Gainesville Big Band

Hello everyone,

After much thought and discussion, the GCJB is changing it's name to the Gainesville Big Band. We are re-branding and are trying to build a bigger audience as well as have the opportunity to play in more venues. We are very much still a part of the Gainesville community but as musicians, we'd like to be able to play functions(i.e. jazz festivals) outside of Gainesville as well. Unfortunately, having "community" in the title limited us from doing that. Some people felt that we are a bunch of people that just get together and play for fun and don't sound very good. While we do play for fun and the love of jazz, we do take the music we make very seriously. When we went by Jazz Band, that left our size up to interpretation. Some people thought we were anything from a trio to a large dance band to everything in between.  We were often confused with the Gainesville Community Band because our names were similar. The titles were off by one word. At times, people thought they were getting a concert band instead of a jazz band. Changing our name to big band will clear up any confusion of who we are and what we do.

While this is a little change, it still is a change. One thing that will not change is the quality music that we present to public and our private events. We were very successful as the GCJB but we are hoping to grow that success as the GBB  We are excited to begin a new chapter of the band and hope to see you at one of shows in the near future.

Sincerely,

Marco Thomas
Gainesville Big Band Director