This mouth-watering celebration of Dune Music’s tenth birthday starts with Roll Jordan Roll, a musical meeting between New Orleans trumpeter Abram Wilson and the soaring and exuberant voices of the mighty London Community Gospel Choir, and then, in the second half, Tighten Up! sees Gary Crosby and Jazz Jamaica join forces with the Caribbean’s finest.

New Orleans born, London resident, Abram Wilson explores a different facet of the transatlantic journey from Africa to the Americas and back to the UK, in an uplifting and revelatory new suite. It’s a little known fact that the first performances of African-American music in the UK took place as far back as 1873 – the Fisk Jubilee Singers, a group of freed slaves from Tennessee, became a sensation as they toured the country over a decade, singing for Queen Victoria and Gladstone as they went. Abram Wilson and Nicky Brown have devised a response that draws from the choir’s original archive of spirituals, with a narrative by gospel legend Viv Broughton, that focuses on their first trip to London and their explosive impact on British society. This show brings together Abram Wilson’s Delta Blues Project, itself steeped in the musical heritage of the Southern States, and the irresistible rhythms of the London Community Gospel Choir. Roll Jordan Roll stunned 15,000 people when it was first performed at the Big Chill Festival in August, and will tour nationally in 2008 – see dune-music.com for details.

For many, the legendary reggae/rock steady Trojan label was the first point of contact with Jamaican music and culture. In Tighten Up!, guitar maestro and legendary producer Ernest Ranglin, story-teller and pianist Marjorie Whylie and lovers rock star Myrna Hague add their own special Jamaican touches to a rousing, exuberant tribute to the halcyon days when Trojan Records, the Skatalites, Prince Buster and many more had the UK dancing to a different tune – a world of rock steady, ska, blue beat and pumping reggae grooves. Jazz Jamaica’s trademark blend of Jamaican roots and jazz spice, driven by Gary Crosby’s infallible basslines, features a horn section of blistering power and packed with top class soloists, promises an outrageously good night out!

Produced by Dune Music. Part of the London Jazz Festival in association with BBC Radio 3