Brooklyn-based composer-bandleader Darcy James Argue, a seven-time winner in the DownBeat Critics Poll, is credited with "making the big band cool again" (Time Out New York) and "reinventing the jazz big band for the 21st century" (John L. Walters, The Guardian). Active in New York with his 18-piece ensemble Secret Society since 2005, the Vancouver native first gained international recognition with his widely acclaimed 2009 debut, Infernal Machines (New Amsterdam Records), which appeared on over 100 Best-of-the-year lists, earned Grammy and JUNO Award nominations, and quickly made him one of the most talked about musicians in jazz. In addition to appearances at venues ranging from jazz and rock clubs to such prestigious theaters as Merkin Hall, The Kennedy Center, and Amsterdam’s Muziekgebouw aan ‘t IJ, the group has also performed at the Montreal, Ottawa, Toronto and Vancouver Jazz Festivals, the Ecstatic Music Festival, the London Jazz Festival, the Moers Festival and numerous others. Argue premiered Brooklyn Babylon, an innovative multimedia collaboration with graphic artist Danijel Zezelj, over the course of four nights at the Brooklyn Academy of Music’s Next Wave Festival in 2011, and recorded the music for a highly praised sophomore release, also on New Amsterdam Records.