Big Band

A big band is a large jazz ensemble (at least ten musicians), usually consisting of a rhythm section (drums, bass, piano and guitar), a brass section (trombones and trumpets) and a reed section (saxophones). Big band music is usually associated with the swing era, which is therefore also called the 'big band era'. However, there are also many big bands that play other jazz styles, for example bebop (Dizzy Gillespie), cool jazz (Shorty Rogers), hard bop (Gerald Wilson), free jazz (Sun Ra) and jazz rock (Maynard Ferguson).

Big Band

A big band is a large jazz ensemble (at least ten musicians), usually consisting of a rhythm section (drums, bass, piano and guitar), a brass section (trombones and trumpets) and a reed section (saxophones). Big band music is usually associated with the swing era, which is therefore also called the 'big band era'. However, there are also many big bands that play other jazz styles, for example bebop (Dizzy Gillespie), cool jazz (Shorty Rogers), hard bop (Gerald Wilson), free jazz (Sun Ra) and jazz rock (Maynard Ferguson).