National Youth Jazz Orchestra

Bill Ashton launched the London Schools Jazz Orchestra in 1965 during his tenure as a teacher at a London school. The ensemble gave young players an outlet to follow their own musical interests in surroundings attuned to those interests rather than to curricula set by school administrators. Ashton’s refusal to yield to official opposition kept the group alive; it later became the London Youth Jazz Orchestra and finally the National Youth Jazz Orchestra. NYJO turned fully professional in 1974 and has remained the United Kingdom’s sole full-time professional jazz big band. Although Ashton intended the project as a supportive space for developing musicians, the orchestra long ago ceased to function as either a training ensemble or a youth-oriented group. Its rigorous performance standards require any newcomer to possess advanced technical ability before an audition can take place. Ashton leads through a combination of collective decision-making and benevolent authority. Band members themselves select the repertoire, which ranges from brand-new material to charts once performed by earlier editions of NYJO dating from when today’s players were still small children, and Ashton then arranges those choices into a coherent programme. Continuous personnel turnover is built into the orchestra’s makeup, yet NYJO has forged a recognizable ensemble sound. Most of the music performed is original, frequently composed by current members, and every piece receives a custom arrangement. Arrangements are created both within the band and by outside writers including Paul Higgs, David Lindup, Brian Priestley, Chris Smith, Terry Catharine, Bill Charleson, Neil Ardley, Alec Gould and Ashton. A succession of exceptional players has moved through the ranks over the decades, among them Steve Argüelles, Julian Argüelles, Chris Hunter, Lance Ellington, Paul Hart, Dave O’Higgins, Phil Todd, Andy and Mark Nightingale, Stan Sulzmann, Chris Laurence, Richard Symons, Gerard Presencer and Guy Barker. Ashton’s songwriting activities have also secured a steady line of strong vocalists, including Sumudu ‘Sunny’ Jayatilaka, Carol Kenyon, Helen Sorrell and Litsa Davies. The orchestra has toured widely, appearing in numerous European countries and in the USA. Its many albums have enjoyed success and helped circulate the sound of an ensemble that, though founded by one individual, now stands as a leading example of big-band jazz while contradicting its own name through its international character and artistic maturity.