Purest Green took its name not from the pleasant surroundings of Greenwich Park, close to where the composer was studying at the time, but from a line in the BBC TV sitcom Blackadder II. The composition is unsurprisingly therefore a humorous, playful one, reflecting both the title and (allegedly) an element of the composer's personality.
Composed intuitively within a jazz genre, this light-hearted piece often uses a traditional walking bass pattern in the baritone, which gives a familior reference point to build material over. Jazz harmony is employed throughout, as are occasional key shifts, which are typical within the genre.
