The New England Wind Symphony
At the turn of the last century, Concert Band music featured by Sousa and Gilmore was the popular music of the day. The sound of the Wind Symphony is uniquely American and it performs the classics of the wind band library written by such composers as Percy Grainger, Robert Russell Bennett, Gustav Holst and John Philip Sousa, among many others. The 35 piece New England Wind Symphony was founded in 1984 for the purpose of bringing quality wind band literature closer to the concert going public. Unfortunately, this rich musical heritage has become a waning experience for music enthusiasts since, for the most part, only Military, and College Bands are performing the Wind Symphony literature at high professional standards. The New England Wind Symphony prides itself on commissioning new works and arrangements to be featured at every concert it performs, whether it is patriotic, special event or holiday. We hope, in some small way, to rekindle a little passion for yesteryear as well as enlighten audiences with the possibilities of new and exciting wind band sounds for tomorrow delivered by a professional wind symphony.

The Northeast Symphony Orchestra
When a full symphony orchestra is needed to headline an event, Clayton calls on the best string, woodwind, brass, and percussion players in the New England area to form The Northeast Symphony Orchestra. This fifty piece symphony performs pops concerts featuring great Broadway standards, traditional light classics, and contemporary selections as well as spotlighting the 1812 Overture and Sousa's Stars & Stripes Forever for a rousing Grande finale ! The Northeast Symphony Orchestra has appeared throughout New England and has been performing  for 23 consecutive years at the Arts Jubilee Celebration in North Conway, N.H. as the highlight of their summer concert season.

The New England Society Orchestra
From the “Elegant Eighties” and the “Gay Nineties” through two Great Wars, high profile restaurants, hotels and cruise lines had musicians on hand to play light classical and dance music for the enjoyment of their guests. Those groups of musicians became known as Society Orchestras. Back in the 1930’s and 1940’s people simply wanted to dance so everyone from those gifted with a right and left foot to those who had two left feet got up from their tables and danced the night away and “Society” orchestras catered to their audiences.

The New England Society Orchestra, a 21 piece big band with strings, is modeled after those original society orchestras and proudly reproduces the music of the 1890’s through 1940’s from ragtime through the swing era. The repertoire includes dance and Concert music which represents the very best of the Great American songbook, the perfect balance of the “Sweet” and “Hot” music of the Society Orchestra era. Audiences delight in the sounds of Benny Goodman, Harry James, Tommy Dorsey, Larry Clinton and many other orchestras which featured the big band format with the elegance of a string section added.

The Clayton Poole Orchestra
The Clayton Poole Orchestra was the first of the orchestras founded by Clayton Poole. This band has a thirty year history of bringing outstanding big band era music to delighted audiences. The band is still comprised of many of its original musicians and vocalists with many original fans still snapping their fingers and tapping their toes in the audience.

A Big Band is a type of musical ensemble associated with playing jazz music. Big Bands became wildly popular during the Swing Era from the early 1930’s until the late 1940’s. There are two distinct periods in history of popular big bands. Beginning in the mid-1920’s big bands usually played a sweet form of jazz that involved very little improvisation. The dance form of jazz, made popular after the introduction of swing in 1935, was characterized by a sweet and romantic melody.

This 16 piece Orchestra embodies the considerable range of styles among the popular big bands and plays the exact charts that sat on the stands of famous big band musicians. The Clayton Poole Orchestra plays the relaxed propulsive swing of Count Basie, the Dixieland style of Bob Crosby, the hard driving swing style of Benny Goodman and the varied and sophisticated compositions of Duke Ellington. It features strong instrumentalists, whose sounds dominate, such as the clarinets of Benny Goodman, Artie Shaw and Woody Herman, the trombone of Jack Teagarden, the trumpet of Harry James, and the drums of Gene Krupa and Budy Rich. Vocalists recreate the star quality of Frank Sinatra, Helen O’Connell, Ella Fitzgerald, Nate King Cole, Joe Williams, Billie Holiday, Mel Torme’ and Peggy Lee.

The Capital Center Jazz Orchestra
The Capitol Center Jazz Orchestra is the most recent Orchestra for which Clayton Poole serves music director and conductor. It is a 16 piece ensemble which exemplifies the musical art form which originated at the beginning of the 20th century. Jazz, from its early development until the present, has incorporated music from 19th and 20th century American popular music. Jazz has spawned a variety of subgenres from New Orleans Dixieland dating from the early 1910’s, big band style swing from the 30’s and 40’s, bebop from the mid 1940’s, a variety of Latin jazz fusions from the 1950’s and 1960’s to jazz-rock fusion for the 1970’s and late 1980’s developments such as acid jazz which blended jazz influences into funk and hip-hop.

The Capitol Center Jazz Orchestra performs a mix of standards from Swing, Be-Bob and Cool Jazz to Rhythm and Blues, Latin and Soul Jazz. This Concert group is diverse and blends well as back up to internationally renowned instrumental and vocal soloists. Audiences are treated to styles from Duke Ellington and Count Basie, to Stan Kenton, Dizzy Gillispie and Miles Davis.

The Capitol Center Jazz Orchestra is the type of ensemble that would have backed up singers like Ella Fitzgerald, Frank Sinatra, Sammy Davis, Jr. and Mel Torme’ and the kind of band that would back up today’s song stylists such as Dianna Krall, Diane Schuur and Jason Moran. The Orchestra is comprised of the best first call musicians located throughout the Northeast United States. The Capitol Center Jazz Orchestra is in residence at The Capitol Center For the Arts in Concord, N.H. and serves as its “house” Orchestra, backing up various touring artists who perform at the Center.

The Play'rs Orchestra
The Play’rs Orchestra was Skip’s answer to those audiences who wanted the big band sound and talent but didn’t have the space or event scale to accommodate a big ensemble. This 10 piece “big band” has all the lush stylings of the 16 piece band with many musicians doubling or tripling up on instruments. The Play’rs Orchestra is perfect for smaller and more intimate venues and plays many private receptions, parties and dances.