SELECTED HEADLINER VENUES:

NYC’s Sardi's, Sweet Rhythm, Central Park Swings Festival, Brooklyn Working Artist Coalition Festival, The Garage, St. Peter's Church, Swing 46, Galapagos, Connolly’s. CT’s GRTA 2007 Hunt Ball, 2008 Beach Ball, Friends of Hudson River Park (FHRP) Series Events, private events.

Member credits include: Carnegie Hall, Alice Tully Hall, Birdland, The Blue Note, Lincoln Center, The Hollywood Bowl, The China Club, Joe’s Pub, The Roxy, Minton’s Playhouse, The Jazz Gallery, Tonic. They have headlined at international jazz festivals in Marciac, Copenhagen, Brussels, Amsterdam and elsewhere throughout Europe, and have performed on international television and radio.

"Very creative pro players. The band Tom Abbott has is something special. Tom is not only a natural leader, he is an outstanding jazz clarinetist and sax player. The vocalist Kelsey Jillette...is one of the best in the business today. Totally soulful and rich in taste. She is a major talent! You ought to hear her. You have to. I hope you do."

ABOUT:
The Big Bang Big Band has performed many times at Greenwich Village’s renowned jazz club The Garage; they are also long-time regulars at midtown's dance hot spot, Swing 46. The 10-piece band has headlined at Manhattan’s Sweet Rhythm, St. Peter’s Church, the Central Park Swings Festival, Galapagos Art Space, Brooklyn Working Artist Coalition seasonal openings and Connolly’s, and performs at private and corporate events nationally. Their clean, exhilarating sound honors the classic jazz tradition while infusing it with a vibrant soulful twist.

THE MUSIC:
Led by seasoned jazz and big band saxophonist/arranger Tom Abbott, The Big Bang Big Band favors the music of Duke Ellington, Billy Strayhorn, Count Basie, Fletcher Henderson and other such classic swing from the 1930's and 40's. Featuring an extensive and mixed repertoire of both instrumental and vocal tunes, Abbott also ranges outside of the classic swing genre to explore the likes of Sun Ra, Billy Strayhorn, and his own original music.

"I chose songs that I personally like, from Ray Charles’ ‘One Mint Julep’ to Sun Ra’s ‘Overtones of China’ to Benny Carter’s ‘When Lights Are Low,’” Abbott says. "We're not restricted to playing music from one set time period or era,” Abbott says. “We just want to play the music that sounds good, and what better place to dive in than Duke Ellington, Count Basie, and Fletcher Henderson. It's just as simple as what sounds good."

ABOUT TOM (musical director & saxophonist)
New York City resident Tom Abbott was raised in a family of musicians in Provo, Utah. A graduate of the New School University Jazz Program, he has studied with Tony Malaby, Dave Glasser, Ray Smith and Tim Price. Tom is a member of The Kelsey Jillette Group, The Dreamland Dance Orchestra, The Blue Vipers of Brooklyn and Alexi David's Patriot Act. Additionally, he freelances for both live and studio gigs, and leads his own free jazz group The Saxes of Evil as well as The Big Bang Big Band.

A prolific composer and arranger, Abbott also plays and studies a variety of musical instruments, including baritone, alto, and tenor saxophones, clarinet, bass clarinet, bassoon, oboe, flute, mandolin, banjo, African percussion, and piano. Abbott has developed his style from the ground up. Though he plays bebop, modern and free jazz, (he has played with Ahmed Abdullah's Sun Ra Arkestra, Reggie Workman's Coltrane Ensemble and leads a free jazz group of his own) his playing is firmly rooted in the blues. When he is not playing, he is at work writing and arranging for the Big Bang Big Band.

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