A refreshing alternative to the more conventional jazz band. A trio recreating, in miniature, the golden days of British light music.  Clarinet, banjo and tuba play a charmingly eccentric selection of arrangements: Sousa marches (The Liberty Bell, Stars and Stripes Forever), the music of Eric Coates (The Dam Busters, In Town Tonight), Ragtime (The Entertainer, The Maple Leaf Rag), light classics (Dvorak’s Hungarian Dances, The Blue Danube) and novelty pieces (Flapperette, Dizzy Fingers). A plethora of melodies which are surprisingly familiar but often overlooked.

 

Richard Pite, musical director of the Light Programme formed the ensemble in 1997. Realising that there was a proliferation of small jazz bands very often playing identical repertoire he set out to use the jazz band line-up but with a singular approach and creating a unique sound. The result is a very English alternative reminiscent of a bandstand concert on a summer’s afternoon.