Admin l Monday, February 06, 2017
HARMONDSWORTH, United Kingdom – British Airways is taking three young musicians to the home of jazz on their sold-out VIP party flight to New Orleans.
Grammy winning singer, songwriter and pianist, Jon Cleary, and double MOBO award-winning saxophonist, YolanDa Brown, selected the three winners who will ‘busk’ to 150 VIPs on the airline’s exclusive charter flight to the ‘Big Easy’ for Mardi Gras.
Cherise Adams-Burnett, 21, from Luton, 25-year-old Jamie Brownfield, from Powys in Wales, and 21-year-old Londoner Quinn Oulton will perform on board the sold-out flight that will also feature a sky-high set from YolanDa Brown.
YolanDa, said: “The standard of entries was really high but in the end we went for musicians who not only sound fantastic but can also perform – they’ve got a captive audience after all! In the winners we’ve got a real mix of talent and I can’t wait to see them gig in the sky.”
Jon Cleary, said: “As someone that was born in London and grew up in New Orleans this new bridge between these two wonderful cities is incredibly exciting. Here in New Orleans, celebration and music are something we’re famous for so I hope the three winners get the party started in the air and continue the celebrations when they touch down.”
All three musicians have secured the trip of a lifetime for themselves and a friend, each winning a pair of seats on the flight, three night’s accommodation at the Hyatt Regency and Mardi Gras parade tickets.
They will be experience everything New Orleans has to offer during the most-sought after weekend of the year, when hundreds of thousands of revellers descend on the city for one of the world’s most famous festivals.
Trumpet player Jamie Brownfield, said: “I’m a bit of a plane geek and have my private pilot’s license so performing on one on the way to New Orleans will be very, very surreal! I’ve been playing New Orleans style jazz for the past eight years so to have the
chance to visit the home of jazz and busk in the French Quarter is a dream for me.”
Vocalist Cherise Brown-Burnett, a student at Trinity Laban College of Music and Dance in south east London, said: “All young jazz musicians dream of heading to New Orleans so I can’t describe how excited I am that I’m actually going to be going there. I’m so thankful that Jon and YolanDa selected me for this fantastic opportunity and can’t wait to take part.”
Royal Academy of Music student Quinn Oulton, from Wandsworth in London, who has been playing the saxophone since he was eight, said: “I really wasn’t expecting to win and was gob smacked when BA called to say Jon and YolanDa had selected me as one of their winners. New Orleans is the one place in the world I have always wanted to go and to visit during Mardi Gras is a once in a lifetime opportunity.”
As well as the live in-flight entertainment, guests will be treated to a New Orleans inspired Creole menu and shake signature cocktails with mixologists ‘flaring’ on board.
