National Youth Jazz Orchestra

British jazz orchestra

The National Youth Jazz Orchestra (NYJO), established as the London Schools' Jazz Orchestra in 1965, is a British jazz orchestra.

The National Youth Jazz Orchestra (NYJO) was founded in 1965 by Bill Ashton. Based in the Royal Arsenal, London, England, NYJO started life as the London Schools' Jazz Orchestra, and evolved into the National Youth Jazz Orchestra. In April 2015, NYJO became an National Portfolio Organisation of the Arts Council England in recognition of its role as an excellent youth arts institution and its ability to inspire young people to like and enjoy jazz. At the same time, NYJO acquired jazz's first ever royal patron, the Earl of Wessex. In July 2021, Susie York Skinner became the chief executive. York Skinner announced her resignment in May 2024, leaving the organisation along with former artistic director Mark Armstrong.

The band's aims are to provide an opportunity for gifted young musicians from around the UK to perform big band jazz in major concert halls, theatres, and on radio and television, and to make recordings, commission new works from British composers and arrangers, and to introduce a love of jazz to as wide an audience as possible, but especially to schoolchildren.

as of March 2024, there is no music or artistic director and both chair and deputy chair are interim appointees. Susie York Skinner, the organisation's CEO announced her departure in May 2024. The Duke of Edinburgh is the royal patron. The honorary vice presidents are Valerie Amos, Baroness Amos, Guy Barker, Lord Coe, Lord Colwyn, Dame Cleo Laine, Kelvin Hopkins, Chi Onwurah, and Martin Taylor. Bobby Worth and Neil Yates.