DPBB

About the Band

Past members of the Brentwood School Big Band and other like-minded musicians meet several times a year under the leadership of its director 1983-2014 to give concerts for charity, as The David Pickthall Big Band. From this large number of musicians bands of various sizes can be formed, from a trio through to the full 25-piece band. There is a string section and vocalists for the bigger concerts. Concerts have been at (among others) All Saints’ Churchyard Norton Mandeville, the Brentwood Theatre, St Peter’s Church South Weald, St Mary’s West Hanningfield, Christchurch Warley, St Laurence Upminster, St Laurence Blackmore and Ingatestone Parish Church. Chelmsford Cathedral was the venue for a collaboration between the DPBB and the Choirs of Chelmsford Cathedral, performing a concert of the music of Duke Ellington in early March 2017 and a celebration of Count Basie in May 2018.

Concerts planned for the 2020 season got only as far as 29 February before the pandemic put a hold on all live musical activities. However some tracks were recorded remotely during this period and can be found by visiting The David Pickthall Big Band on YouTube. But concerts did start again in 2021 - beginning with an open-air afternoon concert in Blackmore. Details of all concerts are below, under a selection of recordings from the many CDs made by the band in its earlier incarnation as the Brentwood School Big Band - all released on the Cantoris label 1989-2013.

We released a CD of DPBB live recordings taken from the majority of concerts from the year 2017-2018 in September 2019 at our concert in St Laurence Upminster, and this may also be streamed/purchased on Spotify, iTunes, Amazon Music and Apple Music: search for “The David Pickthall Big Band - Live”.

CONCERTS ARE NOW ON HOLD