page_title: Jazz band
section_title: Ensemble types
hierarchical_section_title: Jazz band / Ensemble types
caption_attribution_description: Cropped screenshot of Count Basie and his band with featured vocalist Ethel Waters from the film Stage Door Canteen.
context_page_description: A jazz band is a musical ensemble that plays jazz music. Jazz bands vary in the quantity of its members and the style of jazz that they play but it is common to find a jazz band made up of a rhythm section and a horn section.
  The size of a jazz band is closely related to the style of jazz they play as well as the type of venues in which they play. Smaller jazz bands, also known as combos, are common in night clubs and other small venues and will be made up of three to seven musicians; whereas big bands are found in dance halls and other larger venues.
  Jazz bands can vary in size from a big band, to a smaller trio or quartet. Some bands use vocalists, while others are purely instrumental groups.
  Jazz bands and their composition have changed many times throughout the years, just as the music itself changes with personal interpretation and improvisation of its performers.
caption: Count Basie and band, with vocalist Ethel Waters, from the film Stage Door Canteen (1943)
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