Released by Spartacus Records just three days before the Scottish independence referendum, the Scottish National Jazz Orchestra explore the enduring historic hurt of Culloden felt since 1746 as the theme of their new album, a setting of Bobby Wellins’ Culloden Moor Suite. Wellins, a much loved Scottish jazz saxophone icon since appearing on Stan Tracey’s Under Milk Wood, composed this stirring five-part suite four years earlier in 1961 inspired by reading an account of the bloody battle. The album, recorded in May last year, follows the release of the SNJO’s acclaimed American Adventure earlier in 2014.
Pictured: members of the SNJO with director Tommy Smith, above right