Members of a Dereham-based jazz band say they are 'still on a high' after supporting legendary rocker Rod Stewart on a five stadium tour.

Eastern Daily Press: Dereham jazz band DixieMix have returned from a UK Five Stadium Tour supporting Rod Stewart.Dereham jazz band DixieMix have returned from a UK Five Stadium Tour supporting Rod Stewart. (Image: Submitted)

DixieMix, led by cornetist Simon Nelson, are more used to playing local gigs to a few hundred people at the most but as part of the tour they were playing to thousands.

They were selected to play with Stewart after his production company listened to some of their music on their website.

DixieMix, which is sponsored by Woodforde's, and also comprises Chris Wigley on trombone, Peter Oxborough on clarinet and saxophone, Kevin West on banjo, guitar and ukulele, John Benson on bass and drummer Tony Wilkins, joined the Scot on June 13 appearing at the Amex Stadium in Brighton, Britannia Stadium in Stoke-on-Trent, Somerset County Cricket Club in Taunton and Bloomfield Road Stadium in Blackpool. They finished up north of the border on June 21 at Falkirk Stadium.

The hard-working band, whose members come from Dereham, Norwich and Southwold, said they were exhausted but elated.

Mr Nelson said: 'Being part of something so big and the great reception we received has been just phenomenal. The band are still on a high and have yet to come back down to earth. The whole trip was an amazing experience. We travelled over 2000 miles and more than 130,000 people saw DixieMix perform over the five nights.

'Right now we are exhausted, mildly emotional, but we have the most unbelievable memories to last a lifetime.'

He said for the whole tour DixieMix were part of the inner core of musicians and roadies meeting Rod and his band who were all complimentary of the DixieMix contribution.

'Our website has gone crazy with almost 1000 hits in a single day,' said Mr Nelson.