Leeds College of Music Big Band

YMF 2001, Showcase 2002

The LCM Big Band is one of Leeds College of Music's most prestigious ensembles, made up largely of third year students under the direction of Al Wood, Assistant Head of Performance at the College. Al has been running the Big Band for well over a decade, and managing its annual change of personnel (around twenty different faces every year) with a consummate skill which manages to preserve the Band's distinctive sound. Al Wood, saxophonist and trombonist, has been a professional musician since the age of 17. He has, over the past 40 years, worked with the bands of Ken Mackintosh, Cyril Stapleton, Johnny Howard, Maynard Ferguson and the BBC Northern Radio Orchestra where he stayed from 1978 to 1984 when he joined the staff of Leeds College of Music. His current post involves him in the organisation and supervision of college ensembles, managing the concert season, co-ordinating brass and saxophone tuition and, of course, teaching the saxophone and trombone.

Programme details April 2001 | February 2002