The Steve King Band

The band originally started as an offshoot of Steve’s school orchestra, and from these early beginnings as a youth band, the passage of time has, after fifty years turned the Steve King Big Band into one of the Midlands leading exponents of big band music. The current line-up is an eclectic mix of seasoned pros and semi-pros including some of the brightest sparks in the jazz scene today which helps keep the band at the forefront of the burgeoning big band movement.

The band has always known success. Since winning a talent competition with a major brewery in the early days, it has gone from strength to strength, appearing at every major venue in the West Midlands playing for concert and dance engagements including several sell out appearances at Ronnie Scott's. It was amongst the prize winners at the annual Musicians' Union Big Band Contest an unprecedented nine times, winning outright on two occasions. It has released six bestselling albums, and has released a new CD as part of its 50th Anniversary. The band can be heard regularly on many radio stations including several BBC Local Radio stations and Black Country Radio 102.5FM. It has also had tracks played on BBC Radio 3’s “Jazz Record Requests”.

Part of the band's appeal is the wide range of musical styles it plays. A typical concert will encompass anything from Goodman to Goodwin. With a woodwind section that doubles twenty-six instruments between them and a tuba player and tuned percussionist as part of the regular line-up, this band tackles many charts other bands cannot reach! The demanding concert programme features the best big band music of the last 60 years.

However, the UK is not big enough to support a band just playing for concerts, and the band turns its hand to many things to keep working. They are one of the few bands to still carry a ballroom dancing library and appear all over the UK, including holiday camps playing for dances at big band weekends. The band also performs for forties events with a full library to match, and once again performs all over the UK. Past appearances include the Glenn Miller museum at Twinwood, RAF Duxford, and RAF Cosford.

Vocals are in the very capable hands of Lynn Dawes who hails from the USA. Lynn has appeared on four of the band’s albums and has proved a big hit with audiences throughout the UK.

Where venue size or budget is a constraint, we can offer several smaller lineups to suit the event, including weddings, functions, corporate or just “background music”.