Uncommon Orchestra to play the Apex

Mike Westbrook brings his Uncommon Orchestra to Bury St Edmunds, later this month.

Hear an impressive array of musicians and vocalists from the worlds of Jazz, Classical, Pop and Rock Music in a new kind of Big Band….The Uncommon Orchestra!

Mike Westbrook’s score for his 21-piece ensemble involves voices, acoustic brass and saxophones, electronics and double rhythm section.

Ambitious and unclassifiable, A Bigger Show uses the image of the fairground to examine, with irony, humour and high drama, the lot of humankind in the age of the World Wide Web.

Kate Westbrook and fellow vocalists Martine Waltier and Billy Bottle, are joined by established jazz musicians together with lesser known artists, pop and rock musicians, classical players and talented youngsters.

Featured soloists include saxophonists Roz Harding and Alan Wakeman, Dave Holdsworth on sousaphone and pocket trumpet, guitarists Jesse Molins and Matthew North, Marcus Vergette on bass, and Coach York on drums.

With lustrous brass harmonies (evoking Duke Ellington and Charles Mingus), slamming guitar-powered riffs, vocal harmonies and anthemic roaring climaxes, ‘Mike Westbrook puts an exhilarating contemporary spin on the big band tradition. The surging excitement of an ensemble in full cry is seldom far away.’ (The Guardian).

Mike Westbrook’s Uncommon Orchestra is at The Apex on Saturday, September 30, at 7.30pm. Tickets are £18, with £5 tickets for those aged under 25.

Ring the Box Office on 01284 758000, or visit www.theapex.co.uk for more information, or to book your tickets.