About
Us
Celebrating
their 13th anniversary this year, Bill
Allred’s
Classic Jazz Band is swinging as hard as ever. With 10
recordings, a growing fan club, a jam-packed performance
schedule and hardly any changes in personnel over the years,
this band has come a long way from their early “kicks
band” days. While originally inspired by the great
arrangements of Matty Matlock and Billy Maxted they have
branched out to include a lot of great material from the
era of small band swing. Their Traditional roots are very
much intact, however. If you like Louis Armstrong, Duke
Ellington, Bob Crosby, Doc Severinson, Billy May, Phil
Napolean, Bob Haggart, You’ll hear them all at a
Bill Allred’s Classic JAZZ Band set.
This
hard-swinging unit started out as a "kicks
band" collecting and playing some of the early works
of small band arranged jazz. Just for the fun of it, The
band went to a few Jazz festivals. That was 12 years and
9 recordings ago! Now the band is well known for playing
a varied collection of music from 1920's to present day,
With such a versatile program, the band is almost impossible
to pigeon-hole. That is why the word "indescribable" often
comes up when people try to quickly classify this group.
The
band's portfolio includes music by Louis Armstrong, Duke
Ellington,
Billy May, Bob Crosby, King Oliver, Bob
Haggart, Matty Matlock and Billy Maxted. While the group
has deep roots in Classic and traditional Jazz, you will
also hear charts by Joe DeWeese, Dave Wolpe, Scott Whitfield
and many other modern day arrangers, custom written for
this incredible ensemble. BILL ALLRED’S CLASSIC JAZZ
BAND has developed a reputation for their varied and sometimes
outrageous choice of material and their unbelievable power
and musical fire!. All of this is wrapped up in a neat
package that also includes superb individual improvisation,
soulful vocals and a lot of good musical fun. For a band
that really didn't intend to follow the Festival and concert
trail, they are approaching a tenth year of touring and
enjoying an ever growing following of dedicated fans.
Bill
Allred's Classic Jazz Band has appeared at Jazz Festivals
in Sacramento, Palm Springs and Mammoth Lakes, California;
Clearwater, Florida; Sisters and Medford, Oregon; Davenport,
Iowa, Decatur, Illinois, Sun Valley, Idaho; lacrosse,
Wisconsin; Elkhart, Indiana; International Jazz Festivals
in Birmingham, England and Bern, Switzerland and concerts
in London and Southampton. Bill Allred's Classic Jazz
Band also enjoyed the coveted title of "Jazz Band
in Residence" during a week long performance at
the Hong Kong Arts Festival in 1993.
In
September of 1999 the band performed on the Crystal Cruise
Ship Symphony
on a two week tour of the Mediterranean. As a exciting
climax to the cruise, the band played at the prestigious
Rome Jazz Club ALPHEUS. The event was a fund-raiser
for the Rome-based World Food Program. The concert was
very
successful and raised a considerable sum of money to
send food to the people of Angola.
A
very active recording program has resulted in 9 CD releases:
STAND BACK, LIVE AND KICKIN', HONG KONG BLUES, RED HOT
SESSIONS, SWING RIOT, MEET
ME WHERE
THEY PLAY THE BLUES, VERSATILITY, SWINGIN’ IN
SUN VALLEY, LEAN MEAN SWING MACHINE,, and the latest:
A 12
year collection of their best swing tracks, THE CLASSIC
SWING COLLECTION A color video with hi-fi stereo sound
is also available.
Members
Bios
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