The 8-Bit Big Band

The 8-Bit Big Band plays Miller Theater on Saturday, October 24, at 8 PM. It's a single 90-minute set with no intermission, so you're in and out in under two hours. The ensemble is led by composer, arranger, and conductor Charlie Rosen, who's the one behind the whole project.

If you're not familiar, the band's whole thing is taking some of the most recognizable music from video games and rearranging it for a large jazz ensemble. Rosen calls the project The Great Video Game Songbook, and that's a good way to think about it: treating game scores like the Great American Songbook, with the band drawing from beloved titles and blending symphonic jazz tradition with a modern, genre-spanning approach. It's a big-band sound applied to music that usually lives in a controller.

They've been at it since 2017, starting with the debut album Press Start, followed by Choose Your Character in 2018. The band picked up its first GRAMMY with Backwards Compatible in 2022, put out Game Changer in 2023, and earned a second GRAMMY in 2026. A sixth album is already in the works, so they're not slowing down. Along the way, they've gathered close to half a million social media followers and millions of YouTube views, and have caught the attention of The New York Times, Forbes, and Jazziz, with the latter noting that the band is redefining the modern big band.

The show is at Miller Theater, 250 S. Broad St., Philadelphia, PA 19102, on Saturday, October 24, starting at 8 PM. It runs 90 minutes without an intermission.