BBC Proms 2007 (repeats) - 24/12/2007

Over Christmas and New Year, Performance on 3 revisits some of the highlights of the 2007 BBC Proms at the Royal Albert Hall. Geoffrey Smith begins the series with a Prom that celebrated the eightieth birthdays of jazz legends John Dankworth and Cleo Laine. Together with special guests, the BBC Big Band and members of the BBC Concert Orchestra, they pay tribute to the enduring genius of William Shakespeare through their music. Dankworth fashions a sequence of Shakespeare settings that really swing and celebrates his friendship with Duke Ellington by performing his Shakespearean suite Such Sweet Thunder. Cleo Laine (singer) Soweto Kinch, Tommy Smith (saxophones) Guy Barker (trumpet) John Dankworth Quintet BBC Big Band BBC Concert Orchestra John Dankworth (director/reeds) Dankworth: The Million Dollar Collection (excerpts); Shakespeare and All That Jazz (excerpts) Ellington, arr. Dankworth: Such Sweet Thunder (excerpts) Strayhorn, arr. Dankworth: Take the A Train Ellington: Tonight I Shall Sleep Dankworth: The Blues Ain't Ellington: Creole Love Call Ellington, arr. Dankworth: It Don't Mean a Thing.