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Alvin Roy    
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