Guards Chapel Orchestra/Edge of Chaos Orchestra, Orchestra

Biography

The story of the Edge of Chaos Orchestra is one punctuated by a series of serendipitous events, which has earned Jimmy Lee the handle – ‘Accidental Composer’. Jimmy is a self-taught multi-instrumentalist whose sense of timing is unique to him. In his mind, switching from 4/4 to 3/4 for one bar and back again seems totally natural yet once caused one collaborator to exclaim ¨Goddamn, we’re all on the edge of chaos here.” His musicianship and modus operandi were honed over a twenty-year period at the Blue Coconut Club, a weekly invitation-only live performance night that he ran from his home. It was a modest and intimate club, private but not exclusive, which featured performances from such luminaries as Tom Paxton, Ralph McTell, The Pretty Things, Richard O’Brien and Carolyn Hester, amongst many others. Over the years, he cherry-picked the players who could maintain his pace, sense his mood and anticipate an imminent change of rhythm signature. All were classically trained yet had the ability to improvise; there is no room in the Edge of Chaos Orchestra for players who are constricted by music written on a page. In May 2010, after a series of traumatic and life changing events, Jimmy took himself off to a place of solitude and began to write. Melody, harmony and rhythm flowed through him. In an emotionally charged state and with the help of his ensemble, he was able to develop the structure, dynamics and harmonies that he was feeling, but needed guidance in expressing. It was one fateful night at the Amberley Folk Club that would change everything. At the end of the evening, after performing some of the nascent works, a member of the audience approached Jimmy, complemented him on the new material and asked if he’d ever thought about having his work arranged for an orchestra. The gentleman turned out to be David Lyon, a leading figure in the military, who encouraged Jimmy to send a copy to CAMUS (The Combined Army School of Music). An enthusiastic meeting took place and the following day he got a call from Major Craig Hallatt, Director of Music Band of the Household Cavalry, who offered to work in his spare time to help arrange the works for an orchestra. A period of intense collaboration between the two men ensued and twelve months later the final manuscript was approved. Absolutely itching to hear the fruit of their labour, The Guards Chapel at Wellington Barracks was secured for a live rendition of the compositions. The Household Cavalry offered wind, brass and timpani sections and Jimmy put forward the strings. Disaster almost struck when the company that had been engaged to record the performance cancelled at the last minute. Jimmy hastily called a friend for help who assured him – “Don’t worry, leave it to me. There will be somebody there.” On the night of the event, to everyone’s great surprise, Lewis Jones from Abbey Road Studios arrived with a truckload of equipment. The musicians, few of whom knew each other, filed in and were handed the score. None of them had seen or heard it before “They walked in, everyone sat down, it all went quiet and. to my astonishment, they just played it!……..beautifully!” exclaimed Jimmy afterwards. The result is ‘Orchestral Stories.´