Oxford University Jazz Orchestra

[1] The Oxford University Jazz Orchestra was founded by students in the early 1990s, initially as a word-of-mouth, unauditioned group, later developing into a full-fledged, professional standard big band.

Notable alumni from the band include Canadian jazz vocalist Diane Nalini,[1][2] trumpeter and NYJO musical director Mark Armstrong,[3][4] London-based trombonist Callum Au,[5] saxophonists Carlos Lopez-Real[6] and Idris Rahman, and ENO conductor Stephen Higgins.

During his tenure, the band appeared at the Glasgow International Jazz Festival and performed Kenny Wheeler's Sweet Time Suite at St Barnabas Church, Oxford.

[17] In 2015, OUJO performed Duke Ellington's choral composition The Sacred Concerts, in collaboration with Schola Cantorum of Oxford, saxophonist Nigel Hitchcock, and vocalist Tina May, and tap dancer Annette Walker at the Sheldonian Theatre.

[18] In 2018, the ensemble performed the European premiere of the Jazz at Lincoln Center Orchestra’s Big Band arrangement of John Coltrane’s A Love Supreme at the Sheldonian Theatre.