MATTHEW FORD, ALAN OWENS & THE FORUM BIG BAND

• 120mins

Finally after an 8 year wait, Alan is very pleased to announce that Matt Ford will be back at the Forum to perform with the Forum Big Band in a night of outstanding Swing Era Music.

Matt is the UK’s most experienced and in-demand Swing Era vocalist. A veteran of over 2000 Big Band concerts, with the likes of The Syd Lawrence Orchestra, BBC Big Band, Len Philips Swing Orchestra and John Wilson Orchestra, Matt’s career spans four decades, and shows no sign of slowing down.

Matt has featured in four BBC Proms concerts (2011, 2013, 2016 & 2019), with live broadcasts of these on BBC Two, BBC Four and BBC Radio 3.  Other TV and radio credits include; Friday Night is Music Night (tributes to Irving Berlin, The Gershwins, Alan J Lerner & Gene Kelly), BBC Big Band Special (30th Anniversary Special), SKY Arts 1 & 2 (Cole Porter in Hollywood & 100 Years of Big Bands), BBC Four (The Sound of Song), BBC One (The One Show), ITV (Titchmarsh) and BBC Radio 3 (In Tune).

As a recording artist, 2022 saw Matt release ‘From Abbey Road’, a live Big Band album recorded at the iconic London venue’s Studio 2.  The single release from the album, ‘I Wanna Be Like You’, not only reached #1 in the iTunes Jazz Chart, but placed in the Official UK Singles Chart Top 40.

In 2024 Matt launched his new, intimate, Cole Porter Songbook show, (performing in theatres and Arts Centres throughout the UK), appeared once again with the Halle and RTE CO (Movies & Musicals), revisited the US (Broadway Sings! with the OPAS Symphony Orchestra) and became a regular performer at Annabel’s in Mayfair.