London Jazz Award nominee Bad Ass Brass: 'Soon everyone was bringing their own influences in to the mix but essentially we still aim to play original improvised jazz with feel-good grooves but as tight an ensemble as a first rate big band.'

How did Bad Ass come to be?

We all hold a passion for the music of New Orleans and the swinging big bands of the 1940's. Musicians like Louis Armstrong are a huge inspiration as are the bands of Tommy Dorsey and Count Basie. After years of chatting, Paul Munday (one of the Bad Ass trumpet section) sat me down and made me to put a rehearsal together which consequently forced me to write the arrangements and find the guys and gals that I felt would work well together. Soon everyone was bringing their own influences in to the mix but essentially we still aim to play original improvised jazz with feel-good grooves but as tight an ensemble as a first rate big band.

Please could you tell us a bit about your work process and how the overall dynamics function within the group. 

One of the best things about Bad Ass Brass is that we are all such great friends. We all met whilst studying at the various music colleges in London and we all have a fantastic time together and making great music is the icing on the cake. We do try and get together to rehearse as much as possible but with everyone being busy with other projects it's not as often as we'd like. When we get the chance to rehearse we work on the ensemble and getting everything as tight as we can manage as well as just jamming though new material to get a feel for the solo sections. Everyone in Bad Ass brings their own personality to the band and their own unique styles into the music. This makes the whole Bad Ass experience pretty diverse.

What would your ideal gig be as a band?

Our ideal gig would probably be going out to a Caribbean island like St Lucia, playing to great crowds, listening to other great musicians like Maceo Parker and hanging out together by the pool with lots of rum. Wait. That actually happened last summer. Brilliant. We just enjoy playing so any gig is ideal really (money always helps).

What ambitions and solid plans do you have for the new year and beyond?

We are planning to get back into the studio in January to record some new tracks for our EP. We have loads of great new music to put down and loads of friends are writing more new tunes so we can’t wait to get stuck into those as well. There are also talks of a UK tour and more trips abroad. Winning a London Jazz Award would be pretty special but just to be nominated is great honour for us. Hopefully we can just keep playing and having a great time and people will still enjoy watching and listening.