The Vosbein Magee Big Band is a professional jazz orchestra based in Lexington, Virginia, bringing together some of the Shenandoah Valley’s finest musicians for bold, hard-swinging, vividly arranged big band music.
The band was formed in the summer of 2015 by composer and arranger Terry Vosbein and trumpeter Chris Magee. After years of playing together and talking about the need for a working big band built around original writing and strong soloists, they finally gathered the players and made it happen.
From the beginning, the band has served as an outlet for Vosbein’s writing and Magee’s playing, leadership, and musical fire. Most of the band’s repertoire is written or arranged by Vosbein, whose music combines the craft of classic big band writing with a modern harmonic language and a strong sense of form. Magee has also contributed music to the library, as has saxophonist and founding member Greg Moody.
Now celebrating its tenth anniversary, the Vosbein Magee Big Band has built a sound that is direct, colorful, and unmistakably alive. The music is rooted in swing, but it is not a nostalgia act. The band plays original compositions, fresh arrangements, and music shaped by the personalities of the players themselves.
The ensemble has released two recordings: Come and Get It!, a live album of original music and arrangements, and Vagabond, featuring guitarist Royce Campbell with the band in a concert recording of music arranged by Carroll DeCamp. Both albums capture what the band does best: strong ensemble playing, generous solo space, and the energy of musicians making music together in real time.
The Vosbein Magee Big Band performs regularly throughout the Shenandoah Valley and beyond, carrying forward the power, elegance, and excitement of the big band tradition while creating music that belongs fully to the present.
Meet the Leaders
Terry Vosbein
Terry Vosbein is a New Orleans-born composer, arranger, educator, and jazz scholar whose work connects the jazz orchestra to the broader concert tradition. He has written for big band, chamber ensembles, orchestra, wind ensemble, and choir, bringing to each setting a strong sense of color, structure, and musical lineage.
His big band music reflects a lifelong engagement with jazz history, shaped by a modern harmonic ear and a composer’s command of large-scale form. His recordings include Progressive Jazz 2009, Fleet Street, and La Chanson Française, and his compositions and arrangements form an essential part of the Vosbein Magee Big Band’s identity.
For more than three decades, Vosbein has taught composition, jazz studies, and music theory while mentoring generations of young musicians. He is also the founder and curator of the Stan Kenton Research Center, an archive dedicated to preserving and studying Kenton’s music, career, and educational legacy.
vosbein.com
