THERE’S a bit of a clue as to what Elftet are all about in their name.

Jazz they may be but the outfit who will be playing in the Ribble Valley next Saturday are no little trio.

Jonny Mansfield, the leader of the 11-piece outfit, admits that in many ways the band are more like an orchestra featuring brass, woodwind and strings alongside more traditional guitar, piano and drums.

“The register of the instruments are very similar to an orchestra,” said Jonny, recognised as one of the UK’s brightest young jazz talents.

Rather than being part of some musical masterplan, Jonny said that main reason for Elftet comprising so many musicians was a more selfish one.

“It mainly came from me from wanting to play with all my friends,” he admitted. “And I wanted to include the unexpected instruments like violin and cello.”

In having such a large group to work with Jonny has made composing new music more of a challenge.

“It has sort of evolved from the personnel,” he said. “All the music written with specific people in min. It helps that I know what they are capable of and just know what they might do.

“So I can then try and write in way to bring out their character in the best way. One thing that I have had to learn over the past couple of years is striking a balance between the composition of a piece and allowing players to be free to improvise.

“I usually have to produce a second draft of a piece once I’ve given it to the musicians to run through. I’ve learned not to be too precious!

Elftet are coming to Clitheroe as part of a tour funded by the Arts Council.

“We are so grateful for that,” said Jonny. “We couldn’t tour a band of this size without their help.”

Jonny, who studied at Chethams School of Music in Manchester and then the Royal Academy of Music is an acclaimed vibraphone player as well as being a composer.

“I took up the vibes because I was fed up of being the second best drummer when I was little at the Kirklees Music Centre on a Saturday morning,” he said.

“I always seemed to be the youngest one there and there was always an older drummer in the big band. I got fed up playing the shaker.

“But the vibraphone is a very percussive instrument and acts as kind of a join between a drum and a piano.”

Jonny was initially intending to study classical percussion at the Royal Academy but switched to a jazz course at the last minute.

His love for classical music is evident in some of his compositions.

“I still listen to lot of classical music and it is a big influence,” he said. “But I think that’s where it stops. I don’t have an agenda to put these two worlds together but any musician will reveal their influences in their music.”

Elftet will be releasing their debut album early next year and will be performing much of that album at their show for the Ribble Valley jazz and Blues Club in Clitheroe.

“We’ll probably also be doing a couple of other pieces we didn’t record for the album and then there’s a suite I wrote for my final recital at Royal Academy of Music,” he said. “We’ll certainly try to play some of that too.”

Jonny is one of a new breed of jazz musicians hoping to broaden the appeal of jazz music.

“Hopefully we will broaden people’s imaginations of what jazz can be,” he said. “People think of jazz as being what it was in the 1950s - and it still can be that of course - but I think it shocks lot of people when they hear more contemporary things people are calling jazz today.

“I just hope people come away having had a good night out and maybe they will be slightly more invested in our music and want to follow what happens next. If seeing us live does change the way they think about live music then that’s job done!”

Elftet, Ribble Valley Jazz and Blues, Clitheroe Cricket Club, Saturday September 15. Details from www.rvjazzandblues.co.uk or www.thegrandvenue.co.uk