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The Georgia Straight Big Band offers pure dancing and listening pleasure:
playing mega-hits from the Big Band Era, plus swing and latin numbers by
today’s top arrangers and composers.
From the Count to the Duke, Miller and Gillespie, the Georgia Strait Big Band entertains with music from the most exciting composers of the twentieth century.
Under the direction of Greg Bush, the Georgia Strait Big Band specializes in repertoire that is eminently danceable! Fox-trot, swing, jive, cha-cha, bolero, rhumba – our music has the rhythms to keep you on the dance floor all night long. Take a look at a sample of our repertoire.
The community-based Georgia Strait Big Band not only attracts and showcases accomplished musicians from the Comox Valley, but also proudly features some of the Valley’s finest singers who captivate audiences each with their own unique vocal styles, fronting the band in ballads and hard-swinging jazz standards.
The GSBB is headed up by Greg Bush, Professor of the Jazz Program at Vancouver Island University, musician and composer.
Big Band in 2010/11
2010/11 Season was a tremendous year for the band: a number of great opportunities to share its music with audiences around the island. After a well-earned summer break, rehearsals will resume Mondays beginning Sept 12th. For those interested in joining the band or attending a rehearsal, please contact our manager Rob Peterson.
REVIEW of GSBB Performance in Port Hardy Feb 2011
Published: February 17, 2011 6:00 AM
PORT HARDY — Patrons at Saturday’s North Island Concert Society dinner show were treated to a ride to Birdland on the Chattanooga Choo-Choo, where there was nothing but Blue Skies above as they arrived just in time for Jive at 5.
For all this, they had only to journey from their dinner table to the dance floor.
The Georgia Strait Big Band headlined the annual NICS dinner show at the Civic Centre, treating the audience to a well-received evening of big-band standards, jazz, swing and latin numbers after a meal catered by Malone’s Oceanside Bistro…
The Comox Valley-based community band, directed by Vancouver Island University jazz professor Greg Bush, was fronted by Juno Award-winning vocalist Sue Medley on several songs in each set as well as the group’s encore of Every Day I Got the Blues.
Medley’s high-octane vocal over the band’s bombastic arrangement of Duke Ellington’s Don’t Get Around Much Anymore was a show-stealer, and she and the group also shone on an up-tempo version of the Irving Berlin standard Blue Skies.
Bush drew good-natured groans with a series of cheesy jokes, and at one point threatened to keep up the joking if the audience failed to get up and take to the dance floor.
“We surrender!” one wag in the crowd yelled out to laughter from the stage and the floor.
In the end, a sizable number of the audience took Bush up on the offer and twirled away to lively renditions of Take the A Train, Boogie Woogie Bugle Boy and Jersey Bounce…
GSBB supports the Community
The Georgia Strait Big Band partners with various charitable organizations in their fund-raising efforts—groups such as the Comox Valley’s Dawn to Dawn Society in aid of the homeless. The GSBB also supports young up and coming ballroom dancers at Penfield School in Campbell River. Annually, GSBB participates in the Children’s Network Telethon and puts on a Canada Day tea and dance for the general public.
The GSBB is available for special occasions, weddings and dances.
For information about rates and booking the Georgia Strait Big Band, please contact
Rob Peterson at robdrum02@gmail.com / 250-339-6032