Pilgrims' Swing

The Andante from the first movement of Mendelssohn’s Italian Symphony (often nicknamed Pilgrims’ March) contains the most beautifully haunting melody supported by the simplest of bass lines and counterpoint figures. As a young musician, Graham Lloyd was so fascinated by this music he bought the orchestral score to study the notes, which at the time made little sense to him. However, he did notice that the bass line was similar to a “walking bass” line in a standard swing tune.In this composition Graham Lloyd uses Mendelssohn’s original bass line, melodic line and counterpoint figures but gives them a swing feel. Who knows, maybe if Mendelssohn had been born a hundred yearslater, he could have become one of our big band leaders!