The great artist, tenor saxophonist, jazz composer, bandleader, professor, paterfamilias of the Scottish jazz scene Tommy Smith and his most enduring creation the Scottish National Jazz Orchestra celebrate Scotland's national poet and abiding spirit of the nation and the Caledonian diaspora Robert Burns who was born today in 1759 and marked at suppers in the evening on this day the world over are here with their moving instrumental version of the Geoffrey Keezer-arranged Robert Archibald Smith melody for the ages set to Burns' words, 'My Love Is Like a Red, Red Rose.' Smith, also thinking of the power of poetry now, refers to poet Amanda Gorman in his words of introduction before he recites the Burns poem in the wintry scene filmed near 12th century Lanark. Drily amused just as he finishes, on hearing glacial noises off, he quips, glancing over his shoulder ''there the ice cracks in the distance.''
Tender is the night: Robert Burns, top, by Alexander Nasmyth, National Galleries, Scotland
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