The Lady Day Big Band

The Lady Day Big Band is a dynamic collective founded by well-known vocalist Lana Crowster, in collaboration with highly respected trombonist and composer, Kelly Bell, and acclaimed vocalist-pianist Amanda Tiffin. The Lady Day Big Band is South Africa’s first all-female big band, consisting entirely of professional female musicians.

The 20-piece Lady Day Big Band features a powerful line up of Cape Town’s finest musicians. The band incorporates contemporary styles with traditional big band sounds, to give audiences an explosive experience of exciting big band music, and features the powerful vocal stylings of Lana Crowster. Our COVID-19 protocol friendly iteration is a 10 piece band with a lead vocalist.

Amanda Tiffin, who is no stranger to Cape Town audiences, takes up the baton as conductor for this project, enthuses "Watching these musicians come together…and really own the music and their space has been a truly powerful experience.”

The Lady Day Big Band gave their debut performance at the 2018 South African Jazz Educators' Conference to a packed house and a thunderous standing ovation. Gwen Ansell commented in an article that “…Already, LDBB is a tight-knit outfit with impressive soloists.” Other notable performances include The Cape Town International Jazz Festival 2019, RMB Starlight Classics 2020, The Klein Karoo Nasionale Kunste Fees 2019, The Imagine Awards ceremony 2019, The Cape Town Jazz Big Band Festival 2018, The Artscape Jazz Masters Series 2018 & the nationally syndicated Expresso Morning Show. The band has also been nominated for two Kanna Awards following their performance at the KKNK Festival in 2019.

The band features writing by several of its members, as well as some fresh arrangements from local composers and arrangers. Their repertoire includes an exciting mix of South African jazz, alongside popular standards and a few surprises.