funk Unit. How I managed to get 7/4 to groove the way it does is frankly beyond me, but the recipe here is simple - a bass riff, some horns playing a catchy melody and a few big stabs, and a good rhodes solo, all glued together with truckloads of groove, and you've got yourself a funk tune. I dare you to listen and not tap your foot. :)

Personnel:
Rhodes - Nicholas Orr
Bass - Nick Bosman
Drums - Joseph Bary
Trumpet - Raynor Martin
Alto Saxophone - Gwyn Reynolds
Tenor Saxophone - Julian O'Brien
Trombone - Scott Taitoko

Walkin' Home

Here is my latest recording session, for my Year 3 Performance assessment at Jazz School. I did the whole session on the Rhodes piano - an instrument I have absolutely fallen in love with, and the concept for this session was to show off all the pretty sounds it can make.

This is a version of a piece from the quintessential Rhodes repertoire - Chick Corea's "Spain", an upbeat latin piece written especially for the Rhodes. I picked this tune not only because of that, or that it has an interesting head arrangement, but also because it is one of my favourite tunes to solo over - the chords are simple and repetitive, leaving lots of space to do whatever awesome stuff you feel like at the time.

Personnel:
Rhodes - Nicholas Orr
Guitar - Robert Daglish
Bass - Nick Bosman
Drums - Joseph Bary

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