The Heritage Orchestra

The Heritage Orchestra

The Heritage Orchestra is a UK orchestra that begins in 2004 and remains active. It is devised for the Heritage club night by Chris Wheeler and Jules Buckley, and it develops as a large ensemble built around jazz, funk and orchestral arrangement.

Formation and early performances

The orchestra gives its first performance in June 2004 at Cargo in London, where it appears as a large club band with twelve string players, an eight-piece rhythm section, six brass players, a six-piece woodwind section and three vocalists. The first concert draws a crowd of 600 and is one of the few events the venue can technically accommodate. The project also performs at St. Luke’s in London in a sell-out concert with Brian Eno and the Royal College of Arts.

Music and collaborators

Jules Buckley’s original cinematic jazz and funk compositions and orchestrations are central to the group’s early identity. Collaboration remains an important part of the project, and Chris Bowden begins featuring with the orchestra in November 2004. Bowden’s back catalogue, including Time Capsule and Slightly Askew, is orchestrated by Buckley for the group.

The orchestra also records a session for Gilles Peterson’s Worldwide show on BBC Radio 1, and it appears at the Barbican as a warm-up for that session in connection with the BBC Jazz Britannia Festival. In 2005 it performs at the Montreux Jazz Festival in the Miles Davis Hall with Dwight Trible, Natalie Williams and Chris Bowden.

Recordings and label work

After considering a self-release, the orchestra signs to the new label set up by Gilles Peterson and Simon Goffe. It then records at Abbey Road Studio One, with Dill Harris engineering, Jules Buckley acting as composer and conductor, and Chris Wheeler producing.

Line-up

The orchestra performs in a much larger form than its original lineup, with at least 43 musicians on stage. Named members associated with the group include Penny Ainscow, Marianne Haynes, Ruston Pomeroy and Tom Richards.