New Black Eagle Jazz Band. Photo courtesy of the artists.
New Black Eagle Jazz Band

The New England based New Black Eagle Jazz Band was formed in 1971. The seven-piece band has delighted audiences worldwide with their prolific and eclectic jazz repertoire from the 1920s and 30s. The group has a mature mastery of this great American music with materials that extends from Louis Armstrong and Jelly Roll Morton to blues and rags; and from early Duke Ellington to Cole Porter and tunesmiths of the American Popular Songbook. The New York Times' John Wilson wrote that the Black Eagles are "so far ahead of other traditional bands...there is scarcely any basis for comparison."

The band has performed extensively across North America, and has toured Europe countless times. They have performed in New Orleans, London, Edinburgh, Belfast and Toronto, among other cities. In 2011 the Black Eagles opened the Newport Jazz Festival to a packed house. They have been featured in concert with jazz legends Doc Cheatham, "Kid" Thomas, Benny Waters, Odetta and Milt Hinton, and with the Boston Pops, the Scottish National Orchestra and the Baltimore Symphony.

The New Black Eagle Jazz Band has released over 40 recordings—including the Grammy-nominated "On the River"—and videos. Their music has been featured in the Ken Burns documentary series ‘Jazz’ and on NPR. The band has also been a guest on The Prairie Home Companion with Garrison Keillor.

The band members consist of bandleader and cornetist Tony Pringle, Bill Novak on clarinet, soprano sax and alto sax, Peter Bullis on banjo and guitar, trombonist Stan Vincent, Bob Pilsbury on piano and clarinet, bassist Barry Bockus and drummer Cees Hans Pameijer (Pam).