The Shenandoah Conservatory Studio Big Band (formerly known as the Shenandoah Conservatory Jazz Ensemble) was founded in the late 1950s as one of the first collegiate jazz ensembles in the country and has a long tradition of excellence. The group has performed with numerous jazz legends, toured China, Japan, Ireland, Iceland, Germany, Spain, France, and Senegal, Africa, and won acclaim at multiple major jazz festivals.

The mission of the ensemble is to highlight prominent jazz composers and significant stylistic periods, providing the performers and audience a breadth of repertoire. Themed concerts play an important role in the band’s programming.

Many graduates of the band have gone on to prominent careers in jazz. A select few of these include composer/arranger Alan Baylock ’90 (B.M. in Music Education), an icon in the jazz publishing field and currently directing the renowned University of North Texas 1 O’clock Lab Band. Living in New York, bassist Corcoran Holt ’04 (B.M. in Jazz Studies) plays and records with a wide range of jazz greats, touring most prominently with saxophone legend Kenny Garrett. Trumpeter Ashlin Parker ’05 (B.M. in Jazz Studies) has become a well-known figure on the New Orleans jazz scene and is often heard performing and touring with NEA Jazz Master Ellis Marsalis. Jazz drummer Billy Drummond ’81 (B.M. in Jazz and Performance) has had an extensive career since graduating from Shenandoah, touring and performing with a long list of the some of the most important names in jazz.

Directors of the ensemble have included Verne Collins, Paul Noble, Allan Wright, Michael Brockman, Robert Larson, Joe Eckert, Bryan Kidd, Matthew Niess and Craig Fraedrich.