Patchwork Jazz Orchestra is a brand new ensemble, which will make its first ever appearance on the evening of the Tuesday of the EFG London Jazz Festival, November 18th, at The Forge. Writing on behalf of the group which has put it together, drummer Scott Chapman explains the background to the new venture:

This gig marks the beginning of a new collective big band made up of some of the up-and-coming talent in London’s ever-evolving jazz scene. The Patchwork Jazz Orchestra formed as a way of bringing together a wider pool of like-minded musicians, with the aim of creating a vehicle for original contemporary music to be performed and explored in a large ensemble context.

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The band’s debut London Jazz Festival performance will see the premiere of many brand new original works for the orchestra, written exclusively by a collection of the band’s own members, seven of us including Misha Mullov-Abbado, Kieran McLeod, Matthew Herd, Sam Rapley, Tom Green and Sam Miles and myself.

The idea for the band started emerging at the beginning of this year. We had all performed with each other in various formats and contexts, and many of us ran or were involved with small groups of our own.

That being said, what we all didn’t have was an outlet for original big band music which we could write for, workshop and perform, so this new venture fulfils a lot of things for us:

 – We’re all interested in big bands and large ensemble music, and I know for a lot of us it played an important role in our early development as musicians in terms of getting us into jazz and improvised music.

– We all recognise what an essential part of the jazz tradition big bands have played, and so as a group this is a great opportunity for us to add to that and continue it.

– The collaborative nature of this project has resulted in a fantastic melting-pot of influences from both performers and composers alike, reflected in the ensemble’s name, and is a real asset to the group.

We’re all hugely looking forward to our launch gig and excited to see the direction the band goes in.”

Patchwork Jazz Orchestra:

Saxes/woodwinds: Matthew Herd, Alex Hitchcock, Sam Miles, Sam Rapley, Sam Glaser
Trombones: Tom Green, Kieran McLeod, Jamie Pimenta, Yusuf Narcin
Trumpets: James Davison, Adam Chatterton, James Copus, Tom Dennis
Piano: Liam Dunachie
Guitar: Rob Luft
Bass: Misha Mullov-Abbado
Drums: Scott Chapman

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