History

The Sussex Jazz Orchestra, sometimes known as the Brighton Jazz Orchestra, was formed by Ian Hamer in 1987 to play the music of Ian Hamer himself, Tubby Hayes, Stan Tracey, Kenny Wheeler and others.  At first it was called the Sussex Youth Jazz Orchestra, but because many young people came and went as they started out on their careers or went on to universities elsewhere, the word Youth was removed from the title.  Since then, the band has been open to anyone, male or female, and any age.  There are many excellent young people in the band, several of whom have been or are currently attending jazz courses at various colleges.   A few people have been with the band since it was formed or shortly after.  There are also some people who play with the band once in a while but not on a regular basis.   Amongst well-known players who have at some time or other played with the band are Kenny Wheeler, Alan Downey, Byron Wallen, Mark Bassey and Alan Skidmore.  John Altman, Simon Spillett and Charlotte Glasson sat in with the band at the reception, following Ian Hamer's funeral service.  In fact, Charlotte began her career by playing alto with the band at the age of 13.   There are plans to feature other well-known guest artists with the band at future gigs, so keep an eye on this page for up-to-date information.

Details

The band rehearses in the Hare and Hounds in London Road, Brighton at 8.15pm every Thursday.   The band has a conventional format of trumpets, trombones, alto, tenor and baritone sax, piano, bass and drums. We have an abundance of players and that means having to double-up on many parts, but that does not really matter - at least everyone gets to have a play and become familiar with the charts.   When we have any vacancies, it will be announced here.  Players should be able to read - some of the arrangements can be a bit tricky - and everyone must be prepared to solo.   Sorry, we cannot allow people to sit-in with the band, unless they are "name" players.

The Music

There are very few "printed" arrangements in the pad, except for some Thad Jones-Mel Lewis charts and a few others.   If you want to hear the standard big band repertoire, there are plenty of other big bands around which will cater more to your interest.   The band does not wish to compromise its choice of music for the sake of doing commercial gigs. 

The next gig at the Hare and Hounds is on the 18th May from 4-6.15pm

Gigs after that are likewise on the third Sunday of every month from 4-6pm.

Another date to remember is the 21st September when Simon Spillett will be playing with the band at the Hare and Hounds.

Hear the band

Here are some short soundbites of the band, recorded at a live concert sometime in the 1990's on a minidisc. The quality is poor but the enthusiasm shines through it.   You can also hear Ian encouraging the band in the background!  Click on the arrow to hear the tunes, or if you don't see an arrow, click on the title.

She insulted me in Marrakech     

This is a Tubby Hayes tune.

Pedro's Walk     

This is a tune of Ian Hamer's which he called "his greatest hit".

Here are some tunes from a more recent gig in December 2007, recorded by Rikki Borkum, our bass player.  They have been edited to reduce their size.

Hamerphilia     

This was written by Ian Hamer, and features solos by a guest trombonist, Tim Wade and a guest tenor-player, Phil Paton.

Hangover Street     

Written by Paul Busby with solos by Andy Casterton on trumpet, Tim Wade on trombone and Rik Borkum on bass.  Please excuse the hiss at the beginning. Rik only used 1 microphone to record everything and the editing has introduced some hiss. It doesn't last. Get this chart FREE on the second Big Band page.

Blues in my shoes     

Written by Peter Herbolzheimer with solos by Jake Goss (alto), Andy Pickett (tenor), Pete Davison, Kjell Berglund and Andy Casterton (trumpets), Phil Paton (tenor), Tim Wade (trombone), Angele Veldtmejer (tenor), and Patrick Billingham (baritone).   The rhythm section changes of style were not written.

To hear some more of the tunes the band plays, go to the Big Band pages

Programme for 20th April 2008.

1. Blues for Pipkins (Tubby Hayes)
2. Sidewinder (Lee Morgan arranged by Ian Hamer)
3. So What (Miles Davis arranged by Ian Hamer)
4. Gentle Piece (Kenny Wheeler)
5. Favelas (Paul Busby)
6. Chin Chin (Paul Busby)
7. Choose whose blues (Paul Busby)
8. She insulted me in Marrakech (Tubby Hayes)
9. Peace Mongers (Paul Busby)
10.Three and One (Thad Jones)
11.Ouagadougou (Paul Busby)
12.The Wrong Song (Paul Busby)
13.No More Blues (Jobim arranged by Paul Busby)
14.Blues in my shoes (Peter Herbolzheimer)

Contacts

If you would like more information about the band or would like to book it, please contact Patrick Billingham (band manager) on 01273 624446 or email "g8aac@yahoo.co.uk"

Or Paul Busby (musical director) on 01273 813188 or email "us@46bd.co.uk" .

If you would like to be added to the mailing list to be informed of upcoming gigs and general news, send an email to Patrick or Paul.

A big band is never static, but continues to develop. Since taking over as Musical Director in September 2006, I've concentrated on rehearsing the band much more thoroughly than it had been for some time. It helps that the members of the band themselves often ask for difficult passages to be run through several times. All of them take pride in the band and can recognise how much it has improved over the last year, thanks to their own efforts.

We've still got a long way to go but we are getting there. With so many saxes (sometimes as many as 10) and trumpets (anything up to 7) it can be hard to get the band to sound tight at times and to make sure that intonation is not a problem, as can be imagined. Dynamics are also affected by this at times. But getting the dynamics right is something which affects most bands. Still, it's an important aspect which shouldn't be overlooked.

The weekly rehearsals are nearly always very well-attended, after all it is a social get-together as much as a musical work-out. People all get on well and there are no cliques which often happens in a band this size. There are 2 new sax players - Rachel and Anna. Great to have them on board.

Patrick is still in the process of writing out a lot of the older hand-written charts on to computer, using Sibelius. As a result the parts are much clearer to read.

We are still working our way through the existing pad, and re-discovering old gems. I still have a handful of older arrangements which I am re-writing so am kept busy. I have also said I would write individual pieces for each member of the band, which should keep me busy into the 23rd century.

In the future I would like us to play some more charts by Kenny Wheeler, and some by Bob Brookmeyer and Marie Schneider. But I would also like it to take on a more European big band sound.

The other aspect is of course its appeal to the audience. I think it's important to appeal to young people because so many big bands around here cater mainly to older people. Going down the nostalgia route is a dead-end, although it would give us more gigs. The future lies in getting a big audience base of young people who then get turned on to jazz in a more general sense.

So that's what's happening at the moment.