The OJO is returning to the National Arts Centre!

We had to take a break due to the pandemic but we’ll be back at the NAC in 2024 with a fabulous new set of concerts. Check out the season.

Hire our musicians for your private events!

Our roster includes most of the top jazz musicians in the capital region. We regularly put together groups for private events. Contact us if you’d like to chat about live jazz for your event.

About the OJO

The Ottawa Jazz Orchestra (OJO), based in Ottawa and founded in 2006, brings together many of Canada’s finest professional jazz and symphony orchestra musicians under the direction of bassist Adrian Cho. This unique ensemble has garnered kudos from both critics and audiences for its highly entertaining, innovative and educational presentations of seminal jazz-centric music performed by a wide range of ensembles including small chamber jazz groups, repertory orchestras, neophonic orchestras and a full symphonic jazz orchestra.

The OJO’s broad repertoire of music includes original compositions; the gamut of jazz and pre-jazz repertory from as far back as 1850; and jazz-influenced neoclassical works. In addition to a full season of concerts at the National Arts Centre, the orchestra frequently performs at the invitation of event organisers including the National Capital Commission, the City of Ottawa, and various festivals.

2024 Season @ the National Arts Centre

Saturday, January 20, 2024

Swing Sensation

The Ottawa Jazz Orchestra returns to the National Arts Centre and kicks off its 2024 season with an evening of fabulous swing music featuring seminal works originally performed by legendary bandleaders Artie Shaw and Benny Goodman.

Join a quintet from the Ottawa Jazz Orchestra spotlighting the virtuosity of clarinetist David Renaud and special guest vibraphonist from Montreal, François Stevenson. They will be backed by the trio of Mark Ferguson on piano, Adrian Cho on double bass, and Mark Rehder on drums.

Thursday, March 14, 2024

Saturday, April 20, 2024

Big Band Bash

The Ottawa Jazz Orchestra brings back the big band with two sets of swinging songs that will have you smiling and tapping your toes all evening.

The first set will recall the sounds of the Cotton Club and Harlem speakeasies featuring music by Duke Ellington, Jelly Roll Morton, Louis Armstrong and more. Savour this rarely performed music that will truly transport you back to the golden age of jazz.

The second set will have you dancing in your seats as vocalist Diane Nalini and the band perform stellar arrangements penned by such legends as Bill Holman, Billy May, Count Basie, Billy Strayhorn, Nelson Riddle, and Buddy Bregman, for the great jazz vocalists Anita O’Day, Ella Fitzgerald, and Carmen McRae.

Jazz singer and songwriter Diane Nalini started singing at the age of three. Born in Montreal to Belgian and Goan parents, she sings and writes songs in four languages (English, French, Portuguese and Spanish) and has released five wide ranging and warmly received albums. An accomplished songwriter, composer, and lyricist, Diane has written or co-written songs that have been used in major Hollywood releases, indie films, television shows and video games. “She captures jazz at its most sophisticated and joyous level,” writes Elle Magazine Canada. “I just love Diane Nalini’s voice. This is a sassy, ‘ripe plum in the Italian sun’ kind of voice… She has such sweet and effortless pitch, it’s beautiful.” (Katie Malloch, CBC radio’s Jazzbeat and Tonic).