big band

noun

: a band that is larger than a combo and that usually features a mixture of ensemble playing and solo improvisation typical of jazz or swing

Examples of big band in a Sentence

Recent Examples on the Web

One of the state’s premiere big band jazz ensembles, the 17-piece New London Big Band, closes the festival on Aug. 17 at 7:30 p.m. on Guilford Green Stage One. —Christopher Arnott, Hartford Courant, 10 Aug. 2025

The program will feature music from Broadway and the movies, including selections from Wicked, How to Train Your Dragon, Cowboys and West Side Story along with some blues, marches and big band favorites. —Ut Community Press, San Diego Union-Tribune, 5 Aug. 2025

Over two exceedingly productive weeks in late 2024, Baser conceived a conceptual deep-dive into her family history and the ghosts from her past, interwoven with dreamlike nods to big band classics. —Sophie Williams, Billboard, 25 July 2025

This year, the purveyors of big band and swing music played the first of the four shows in the summer lineup. —La Jolla Light, San Diego Union-Tribune, 14 July 2025

Word History

First Known Use

1917, in the meaning defined above

Rhymes for big band

• armband
• backhand
• bandstand
• baseband
• broadband
• command
• cropland
• demand
• disband
• dreamland
• expand
• farmhand