Dazzling musicianship, riveting stage performances, sixty TV appearances, two barnstorming decades on the road and eleven red hot CDs have established them as the world's greatest swing band.

"A formidable combo that can blow any band off the stage" [Blues & Rhythm]

"To those that say swing is a musical form best left to Americans, prepare to be proven wrong. This British combo is bullet-proof!" [Atomic Magazine, New York]

Listen to King Pleasure & The Biscuit Boys - Hey Puerto Rico:

Seven of Britain's finest jazz musicians and a remarkable singer recreate the recording career of Billie Holiday through the 30's, 40's and 50's. Every member is a British Jazz Award winner, on the road for nearly two decades and a proven box-office success. The nearest we will get to hearing Billie and a full band performing this wonderful repertoire on stage.

"What is happening here might even be a shade better than what was being played all those years ago" [BBC Radio 2]

"Val Wiseman is probably the only singer today who should attempt to sing the Billie Holiday songbook" [Daily Telegraph]

Listen to Lady Sings the Blues - Miss Brown To You:

Bob Kerr, founder member of The Bonzo Dog Doo Dah Band ["I'm The Urban Spaceman"], leader of New Vaudeville Band ["Winchester Cathedral"] now fronts the Greatest Comedy Band in Jazz! Impossibly silly, ludicrously-talented and wonderfully entertaining.

"This is Bob's greatest achievement, an extraordinary and gloriously idiosyncratic phenomenon. A five piece group who keep alive the anarchic spirit of Spike Jones & The City Slickers, clinging to otherwise long-lost standards of impeccable musicianship, fun and imagination." [Birmingham Mail]

Listen to Bob Kerr & his Whoopee band - You always hurt the one you love:

Roy put in such a show-stopping performance at the 2011 Birmingham International Jazz & Blues Festival that the Birmingham Mail raised the question "Is there a better male jazz singer in this country?" The reviewer continued "Possibly not. Sensitive deliveries of 'My Foolish Heart' and 'Gee Baby, Ain't I Good To You?' through to joyous romps on up-tempo swinging blues marked him as a consummate master of his trade. "Why Roy Forbes is not a household name is a mystery, but he's certainly known by musicians, having been booked alongside Larry Coryell, David Murray, Harry Sweets Edison, Scott Hamilton, Benny Waters, Al Casey, Spike Robinson and more. Based in Birmingham, the belated recognition of Roy's undoubted talent may just be the shot in the arm that British Jazz needs.

Soprano saxophone player Julian Smith took the UK music business by storm with stunning appearances on the 2009 Britain's Got Talent TV show, polling 700,000 votes in the final to finish runner-up to Susan Boyle. He featured on Sony's Classic Chillout series, duetted with Kenny G at The Royal Albert Hall, performed for Prince Charles at Clarence House and sets off on a 48 date UK tour in February 2011.

"A huge talent" [Simon Cowell], "Stunning, Absolutely stunning" [Amanda Holden], "We've all been completely blown away by you" [Piers Morgan]

Listen to Julian Smith - Somewhere:

Musical Youth, the band credited with taking reggae out of the ghetto and into the pop mainstream with their 4 million-seller "Pass The Dutchie" are back on the road. Fronted by original former-members Dennis Seaton and Michael Grant, the band have an album [scheduled for January 2012 release] "When Reggae Was King" which presents new versions of the reggae classics that introduced them in the years leading up to their world-wide hit records – '"Dutchie", "Never Gonna Give You Up", "The Youth Of Today", "Heartbreaker", "007", "Tell Me Why" and "Sixteen".

Historical note: "Dutchie" was reggae music's first ever hit on the U.S. charts and the first to feature on MTV.

A veritable legend of the blues, Chick Willis, 'The Stoop Down Man', was born in Cabiness, Georgia, and still lives in the State. Early influences included Little Milton, T-Bone Walker and Sam 'Lightnin' Hopkins, but his career really took off when he worked with his cousin Chuck Willis until the latter's death in 1958. Since then Chick Willis, a superb guitarist and singer who also plays drums, keyboards, harmonica and bass, has garnered awards and honours from every possible source. A brief sample includes Living Blues Awards' Best Live Performer of 2006, the award of honorary citizenship of Kansas City, Missouri, and the Jus' Blues T-Bone Walker Award (twice).

'Chick 'Stoop Down' Willis is the most interesting guitarist in contemporary R&B. There's a friendliness, a neighbourliness, to the playing. As Willis has aged, his mastery of the blues has come to the forefront.' – Daddy B. Nice

Click on the image below for something to raise the spirits on a gloomy morning (or any other time, for that matter)