GBH Big Band

The Gorgeous Big Horns Big Band last performed in Chipping Sodbury in 2011 and was formed in 1999 by a group of young, like-minded musicians who couldn’t think of an original band name.

After an evening in the Green Tree in Bath GBH was born and has now grown to be one of the leading big bands in the South West featuring ten of the original members (now the old looking ones) and the pick of a new crop of new younger talent.

The 17-piece band (sometimes more) enjoys playing a wide variety of music from classics by Duke Ellington, Count Basie, Stan Kenton and Buddy Rich to jazz standards and more contemporary repertoire by composers such as Quincy Jones and Pat Metheny.

The band plays at pubs, clubs, functions and dances but the artistic heart is in presenting more challenging and rarely heard pieces at larger concert venues. Past programmes have included Duke Ellington’s Sacred Concert complete with choir and dancers, a Woody Herman themed concert including Stravinsky’s Ebony Concerto featuring Ben Waghorn and in 2010 the UK premiere of Mussorgsky’s “Pictures at an Exhibition” arranged for big band by Brent Fischer.

Later this year the band are presenting Duke Ellington’s seminal version of Tchaikovsky’s Nutcracker Suite at the Wiltshire Music Centre and are planning their first studio recording. Over the last eleven years GBH Big Band has been fortunate to work with many top name soloists including Pee Wee Ellis, Claire Teal, Andy Sheppard, Jason Rebello, John Law, Iain Ballamy and Mike Mower and has performed at Bath Festival, Ashton Court Festival, St Georges Bristol, Bath’s Forum and regularly packs out the Wiltshire Music Centre.

In 2009 GBH celebrated its tenth birthday with another sell out concert and the best bits are on the CD 'GBH Big Band Live'.