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Big Band Byrne - The Colin Byrne Jazz Orchestra

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Scarborough Jazz Festival

Leaving For Home is Big Band Byrne's debut CD. This CD holds seven wonderfully crafted tunes for Jazz Orchestra. With over-tones of Ellington and Mingus, Leaving For Home is a CD full of exciting compositions, soloists and contemporary big band music that will smack you in the face!

In February 2005 composer Colin Byrne posted an advertisement on www.jazzinleeds.co.uk (site no longer exists)where he stated his intentions to form a jazz orchestra that plays exclusively original jazz music.

Replies began pouring in and in a matter of weeks, Big Band Byrne was born. The quality of the musicians in the band was of the highest calibre and it was deemed that the band simply had to record. The band’s debut CD, Leaving for Home was recorded in June 2005. Big Band Byrne is unique in that it is contributing to the essence of the jazz scene in Northern England by raising the profile of some of the region?s most talented players. Big Band Byrne is unique in that it produces and plays exclusively original jazz music. Big Band Byrne is the perfect outfit to raise the profile of British jazz with so many talented musicians playing high quality original music.

The Musicians

Saxes

Jim Corry Steve Salkind
Jim Corry .....................................Steve Salkind

Tony Burkill Rob Mitchell Sam Thornton
.........Tony Burkill ................ Rob Mitchell ...................Sam Thornton ..........

Trumpets

BBB Trumpets
Jamie Hamilton Tom Tait Sean Hollis Gareth Smith

Trombones

big band byrne trombones

Rhythm

big band byrne rhythm

Musical Director, Composer, Arranger

Colin Byrne
Colin Byrne

Buy the CD now at our Online Shop or go to the end of this page.
Scarborough Jazz Festival

Press Reviews

Colin Byrne, one of the finest interpreters of jazz in the United Kingdom ...he has also included a jazz dimension seldom seen in mainstream America?an amalgamation of big band style with underlying influences of pianist Duke Ellington and bassist Charles Mingus. Leaving For Home is a passion filled musical delight, a recording that goes the distance towards building a foundation of energized exuberance, a truly amazing piece of work from the United Kingdom of jazz. Colin Byrne and big band jazz go together with a breath of fresh air seldom experienced in recent years. As you listen to Leaving For Home, place the album under the letter ?B? for a brilliantly conceived recording that is one of the finest recordings of its kind to date.
Sheldon Nunn. www.jusjazz.com

fresh ideas for the new millennium... Byrne’s orchestra is impressive, his compositions and arrangements no less so, and Leaving for Home is a splendid album for those who appreciate contemporary big band jazz with a cutting edge.
Jack Bowers. Reprinted with permission. Copyright (c) 2006 AllAboutJazz.com and Jack Bowers.

The orchestra whips up an absolute storm...it's a white knuckle ride of burning solos, careering textures and propulsive energy...a startlingly good debut.
Peter Quinn, Jazzwise

Leaving For Home takes one on a nice ride to a destination, connecting new material in one riveting performance. The album is replete with solo journeys from players who represent the top echelons of the British jazz world. Byrne has carved out a unique place of his own with this audacious, fiery recording in the finest big band tradition.

Edward Blanco. AllAboutJazz.com

Reprinted with permission. Copyright (c) 2006 AllAboutJazz.com and Edward Blanco.

Byrne’s arrangements are imaginative and manage to escape many of the big-band clichés. The band displays a high standard of ensemble work, with punchy brass and well-drilled saxes. Burkill contributes some fine tenor-sax work.
Tony Augarde. jazzviews.co.uk

...the band exhibit an infectious enthusiasm both for each other’s playing and for the material Byrne has provided for them, and the resulting album is a joyous celebration of big-band values: tight ensemble work, freewheeling solo features, punchy riff playing, fierce interaction between sections.
Chris Parker, Vortex Jazz

?a revelation in terms of power and control. compelling big-band arrangements? kept the audience on its feet, both in terms of paying attention and at the end whilst shouting for more?
Jazz in Leeds. www.jazzinleeds.co.uk

Very Impressive
Robert Gibson. 96.7 fm BCB Radio.

A bit exceptional!
John Killoch. www.mainlybigbands.co.uk

So, if you imagined that the big band was a near-extinct behemoth, dinosaur-like, imagine instead a huge, gleaming limousine, a pride of lions, a herd of proud Arab steeds Suffice to say that if you rate the crisp big bands of Buddy Rich and Thad Jones/Mel Lewis, with a touch of full-throated Kenton, do not miss this stunning 7-track album.
Ron Burnett, York Press

Leaving For Home is Big Band Byrne?s debut CD. This CD holds seven wonderfully crafted tunes for Jazz Orchestra. With over-tones of Ellington and Mingus, Leaving For Home is a CD full of exciting compositions, soloists and contemporary big band music that will smack you in the face!

Please email info@bigbandbyrne.com.

Come see us playing, Please visit the gigs page. Read the reviews in full on the reviews page. Hear what we sound like visit the listen page


Order the CD
Leaving For Home £10


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