Big Band Swing
Now in our twenty fifth year, Big Band Swing can proudly boast a history laced with notable highlights, from playing movies from the Bond catalogue on the national opening night of Spectre in 2015 and No Time To Die in 2021, our annual charity show in Haddenham and being the main support act performing to approximately 11,000 people at Live in The Park Festival, Aylesbury.
With this in mind, we wanted to shed some light on a band who are very much a staple part of the local scene.
Formed in June 1996 by Kevin Lane & Rob Carter as an offshoot of the then ‘Aylesbury Town Band’, Big Band Swing is an 18-piece big band, playing music from the golden era of the big band sound through to present day arrangers.
The band has evolved over time, but with the same desire today as back then, to play music and have fun. Playing for private functions, open concerts and charity events, it has helped raise over £30,000 to date for local charities and organisations as the selected entertainment on the date.
Big Band Swing consists of a 4-piece rhythm section, 5 saxophones, 4 trumpets, 4 trombones and fronted by a female vocalist. At the front of the band, when not playing, is MD Lee Buckingham, who joined the band back in 1998, soon stepping up to assist in running things before taking over as full band leader in 2006 when both Kevin & Rob moved away.
Highlights of the band include being asked by Odeon head office to play at their flagship cinema outside of London for the opening of the Bond movie ‘Spectre’ in 2015 and then No Time To Die in 2021.
Many years ago the band recorded a CD for a bit of fun, something that we are thinking about doing again in 2022, which we plan to be a live recorded session.
Music played by the band is that of the Basie, Ellington, Miller, Riddle, Nestico and Hefti catalogue with modern composers also thrown in to the set lists, such as Goodwin, Holmes, Collins & Martin to name but a few. Vocal arrangements of Fitzgerald, Cole, Clooney, Lee, Sinatra and many more get the audience singing along to tracks they know and love.
We now proudly have a “Pad” of over 400 numbers, which continues to grow and grow.
As well as our annual charity concert in Haddenham run alongside the Haddenham Masonic Lodge and annual Concert at St Dunstan’s Church, the band took on a new initiative in 2016, our 20th anniversary year, and held small concerts on the 1st Monday of each month at the George & Dragon Hotel in Princes Risborough, where we invited a local charity along to ‘shake’ a collection tin to help raise monies. This proved a real success with over £1,500 being raised on what would normally be just a “Monday Night”.
We then went on to work with the team at the White Swan in Aylesbury to continue this initiative, starting in 2018 and continuing through 2019 into 2020 just before the Pandemic struck.
We hope to start the charity nights up again when restrictions are lifted towards the back end of 2021, our 25th anniversary.
In terms of what to expect next, going forward, we will continue to play for local charities and causes as well as taking on private bookings, and hopefully you will see us again on the big sage at a festival or two.
But the secret to it all working, is for every member of the band to feel welcome and have fun.
