The Henry Ford Big Band from Henry Ford Community College performs at major jazz festivals worldwide, and looks forward to a return engagement at Europe’s oldest jazz festival, Jazz a’ Juan. Formed in 1981, the band performs music of such legendary American jazz greats as Duke Ellington, Buddy Rich, Count Basie and Stan Kenton, to name a few.  The band has performed twice at New York’s famed Carnegie Hall, eight times at the Montreux, Switzerland Jazz Festival, as well as three U.S. Presidential Inaugurations, and most recently was honored with the Wayne County USA County Executive’s Award by the Wayne County Council for Arts, History, and Humanities.  Other world engagements include performances at the New Orleans USA Mardi Gras, the North Sea Jazz Festival and the Edinburgh International Festival, and 25 consecutive years as the only band, professional or amateur, to appear at the Detroit Jazz Festival (formerly Montreux Detroit).  The band’s director is Rick Goward, who is in his 26^th year of directing.