The collaboration between Barbara Thompson and the National Youth Jazz Orchestra on the album Bulletproof (2021) stemmed from the years in which she and her husband, Jon Hiseman, gave the band help and advice. For years they came to the NYJO’s annual residency at Ronnie Scott’s club in London, and her detailed feedback after the gigs was hugely valued.
Jon died in 2018; the following year Barbara introduced a concert to celebrate their work, and made it clear how important it was to her for the NYJO’s young musicians to work with and learn from her older colleagues in the group Paraphernalia. Proceeds from the event went to the NYJO.
• This article was amended on 5 September 2022. Barbara Thompson’s group was Paraphernalia, rather than Colosseum.
