The Northern Jazz Orchestra

The Northern Jazz Orchestra was formed in 1976 by music degree students at Huddersfield University. For the next three years (the duration of their degree course) the NJO made many appearances at clubs across the north, appeared on the local independent Radio Hallam and once played at the Sheffield Jazz Festival. In 1979 it was decided that an album should be made. Manager John Dean cut a deal with the SRT label and it was recorded in Fairview Recording Studio in Willerby with Keith Herd. The group split up soon afterwards. Several of the players continued as professional musicians, and the musical director and tenor player Rod Mason now works with John Etheridge of Soft Machine and also as part of a reformed Back Door with Colin Hodgkinson.