Richard Pite, Jazz Repertory Company

Richard Pite & The Jazz Repertory Company present the music of British composers and bands responding to the new musical influences coming from over the Atlantic. They end in 1919 as this was the year when the first American jazz bands visited Great Britain – the extraordinarily successful Original Dixieland Jazz Band and The Southern Syncopators featuring the great Sidney Bechet.

The music of this time is now largely unknown. African-American and European traditions were blended to create something new which has dominated our musical lives ever since.