Com'è andata a Cambridge la settimana scorsa con la ripresa del Rossini Re-Loaded dei Westbrook e la Uncommon Orchestra lo spiega per bene Duncan Heining su LondonJazz. Sull'origine del progetto, che ha messo all'opera molte diverse formazioni nel corso degli anni, spende ancora qualche parola Mike: "From the earliest days of jazz, musicians have taken music from the world around them and re-invented it in their own style. That tradition continues today, and as a composer I find working with existing material as important as creating original compositions. However I have not been a fan of ‘jazzing the classics’. Until in 1984 when we were commissioned to write for a William Tell Festival in Lausanne and Kate suggested looking at the Rossini opera. I arranged the Overture for a small street band. Working on this music was so enjoyable that we added more overtures and arias from Rossini operas. We toured the show for several years. In 1989 I wrote a big band version for the NDR Band. This in turn we toured with my own orchestra. In 1992 Big Band Rossini was the first jazz work ever performed in the main BBC Proms at the Albert Hall in London. In 2017 we had the great honour of performing the piece the Teatro Rossini in Pesaro, city of Rossini’s birth. In October this year we have been asked to open a Rossini Festival in a newly restored opera house in Lugo."