UMO and multi-instrumentalist Django Bates celebrate the music of The Beatles in two concerts in the beginning of November: at Järvenpää Hall on Wednesday 1st of November and at Savoy Theatre on Thursday the 2nd of November. The concerts are a jazzy rendition of the classic album.

Released in 1967, Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band is widely seen as one of the most notable records of all times. Rolling Stone magazine has declared it the single most influential record in the history of pop music. The album was made in the middle of the hippie era, and already then, the music, cover art and studio techniques used were considered revolutionary.

British multi-instrumentalist, composer and arranger Django Bates (b. 1960) has arranged the jazzy version of the album. The arrangement was commissioned by for European big bands: UMO, Swedish Norrbotten Big Band, Danish Radio Big Band, and German hr-Bigband. The new arrangement was premiered last October at a jazz festival in Frankfurt by hr-Bigband and Bates.

Django Bates has been many times elected the best jazz composer of the UK. Some have described him an incredibly gifted musician, a lover of anarchistic humour and a vibrantly creative personality. Bates has performed with the likes of Wynton Marsalis, Michael Brecker, Vince Mendoza and Metropole Orchestra. He first carved his name in the 1980’s playing in the big band Loose Tubes.

Django Bates, piano, band leader
Martin Dahl, vocals
Stuart Hall, guitar
Jonas Westergaard, bass
Peter Bruun, drums
Robert Luft, guitar
UMO Jazz Orchestra