The Musicians
At the time of assembling this website, early 2008, there were still many musicians living in London who had been making music in the 1930s and 1940s, the golden era of the big bands. They are now mostly in their eighties and nineties but many are still playing in local groups, a testimony no doubt to the benefits of a music education. Whist the bandleaders responsibility was to establish the artistic content, style and overall sound of the band, it was the highly skilled musicians who made it all work. The players had to have an intimate musical understanding of one another and the ability to perfectly blend their own sound and their own playing techniques with the rest of the ensemble to produce the overall effect that the leader wanted.
And of course they all have stories to tell of their playing days.
Visit their pages by clicking on the links on the left and read the memories and reminiscences of the musicians who gave us all that wonderful music in the era of the Big Bands..
