Chris Oatts' Pretty Big Band

Big-band power meets improvisational freedom in Chris Oatts’ Pretty Big Band, a ten-piece ensemble built to deliver the color, punch and excitement of a large jazz orchestra while preserving the spontaneity and individual voices of a smaller group. Featuring Oatts’ original compositions and arrangements, the band gives its musicians room to stretch out while still harnessing the impact of tightly crafted ensemble writing. Expect a big, room-filling sound and dynamic, creative arrangements drawing from classic jazz standards, the Great American Songbook and pop music across the decades—with repertoire that has ranged from “Bewitched, Bothered and Bewildered” and “Mona Lisa” to Burt Bacharach’s “Alfie” and Herbie Hancock’s “I Thought It Was You.”

//

Saxophonist, composer and arranger Chris Oatts has become a distinctive presence in Philadelphia’s large-ensemble jazz scene, creating and leading a series of bands with their own individual concepts. Among them is the LOVE Jazz Orchestra, which has previously…