Big Band Theory

Composed of musicians affiliated with the Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) in
Pasadena, CA., BBT was started in 1998 when Brenda Goforth Adelante, Patrick
Olguin, and others, provided music for holiday parties at JPL. Realizing there were many skilled musicians at the lab, Brenda and Pat started to create a big band. They made many phone calls, and got a hold of some first-class big band music, squeezed 23 people into a room on a rainy January day in 1999, and the band was born. Now Big Band Theory plays at many JPL and Caltech functions, dance venues, and local festivals. The band features selections mostly from the swing era, with a dose of 50's Sinatra and 60's hipsters. BBT’s extensive musical repertoire also includes many celestial tunes such as "Fly Me to the Moon," "Orange Colored Sky" (our paean to Mars), and “Ja-Da”, one of the first songs heard in space!