New Regency Orchestra (NRO) is a twenty-piece big band on a mission to take the music of the Afro Cuban musical saints and reinvent it through a 2021 London filter. This is hard-blowing music for hard times featuring a storming twelve-piece horn and eight-piece rhythm sections.

NRO takes its inspiration from New York’s melding of Jazz and Latin from the 50s to the 70s, when the sound of jazz luminaries Dizzy Gillespie and Charlie Parker collided with the Cuban roots of Chano Pozo and Machito.

Mirroring the effervescence of that scene, New Regency Orchestra adds a contemporary London spin with the City’s best Latin Music and Jazz talent driving each other to greater heights.

Curated by Lex Blondin (Total Refreshment Centre / Church of Sound) the band’s core repertoire features pillars of the genre from Machito, Tito Puente and Chico O’Farrill as well as more obscure gems recovered by deep-mining. New arrangements have been made by pianist/composer Eliane Correa and the Catford Quincy Jones, Nathaniel Cross, is putting down his trombone to conduct the roaring big band. Musical Director is master percussionist and Afro-Cuban don, Adé Egun Crispin Robinson, and the band’s evolving line-up is a who’s who of the what’s what in London’s Jazz and Latin scenes from Tamar Osborn on saxophone to Yelfris Valdés on trumpet.

Also special for 14 December:

Welcome our dancers: Alexander Varona (Ballet Folclorico de Cuba, Carlos Acosta, Russell Maliphant) and Claudia Hilda (Danza Contemporanea de Cuba, Laban)

and the Made Up Kitchen will be serving delicious & wholesome soul food: Sweet Potato & Chickpea Moroccan Stew, Pomegranate & Parsley Cous Cous , coleslaw, spinach salad and mint yogurt. £8 basic price £10 community price with £2 going directly to buying fruit and veg for their Kingsmead Community Shop.

Playing with NRO on December 14:

TICKETS £14 in advance + bkg fee

16+ only

Buy a Season Ticket for the four show residency on Dec 14, Jan 11, Feb 15, Mar 15 for a pocket-friendly £40 + booking fees.