The Valentino Orchestra is a Canadian 17-piece pre-swing style big band formed in Montreal in 1996 and led by musicologist and composer Andrew Homzy.
The Valentino Orchestra—named after Rudolph Valentino—bases its repertoire of "sophisticated swing" on the American popular music—compositions by Jerome Kern, George Gershwin, Cole Porter, Hoagy Carmichael, and the many others who in the Jazz Age established what is often called the Great American Songbook.
In 1995, jazz musicologist, composer, and arranger Andrew Homzy, together with music educator and bass player George Doxas, invited saxophonist Gerald Danovitch to start a pre-swing era jazz band.
George Doxas and Gerald Danovitch invited several friends and students to try the sound of this vintage jazz project.
After months of rehearsal led by Homzy, the band started to record in George Doxas's home studio.