Unit 7 / The Jazz Alliance
Unit 7 is a sextet inspired by the great jazz combos of Cannonball Adderley and Art Blakey. In fact, the name and theme of Unit 7 was derived from Cannonball's group. Unit 7 swings its music hard-whether it's playing jazz standards, bebop, ballads or blues!
The distinctive sound of Unit 7 comes from a front line consisting of flugelhorn, tenor and baritone saxophones backed by a driving rhythm section.
With an extensive library of arrangements, Unit 7 performs at jazz concerts, swing dances, wedding receptions, and other special events for which the event planners seek a marvelous listening experience.
For those events that require the ultimate live music performance, Unit 7 can be expanded into a 17-piece big band, known as The Jazz Alliance.
Performing classical and contemporary arrangements from its extensive set list, The Jazz Alliance is the "Jazz Group in Residence" at Meredith College, Raleigh, North Carolina.
Organized to provide skilled jazz musicians with an opportunity to regularly perform challenging classical and contemporary big band jazz compositions and arrangements, The Jazz Alliance re-creates the atmosphere of the Big Band era--transporting its audiences to a simpler, grander time in U.S. history.
Recently, The Jazz Alliance has presented concerts at Meredith College to enthusiastic audiences reveling in the incomparable music of Count Basie and Buddy Rich--music that reveals its full beauty only when performed by an accomplished Big Band of experienced musicians.
In the traditions of the great big bands of the past, The Jazz Alliance includes 4 trombones, 4 trumpets, 2 alto saxophones, 2 tenor saxophones, 1 baritone saxophone, piano, string bass, drums and guitar.
Both groups are let by Bill Atchley, an accomplished alto, tenor and baritone saxophonist who has performed with a number of bands, both big and small. When not playing jazz, Bill's day gig is being the William Neal Reynolds Distinguished Professor of Genetics at North Carolina State University. He gets to associate with many fine musicians as a Fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences.