Forty-one members and counting! Ferg’s Imaginary Big Band, the gigantic Leeds jazz group embracing ‘chaos, imperfection and all that’

With a punkish, antifascist take on the trad jazz sound of Duke Ellington, this noisy outfit are epic in every way. But how on earth do they make a living? Fergus Quill picks me up from Leeds station in his Nissan Micra – 152,000 miles on the clock, double bass expertly slotted between seats – and drives me to meet his band. I’m expecting a handful of people, but for the next half an hour, members of Ferg’s Imaginary Big Band just keep arriving, until the tables outside Headingley’s Hyde Park Book Club overflow with musicians and instrument cases. When it starts to rain, they shuffle indoors, gather in the bar’s snug room and begin playing their noisy, joyful music. Continue reading...