Keep the Change was started in 1984 by musicology students in Aarhus, and still today many current or former music students play in the band. Many of our band members have been playing in the band for a lot of years, some even since the beginning.

Our conductor
Keep the Change is conducted by Frank Bastrup Olsen, who is a trained rhythmic trombone player from the Royal Academy of Music in Aalborg specialized in big band conduction. Over the past 10 years he has played in many different groups within the genres of funk, blues, rock, pop, neoswing and jazz. The last few years he has however focused on jazz and big band music.

Earlier the band has among others been conducted by Simon Nielsen, Marion Barker, Henry Gørup Rasmussen and Lisbeth Iversen, and we have also had american big band leaders and composers as guest conductors.

Musicians
Keep the Change is a full-size big band with five saxophone players, four trumpet players, five trombone players and a rhythm section consisting of a pianist, a guitarist, a bassist and a drummer. Over time, we have had several guest soloists, and former band members include Sacha Dupont and Lars Vissing.

Today the band consists of the following musicians:

Saxophone players
Kirsten Elkjær (board member) (leave of absence)

Sarah Kirkegaard Jensen
Ane Teglbjærg
Kristian Bay
Jacob Jensen (cashier)
Carsten Knudsen

Trumpet players
Peder Rasmussen
Uffe Pep (chairman)
David Vestergaard Eriksen (leave of absence)
Thomas Frandsen
Maria Jakobsen

Trombone players
Klaus Litty
Sidsel Bang Skovgaard
Gitte Westphael
Reynir Reynisson

Rhythm section
Jens Møller
Mads Møller Jensen
Hans Buhl
Kristian Sørensen

We usually perform with a female and/or male singer. Our permanent singers are Keshia Christiansen and Tom Brakl.