Band members include farmers, IT consultants, and music teachers. We have a professional band leader who has been teaching and making us sound better and better over the years. We perform at weddings, parties, 40s events, village fundraisers and more.  We welcome players of any age, so if you fancy playing in a live big band, then please get in touch. It’s a great opportunity to improve your playing with Marcus’ expert tuition, and you’re more than welcome to come along to see how you get on. We try to practice a variety of music to keep everyone happy, so we play jazz, 40s swing, some party music and more.

We practice on Monday evenings in Oakham, when our band leader and trombone maestro, Marcus Reynolds, helps us play the notes in the right order. Afterwards some of us retire to the pub. For non-locals, Oakham is the county town of Rutland, roughly equidistant between Leicester, Nottingham and Peterborough. To further help the search engines, the big band can play in Stamford, Melton Mowbray and Oakham.

What instrument should I be able to play?

At the moment (in 2023)  we’d like to hear from trumpeters in particular. Please get in touch, and pass the word round!

Big band music generally calls for trombones, trumpets, saxophones, a bass, keyboard or drums, and vocalists.