- October 4th, 2023
Get ready to rock steady this Christmas with Western Standard Time Ska Orchestra's "Bluebeat Holiday", featuring lead vocals by the sensational Jesse Wagner from The Aggrolites! In Stores Now!
This California supergroup delivers a Jamaican jazz & big-band twist on 10 of your favorite Christmas classics on limited "Ever-glo" colored vinyl. From "Happy Christmas" & "Dominick the Donkey" to "Let It Snow" & "Santa Claus is Comin' to Town" - "Bluebeat Holiday" is sure to keep you dancing and celebrating for years to come.
Order 2 Exclusive Colored Vinyls plus 2 new Holiday T-Shirts, along with discount Bundles!
- May 18th, 2021
We're excited to announce the release of a brand new vinyl 45 featuring two instrumental ska jazz classics: A-Side-Malcolm X (Lee Morgan's Sidewinder) and on the B-side Tommy McCook's SkaBa. This is a limited release available in classic black as well as super limited (100 copies) bone white vinyl. We are also offering matching T-shirts that are sold separately or as part of a discounted bundle.
Now Shipping - Order your copies today before they run out!!
- Sept. 28th, 2020
Since 2011, Western Standard Time has re-imagined music from early 1960’s Jamaica with a big band format. At the same time and since its inception, WST has adapted original Jamaican classics while honoring its musical roots with innovative arrangements.
What’s new now is even more exciting---WST is asserting it’s own voice with its first original compositions. This new music is the first recording to come out of the All-Star ska orchestra since “A Big Band Tribute to the Skatalites- Volume II”, its second full-length release in 2015.
The first of a series of three singles to be released on vinyl in 2020, “Tunnel Vision,” is an original tune composed by bandleader, Eitan Avineri. This vintage reggae scorcher features the “Ranglinesque” guitar work of Nadav Peled. The song has already gotten international acclaim as an “instant hit.” On the B-Side is a dub version of the tune masterfully mixed by Aggrolites’ and Arise Roots’ Chris Brennan on an analog 8-track.
The second release on vinyl features two heavy minor ska instrumentals sure to please both DJ’s and vinyl enthusiasts alike. On the A-Side is “Unshackled,” a powerful and memorable pentatonic melody that will make you want to move your feet and shake your hips. The flip side features an original track that transports the listener and Jamaican ska to another dimension, the ancient deserts of North Africa. This haunting mix of Jamaican and Middle Eastern sounds is unique and mesmerizing. WST is proud to work with esteemed producer, The Dub Revelator, aka Solomon Jabby, who mixed and mastered each track.
All new music is available NOW in the Merch section and can be streamed and purchased on all digital platforms.
Stay tuned for more to come...
- 2015 (Download PDF)
Western Standard Time Ska Orchestra is Duke Ellington meets Jamaica: the big band jazz arrangements of the 1940s colliding with the sound of early Jamaica! It is jazz! It is Jamaican jazz! And people are flocking to it, by the thousands!
These extraordinary musicians have taken Jamaican music, added big band jazz arrangements, and created a sound unique unto itself. Western Standard Time Ska Orchestra is the only one of its kind in the whole U.S. and one of only a few in the entire world.
Western Standard Time is the world's premier Jamaican Jazz Orchestra. At a "standard" performance, there are more than 20 world-class jazz musicians. The featured performers in Western Standard Time have been awarded and/or nominated for Grammy Awards, performed on Oscar, Grammy, and Emmy television broadcasts, and played with international stars and major motion picture soundtracks: Andy Martin, Ron Stout, Wayne Bergeron, Bob Sheppard, Joey Altruda, Sean Billings, Willie Murillo, Danny Janklow, Allen Mezquida, Mike Stever, Nathan Breedlove, Brian Swartz, Adam Schroeder, and others. The band consists of west coast jazz greats who currently perform with the Clayton Hamilton Jazz Orchestra, Gordon Goodwin's Big Phat Band, Luckman Jazz Orchestra, Bob Mintzer's Big Band, and The Brian Setzer Orchestra.
Western Standard Time's music has been embraced by both hardcore jazz and Jamaican music lovers the world over and has been broadcasted on KJZZ 88.1FM, KPFK 90.7 FM, KCRW 89.9FM, as well as radio stations all over the world including major Jamaican radio station NewsTalk 93FM. DJ's from all over the world have aired their music as well as interviewed the producers of this band. At every show they attract crowds of thousands. By infusing elements of jazz, particularly big band jazz, into the contemporary musical mix, this group of Jamaican jazz gunslingers is rebranding the music of yesteryear and propelling it into the future. Give your audience something new, give them something influenced by the classics, give them Western Standard Time!
For more information, live videos, bios, and photos, please check them out on Facebook: www.facebook.com/westernstandardtime
Max O’Leary
max@empireagency.com