The 30 Piece Orchestra
By Tyler Ody
Performing timeless classics from the Great American Songbook
“Luscious renditions of jazz standards from greats including Nat King Cole, Billie Holiday and Ella Fitzgerald.” - Ammar Kalia, The Guardian One of the UK’s top swing orchestras is embarking on a UK tour this spring.
The critically acclaimed 30-piece Down for the Count Orchestra, conducted by Mike Paul-Smith, has recently been making waves on the UK jazz scene with their warm, engaging and energetic performances.
One of the few UK swing ensembles to perform with a string section, Down for the Count’s show features recreations of Capitol Studios recordings from Frank Sinatra, Nat ‘King’ Cole and Ella Fitzgerald, alongside rarely heard British dance band music written by the grandfather of orchestra member Rose Hinton.
Audiences will also be treated to transcriptions from the Charlie Parker with Strings albums and many more jazz and swing classics.
Down for the Count started life as a group of school friends in Buckinghamshire in 2005, in the inspiring environment of the Aylesbury Music Centre.
The band’s musical director Mike Paul-Smith explains “all of us took part in student orchestras and jazz bands and had amazing opportunities to perform at places like The Royal Albert Hall, on tour at The North Sea Jazz Festival, and at great concerts with famous jazz artists. Without the fantastic environment at our local music centre, we never would have had the idea to form the band and try to do the same sort of thing ourselves.”
Initially the band performed at local weddings and parties, quickly growing to become one of the most in-demand event bands in the UK. However, a spontaneous trip to a Bedfordshire vintage festival in 2012 renewed the band’s love of vintage swing music from the 1940s and, the next year, they returned to the festival as performers - and it all grew from there.
Getting to this stage has certainly been an interesting journey for musical director Mike, who didn’t study performing arts at university but instead read Medicine at the University of Oxford.
He said: “Like many musicians I had a dilemma in my late teens about whether or not to go to music college. I chose to study medicine and loved it, and after graduating I even decided to do a PhD in gene therapy. However, I was finding that each year we were getting more and more performance opportunities, so I made the decision to concentrate on music full-time about six years ago - and haven’t regretted the decision yet!
“Each year brings new special memories - in 2018 we had a 3-night residency at Le Caveau de la Huchette in Paris, Europe’s oldest jazz club and the club featured at the end of the film La La Land; and then in 2021, we performed to 10,000 people at an outdoor concert where we were supporting The Royal Philharmonic Orchestra.”
“This is awesome!!!!” Michael Bublé on our lockdown video “One hellova celebration of vintage music.” - Time Out London
“Wow! That was fantastic! You guys are so good.” - David Grant (Vocal coach – Fame Academy, Pop
Idol etc), BBC Radio London
Tue 2 May BRISTOL ~ St. George’s
Wed 3 May SWANSEA ~ Brangwyn Hall
Thu 4 May EXETER ~ Northcott Theatre
Fri 5 May OXFORD ~ Olivier Hall
Fri 12 May EASTBOURNE ~ Royal Hippodrome
Sat 13 May LONDON ~ Cadogan Hall
Sun 14 May SOUTHAMPTON ~ Turner Sims (two shows, evening and matinee)
Fri 19 May CANTERBURY ~ Colyer-Fergusson Hall (at Gulbenkian Theatre)
Wed 24 May CHELTENHAM ~ Town Hall
Hannah Castleman