Alvin Roy
has led a band since the days of the "Trad Boom",
in the early sixties. His band won the British Jazz Band
Contest in 1960, immediately turned professional and was
billed as Britain's youngest professional jazz band. He
recorded singles for the Decca, Ember and Riverside labels
and reached the top 20 in Japan with the Decca single
"True Blue". His frequent broadcasts on BBC
Radio 2 "Jazz Club" brought him to a wider audience.
He has toured Europe and the UK and played at all the
leading jazz clubs including the Pizza Express, The
100 Club, The Marquee and The Cavern Club. He was resident
at Mecca ballrooms such as The Royal in Tottenham and
was resident at the "Prospect of Whitby" for
8 years. He has appeared on BBC and ITV, in variety
shows, for royalty at the Victoria Palace Theatre and
at many theatres and universities His was the first
jazz band to play a summer season at Butlins.He has
played at many corporate events, private functions,
parties, weddings and anniversaries.
Alvin can provide a variety of combos ranging from a two
piece band up to a septet. You can book a band that
plays New Orleans/Dixieland jazz to a more modern swing/mainstream
style, playing standards from the great American song
book from composers such as Berlin, Porter, Ellington,
Gershwin etc.
Reviews
"The appearance of the Alvin Roy Band
at the Barbican, last Sunday, was a triumph for good jazz.
The band swung from the start and continued swinging till
the last note was played. The enthusiastic crowd demanded
encores which ensured that the concert finished 20 minutes
later than scheduled...but nobody seemed to mind."
New Musical Express
"Alvin Roy plays the clarinet with a degree of warmth
and precision and his style falls somewhere between the
swing era music of Benny Goodman and the more modern sounds
of the emerging bop units of the same era. His clean lines
are delivered with assurance and a bright, clear tone.
He is inventive at speed and rides easily over an efficient
rhythm section." Newbury News
"It was refreshing to encounter Alvin Roy's clarinet-featured
combo who played a mixture of mainstream, middle of the
road type jazz with a few modern selections thrown in
for good measure. His clarinet solos, smooth, dark and
often liquid, were devoid of the excess of vibrato so
often heard in more trad-type settings." Newbury
News.
“Roy's latest
album, Hedonism, is particularly welcome. He is a player
with an inate sense of swing, a fluid lyrical approach
that cannot be easily learnt. The music swings with
smiling ease on all the tracks. Good straight ahead
jazz with the individuality of a player who plays from
the heart.” Paul Medley. Oxford Times
If you want to book Alvin for your entertainment programme, for weddings,
birthdays, anniversaries or to fill hourly spots at dinners, presentations
or cabaret, click
here
