On Sunday April 9th, 2006 at 2 P.M. the London Jazz Society presented the New Excelsior Jazz Band from Toronto. Originally this gig was booked for the Fig Leaf Jazz Band, but they had to cancel due to reasons beyond their control. A number of London Jazz Society members and friends who are familiar with the New Excelsior Jazz Band really enjoyed seeing and hearing them again.
They are a traditional jazz band playing in the New Orleans Dixieland style. After performing together for approximately twenty-five years they have built up a repertoire of performances at several hundred lounges in the Greater Toronto Area that included a steady Saturday matinee gig for fourteen years at the Delta Chelsea Inn.
Other jobs have taken the band to Richmond Hill to be part of their Santa Claus parade, the Granite Club, the CN Tower, Toronto’s Don Jail, and on numerous ferry boat cruises on Lake Ontario. They have been featured a number of times at both the Toronto Jazz Festival and the Harbourfront Jazz Festival.
When the stage production of Phantom of the Opera celebrated its third anniversary in Toronto, the Excelsior Jazz Band was there to complete the party. The CBC recorded one of their performances for a ‘Peter Appleyard Presents’ television show that was sold to networks worldwide.
The Lancaster Jazz Club in Kitchener have brought the New Excelsior to 'The Lanc' on a regular basis. Band members are Glenn Anderson, drums; Syd Calvert, leader, banjo, vocals; Ken Clark, trombone, vocals; Al Cox, trumpet, fluegelhorn and vocals; John Floyd, keyboards; Jim Purdie, clarinet, tenor, baritone, and vocals. The London Jazz Society thanks all our members and friends who attended this live event.