We are now well and truly into the season for outdoor big band performances. With its advantages and its disadvantages. Among the advantages, apart from boosting the band’s vitamin D levels, if lucky, is that of bringing our music to a wider audience and demonstrating the healthy state of the local big band […]
Patrick Billingham rounds up the latest big band news from around Sussex. I was unable to go to Big Band@Brunswick last month to hear The One World Orchestra. But I have received reports from some who were there. To remind you, this band evolved from The Paul Busby Big Band. Paul has written and […]
The self congratulatory Brighton Festival is back again, bigger, better and ever more ambitious. Without a whisper of a big band and very little jazz. Yet again. And only three big band events in the Fringe. Although I suspect this is due largely to the increasing, and for most local bands, unaffordable cost of registration. […]
I try to ensure that all the big band gigs in the county are included in the gig lists each month. Unfortunately, some slip through the net. Having heard about it only the evening before, I was able to attend one such gig recently, which had been confirmed only three days before. The Downsbeat Swing […]
This month there is good news and bad news. I will start with the good news. A newcomer, mentioned last month, has joined the Sussex big band scene. Here is a profile of Happy Days Big Band in the words of its founder, Chris Merryfield-Day. “I started playing the saxophone in 2010 and joined a […]
Following the absence of the January issue, a belated happy new year to you all. In case you haven’t noticed, the updated list of active Sussex big bands, usually published in January, is posted on the SJM website and the Big Bands of Brighton Facebook page. Another item which was to have been included is […]
The January Big Band Scene has a tradition, dating back almost a third of a decade, listing the big bands active in the county. Here is the list prepared for the January 2019 issue. Including websites & Facebook addresses, where known and contact details. Sussex Big Bands – January 2019 Bands with […]
Nationally and internationally, 2018 has been an unsettling year. Locally, on the Sussex big band front, it has been a year of mixed fortunes. There have been slightly fewer live performances, accounted for, to some extent, by the loss of two residencies. But still averaging more than ten a month, the scene remains quite healthy. […]
This month sees a welcome return to the Sussex big band scene of the One World Orchestra, with their appropriately named Bonfire! performance at the Unitarian Church in central Brighton. Details are in the listings below. This Sussex based ensemble, formerly The Paul Busby Big Band, changed its name a couple of years ago, when […]
Elliot Deutsch Make Big Band Great Again (self-release) Although in some quarters, jazz has been regarded as a subversive form of music, big band music has not been considered as a vehicle for protest. Until now. When he started to write this album, Elliot’s original plan was to pay tribute to his hometown, […]