JELGAVAS BIGBENDS

JELGAVAS BIGBEND is one of the fundamental values of Latvian jazz music - an association of professional musicians with history and traditions since 1990. Raitis Ašmanis has been the artistic director and conductor of the big band for the entire period of its existence, which focuses mainly on jazz standards and popular music by foreign and Latvian composers.

Over the course of 30 years, the Jelgava Big Band has regularly performed in various Latvian cities, as well as going on concert tours to Lithuania, Estonia, France, Germany, Finland, Sweden, Spain, Italy, the Czech Republic, Mexico, Brazil and Peru. More than once, they won prizes in jazz competitions in Germany and the Czech Republic, both in the categories of big band and combo composition. The Jelgava Big Band has also participated in the Christmas productions of the Latvian National Theater and Dita Lūriņa's program "Dream of Broadway", as well as performed several times in various television broadcasts and entertainment shows.

In 2007, the currently only Jelgava big band CD was released, recorded together with Raimonda Paula, Intar Busuli, Ieva Kerēvica, Olga Pīrāga and Laima Rācenāja. Since its foundation, the collective has collaborated with almost all the most recognized players of Latvian jazz and popular music: Raimonda Paula, Raimonda Ozola, Inga Bērziņa, Olga Pīrāga, Intar Busuli, Anci Krauzi, Marija Naumov, Ieva Kerēvica, Aija Vītoliņa, Normund Rutuli, vocal group "Framest" , Laimi Rācenāja, Linda Leen, Nika Gothama, Daumanta Kalniņa, etc. The majority of Latvian jazz musicians have played in the Jelgava Big Band for a shorter or longer time. In recent years, the big band has created concert programs together with the Jelgava Chamber Orchestra, playing modern music and jazz classics.