ProfessionalBigBand

The Andrew Linham Jazz Orchestra is a contemporary big band playing the original music of leader and composer Andrew Linham. They premiered their first album 'Weapons of Mass Distraction' in 2017 having formed in 2014 for the performance of two suites of music 'The Linferno Suite' (2013) and 'Theme Music of Anarchic Animals' (2015). They annually perform a 'Christ-Mess Extravaganza' at The Vortex and are a hidden gem in the London Jazz scene. Featuring a wealth of young talent, this millenial big band enjoys pastiche and wacky humour led with irreverance celebrating the wealth of diversity of style in the history of jazz. Downbeat said of them “The cleverly titled Weapons of Mass Distraction firmly establishes the Andrew Linham Jazz Orchestra has a signification addition to today’s big band scene and a group that deserves wider recognition at the international level.” Ed Enright, Downbeat Review (Editor’s Pick) December 2017

ProfessionalBigBand

The NRO played its first season back in 1985 led by bandleader, Nick Ross and have been touring audiences across the UK and beyond ever since. This 16-piece big band features some of the finest musicians in the UK along with guest singers which have included Sam Merrick, Georgina Jackson & Matthew Ford. With records released in 2008 (My Favourite Things) and 2011 (Jeepers Creepers) respectively, the NRO have recently released their third album, 'Sounds of the Glenn Miller Era' (2020), recorded at the legendary Abbey Road Studios in London featuring vocalist, Sam Merrick. Recapture the sounds and memories of a bygone era as the Nick Ross Orchestra present an unmissable evening of music and song, the classic Big Band Sound of the Glenn Miller Era. With a line-up of saxophones, trumpets, trombones, a rhythm section and singers, the Nick Ross Orchestra faithfully recreate the Big Band sound of the '40s & '50s. The NRO Library features hits from Glenn Miller, Count Basie, Tommy Dorsey, Ted Heath, Artie Shaw, Woody Herman, Les Brown, Benny Goodman, Ray Noble, and Stan Kenton among others.... and our repertoire would not be complete without reference to the songbook of Frank Sinatra.

AmateurBigBand

Jazz/funk/soul/latin/swing. Formerly known as Warwick Alumni Big Band

ProfessionalBigBand

Founder/Director Tommy Smith established the SNJO in 1995 and are supported by Creative Scotland since '98. They have shared the stage with many of the leading lights in world jazz People like Jazzmeia Horn, Cleo Laine, Jacqui Dankworth, John Scofield, Gary Burton, Bobby Watson, Dave Liebman, Joe Lovano, Bill Evans, Kenny Wheeler, Joe Temperley, Tam White, Carol Kidd, Norma Winstone, Gary Novak, Mike Stern, Bob Mintzer, Keith Tippett, Niall Greig Fulton, Tam Dean Burn, Benny Golson, Mugenkyo Taiko Drummers, Branford Marsalis, Joe Locke, Jim Mullen, Mike Maineri, Maria Schneider, Bobby Wellins, Martin Taylor, Laura Jurd, Giuliana Soscia, Paolo Fresu, Eddi Reader, Keith Tippett, Courtney Pine, Mike Walker, Ingrid Jensen, Arild Andersen, Peter Erskine, Kurt Elling, Makoto Ozone and Randy Brecker have all joined the orchestra to explore virtually every room in the house of the jazz. The SNJO repertoire has included re-imaginings of works by the great, the good and the gigantic, including Weather Report, Herman, Rich, Carter, Strayhorn, Goodman, Kenton, Basie, Gillespie, Mingus, Jaco, Corea, Monk, Metheny, Shorter, Miles and Coltrane. They have also recorded vivid interpretations of Mozart, Prokofiev, Piazzolla, Gershwin and Ellington to rave reviews, alongside a remarkable re-reading of Miles Ahead, an ECM-tinted set on Celebration and Tommy Smith’s epic suites, World of the Gods, Spirit of Light, Torah, and Beauty & the Beast.

SemiProfBigBand

Based in Newcastle-upon-Tyne and performing across the UK.

ProfessionalBigBand

The Patchwork Jazz Orchestra are a collective London based ensemble dedicated to championing big band music in a contemporary setting. Since its debut at the 2014 London Jazz Festival, the group has been turning heads with the sound of fresh original compositions written exclusively by its members, and have appeared at some of London's best known jazz venues from the 606 Club and the Vortex, to abroad at the La Mortella concert series in Ischia, Italy. In 2015 the orchestra won the Peter Whittingham Award, whcih funded their own pop-up night 'Patchwork', along with their debut album which they are set to record at the end of 2017.

ProfessionalBigBand

The Ed Puddick Big Band has been playing together since 2004 and is led by composer and arranger Ed Puddick. This 14-piece band often features the finest jazz musicians in the UK and in 2010 released their debut album 'Guys & Dolls'. Other projects include 'Jubilee Suite' (2012) and a celebration of Thelonious Monk's (2017). http://www.edpuddick.com/

SemiProfBigBand

Since its formation in 2008, Jon Ritchie and That Swing Sensation has focussed on some of the greatest dance and big band music from the golden age of swing. Appearances on TV and radio, festivals and functions as well as sell-out shows at the Edinburgh Fringe and an appearance in The Guinness Book of World Records has made the band Scotland’s Record breaking Big Band

ProfessionalBigBand

The BBC Big Band performs regularly at most of the UK’s major music festivals including the BBC Proms, Cheltenham, Edinburgh, Harrogate, Brecon and as an Associate Ensemble at Town Hall Birmingham. Over the past 20 years the band has performed with many giants of the music world. These have included Ray Charles, Tony Bennett, George Benson, George Shearing, Lalo Schifrin, Clark Terry and Michael Bublé. The band’s origins date from the earliest days of the BBC and the formation of the original BBC Dance Orchestra in 1928. This began under the leadership of Jack Payne before Henry Hall took over in 1932. This ‘golden’ period of the 1930’s saw not only the BBC Dance Orchestra, but many other bands including those of Billy Cotton, Geraldo, Joe Loss and Jack Hylton become celebrities, thanks in great part to the unrivalled reach of the new medium of radio. As musical fashions changed, dance bands and big bands evolved and remained at the heart of the BBC’s musical output throughout the Second World War and beyond. In the 1950’s the BBC Dance Orchestra became known as the BBC Showband under the leadership of Cyril Stapleton. The band began to be used widely in the new medium of television, both in the company of home-grown talent including Matt Monro as well as with international stars such as Frank Sinatra and Nat ‘King’ Cole.