We find out more about the Nick Ross Orchestra!

The sounds of a bygone era will be brought to the stage in March, as The Nick Ross Orchestra presents a night of classic 1940s and 50s Big Band hits. We spoke to Nick ahead of the show to find out more!

Hi Nick! Could you tell us a little bit more about yourself and the band?

I started putting together a classic Big Band Line-up of saxes, trumpets, trombones, a rhythm section and singers in 1985, which became the Nick Ross Orchestra, 'NRO'. In the early '90s I then began broadcasting a weekly radio programme called From the Bandstand with Nick Ross on BBC Radio Cambridgeshire with presenter Mark Saggers, and the NRO toured both in the UK and Internationally, venturing as far as the Middle and Far East. In the late summer of 2003, I was persuaded by friends and former band members, not to mention one or two of the 'movers and shakers' in the music industry, to take Sounds of the Glenn Miller Era on tour again.

When did you first become involved in big band music and what drew you to the genre?

I was taken to see Syd Lawrence at RAF Mildenhall in 1976. I still have a live recording and press pics from the event. From that point onwards, I knew what I wanted to do.

What classics can audiences expect on the night? Do you have any favourites to perform?

We will always play the top ten Glenn Miller hits, Moonlight Serenade, In the Mood, A Nightingale Sang in Berkeley Square with a selection of hits from the other Big Bands of the era: Duke Ellington, Count Basie, Woody Herman, Artie Shaw, with a liberal sprinkling of songs from the Rat Pack era, and possibly something from Michael Bublé and even Robbie Williams!

The Nick Ross Orchestra will be at the Corn Exchange on Thursday 5 March with a night of classic Big Band hits from the Glenn Miller and Rat Pack era. Click here to find out more about the Nick Ross Orchestra