Step onboard as Alex Mendham & His Orchestra take this 1920s jazz party to the next level!
“Anyone who has followed the orchestra will know that our passion and indeed our specialism is the beautiful music of the 1920s and 30s. It would therefore be totally remiss for us not to make an album this year ushering in the dawn of the new 20s! “
After the successful completion of “Jazznocracy” and “On With The Show”, We’re back with our most authentic project to date, asking you all to help us do it again!
For our 2020 album the all-star 11 piece orchestra will focus it’s attention on the racy music of the Art Deco Era, with particular attention given to the wonderful jazz pioneers including Bix Beiderbecke and Benny Goodman and the smooth dance bands of Anson Weeks, Gus Arnheim and the hot sounds of the Abe Lyman Orchestra from the Cocoanut Grove.
Into this mix of Hot Jazz and Big Band sounds, we’ll be throwing some scintillating star vocals and a few unexpected twists. The finishing touch will be the collectible presentation pack the album comes in. In itself an art deco masterpiece in thick black stock card and gold foil etching with limited edition orchestra post cards.
There’ll also be some charming tributes to the dance bands of Great Britain that we love so well, including the Savoy Orpheans, Lew Stone and the legendary vocalists Al Bowlly, Bing Crosby and Russ Columbo.
Of course the biggest hurdle we have to overcome to realise this wonderful project is raising the finances needed to cover the costs involved – everything from the recording studio all the way down to the postage and getting the finished product out to our supporters and fans.
With things like Spotify and other streaming platforms it’s now more difficult than ever to get the finances together to produce new music. Especially if it’s an 11 piece dance orchestra!! We therefore need the help of our listeners to fund the kind of music YOU want to hear! Without your help and contribution we won’t be able to make this incredible album!
The one thing our fans often ask is “How do you decide the goal amount and where are the funds going?” Taking what we learnt from our last Kickstarter, the trials and successes, we have compiled a list and breakdown of the project funding; from the design of the finished album artwork to the promotion once the album is ready for you, the public.
We are keeping our target quite modest, if we reach over our goal we would like to make a music video or perhaps a documentary on the orchestra itself!
The raised funds will include:
Kickstarter promotion (including ads / photos )
Kickstarter fees = 10%+ of total amount reached
Recording studio + engineering (including mixing & editing)
Album photo shoot (including editing)
Album design (including front cover, back cover, liner note insert, physical disc)
Song arrangements
Musician fees
Production & manufacturing of physical albums
We’ll be working carefully to ensure everything runs to plan. We are on course to on the return from our Queen Mary 2 Voyage and have cleared all other projects in the works during that time so this ambitious album will have our sole attention. We’ll keep backers updated on the progress of the album and the extremely unlikely event of anything not going according to plan.