JAM Concert Series: Big Time Jazz Orchestra

The Big Time Jazz Orchestra calls Duluth home and is comprised of the finest big band jazz musicians in the Northland. This 19-piece ensemble includes collegiate and high school instrumental music instructors as well as former military band musicians. BTJO is also a 501(c)(3) non-profit and has enhanced the community through performance and education of the uniquely American art form of jazz since 1990.

Annually, the group performs shared concerts and workshops with local schools and university bands as well as raising funds for area non-profits. Several orchestra members are also composers whose compositions have been performed locally and nationally. With the support and generosity of the Arrowhead Arts Council, the band has produced two CDs with original material and jazz standards.

The ensemble regularly programs selections from such jazz masters as Thad Jones, Woody Herman, Toshiko Akiyoshi, Duke Ellington, Jim McNeely, Bob Brookmeyer, Gordon Goodwin, and Maynard Ferguson.

Big Time will be Joined by the St. Scholastica Jazz Band and one other professional band.

The JAM Concert Series is held during the month of April because April is Jazz Appreciation Month. Concerts are held twice a week at various venues around Duluth. One concert features a small jazz ensemble that will play a 50 min set and then a jam session commences where everyone is invited to play, especially students. The other concert consists of a local high school’s big band, followed by either a collegiate big band or a jazz combo, and then the night concludes with a local professional Big Band.