Archway Big Band is encouraging people to get their dancing shoes on to fight the winter blues at their upcoming gig, after its music venue was hit by heating problems.
Gearing up for an evening of free “Music & Mince Pies” this Friday at Hargrave Hall Community Centre on Hargrave Rd in Archway, Vikki, the band’s baritone saxophonist, offered a novel solution to shake off the winter cold.
She said: “Dancing is very much encouraged. There is something genuinely heart-warming when somebody gets up and starts dancing to the music we play. We love it and often play for a local Archway swing dance group, so the more dancing the better.”
The hall will also be warmed by temporary heaters provided by Islington Council, but attendees have nonetheless been urged to “wrap up warm and maybe bring a warm flask of coffee, hot chocolate or even mulled wine to the event”.
Archway Big Band, which rehearses weekly, will play a range of big band, swing, Latin, jazz and funk pieces on Friday, but Vikki says that “[we] come alive when we have people to play for”.
The band has a lineage stretching back to the 1970s, when the Wall Theatre Workshop was founded, before evolving into the WTW Jazz Workshop under Jamaican trumpeter and band leader CB Johnson.
“Unfortunately, CB passed away in 2019, but he was a really inspirational guy who had music running through his heart and soul,” said Vikki.
