The Trombonist - Spring 2012

Spring 2012 ÂŁ2.50

www.britishtrombonesociety.org

COVER STORY PRELUDE

Contacts British Trombone Society www.britishtrombonesociety.org Honorary Patron: Gordon Campbell Executive Board President Brett Baker 01606 783869 president@britishtrombonesociety.org Vice-President Carol Jarvis vicepresident@britishtrombonesociety.org Chair Ben Bouzan eastanglia@britishtrombonesociety.org Secretary Geoff Wolmark 01377 202209 1-3 Church Street, Hutton, Driffield, Yorks, YO25 9PR secretary@britishtrombonesociety.org Treasurer David Carnac treasurer@britishtrombonesociety.org Development Officer Stewart Drummond education@britishtrombonesociety.org Staff Membership Manager Lisa Penn 0844 4457931 membership@britishtrombonesociety.org Webmaster Edward Solomon 07903 152148 webmaster@britishtrombonesociety.org Associate Webmaster Mike Saville webmaster2@britishtrombonesociety.org Please submit news items for the website to Geoff Wolmark: news@britishtrombonesociety.org The Trombonist Editor Joanna Cambray-Young 07901 733719 editor@britishtrombonesociety.org Publishing and Distribution British Bandsman Advertising Gregan Quick 01933 445474 adverts@britishbandsman.com Design and DTP GK Graphic Design The Trombonist is published quarterly.

Please send reviews to Ben Henderson 77 Hallam Fields Road

Hello again, This issue of The Trombonist is just in time for Spring. As the birds start to sing and the trees blossom, we look back at some of the excellent BTS events that took place during the colder months. There is plenty to look forward to this year, and you will find details of upcoming regional, national and international events in this issue. We also have the regular features that you have come to expect, such as Star of the Future, Composer’s Corner, Desert Island Discs and Tips from the Top. As you may have guessed from the cover, the centre page features trombone legend Arthur Pryor and how his music inspired Steve Dillon’s CD project with the equally legendary Joseph Alessi.

I hope you enjoy reading the magazine and that you got all of the crossword questions right! Below is a note from BTS Vice-President, Carol Jarvis, about the many ways you can keep in touch with the latest news from the BTS. Best wishes, Joanna Cambray-Young

BTS on the web!

The British Trombone Society is forever expanding and now there are even more ways to keep up-to-date with the latest trombone news.

News and general updates will be streamed from the BTS Facebook and Twitter pages, so why not follow and like the pages to make sure you don’t miss out on what’s going on. On the Facebook page, you can post your own trombone news, participate in discussions, meet other trombonists and comment on the latest items. All BTS days and dates will be communicated through these pages so you will never miss out on news about your local event. You can also subscribe to the BTS YouTube Channel. You’ll find videos from various BTS Workshops and Events, as well as links to favourite videos from some of our great British trombonists.

How to join in: On the web: www.britishtrombonesociety.org On Facebook: www.facebook.com/britishtrombonesociety On Twitter: www.twitter.com/britishtrombone On YouTube: www.youtube.com/user/BritishTrombone

Ilkeston, Derbyshire, DE7 4AZ Representatives Scotland Chris Stearn 01360 860220 scotland@britishtrombonesociety.org Wales Arlene MacFarlane 07773 290975 wales@britishtrombonesociety.org North East & Yorkshire Paul Woodward 01924 823840 northeast@britishtrombonesociety.org North West Kerry Baldwin 07920 022395 northwest@britishtrombonesociety.org Midlands Ben Henderson 07841 755155 midlands@britishtrombonesociety.org Northern Ireland Stephen Cairns 02892 602646 northernireland@britishtrombonesociety.org South Richard Debonaire 07595 458984 south@britishtrombonesociety.org South West Tony Evans 01752 263069 southwest@britishtrombonesociety.org East Anglia Ben Bouzan 07970 502509 eastanglia@britishtrombonesociety.org Wessex Bruce Harding 01202 880814 wessex@britishtrombonesociety.org Brass Band Paul Woodward 01924 823840 brassband@britishtrombonesociety.org Jazz Jeremy Price jazz@britishtrombonesociety.org Young People James Howard 07906 392992 youngrep@britishtrombonesociety.org

99ers

Could you afford £99 a year to become one of the BTS super-supporters?

We would like to recruit 99 generous members who can spare this amount of money every year, to help us raise over £9,800 every year. With this level of extra income we can run more events, make instruments available to youngsters, support talented students with study placements, commission new works for the trombone, produce regular BTS recordings and develop the magazine and website even more.

So what does £1.90 a week buy you these days? Not even a pint of Guinness, two daily newspapers (posh end, of course), a family size bag of crisps or half a matinee cinema performance. And what lasting value do you get for that, compared to the ongoing pleasure of knowing you are helping the trombone and its players survive long into the future? By becoming a 99er, you will get: · A consultation lesson from a star performer at one of our BTS days. · Acknowledgement of the 99ers in the annual BTS programme, planned for our next AGM. · The eternal gratitude of generations of trombonists, as yet unknown.

To join this very select group, please either go to the BTS web site Membership page or email me for an application form (secretary@britishtrombonesociety.org).

Many, many thanks from the Executive Board.

Geoff Wolmark, BTS Secretary

Don Lusher Competition

Well done to the three finalists, who will compete at Cardiff on Sunday 27 May: Stephanie Waite Royal Academy of Music (RAM) Kieran McLeod (RAM) Tom Dunnett (Birmingham Conservatoire)

THE TROMBONIST | SPRING 2012 | PAGE 3

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Bone of Contention

President’s Address

Spring 2012

Dear Members,

I hope you have had as good a start to the year as the BTS. There have been many events taking place these past two months, some of which you can read about in this issue. Please find below a letter from our Treasurer as discussed in the last magazine. In the next issue of the magazine I can talk about some of the exciting developments that have taken place in the BTS in 2012.

Brett Baker BTS President

‘Dear Fellow BTS Member, Welcome to the first of four editions of The Trombonist magazine being published in 2012.

During the past three years, whilst I have been treasurer of the society, we have seen a rapid increase in the size and quality of the magazine, and the number of events the society holds throughout the year.

As discussed at the last two AGMs, the improved magazine, in conjunction with the general economic conditions, has resulted in a considerable increase in expense for the Society. To cover the expenses incurred in producing a good quality magazine and running numerous events, at the 2011 AGM the Executive Board proposed changes to the subscription rates that will increase subscriptions by £4.00 per annum. This will bring our membership rates in line with those of comparable associations in the UK. These increases will take place for members who renew or join from 1 October 2012. Members who pay by standing order will need to amend their standing order so that the correct amount is payable. We have also introduced some new membership categories to cater for those who would prefer to receive an electronic version of the magazine, pay a one-off payment for a lifetime membership, become a ‘99er’ (see below) or even a Patron, for those who wish to support the BTS further and receive additional membership benefits.

Over the past couple of years, we as a society have increased the number of regional events and the costs have started to become a drain on the society’s reserves. To counter these ever increasing costs, we will also now make a small charge for entry to BTS events to help cover costs such as artist’s travel expenses and venue costs. Feedback sought from members at recent events has been very accepting of this; after all, a brief glance through the magazine will show that it allows us to enhance the regional events by bringing in guest artists.

Prices of each class are listed for one year’s membership (except Lifetime Membership, which is a one-off payment): 16 and Under £14.00 Students £22.00 Students (Online magazine only / no paper) £18.00 Retired and 65+ £22.00 Retired 65+ (Online magazine only / No Paper) £18.00 Regular (One Year) £28.00 Regular (Online Magazine only / no paper) £24.00 Subscription for Libraries £18.00 Donor 99’er £99.00 Patron £150.00 Lifetime Membership £750.00 Please take the time to review the table that outlines the various membership options and, very importantly, please ensure that you amend your standing order or Paypal payment in time for 1 October, when the new rates start. Further details about the ‘99ers’ are given by the BTS Secretary on page 3, and are also on the website. Please feel free talk to any member of the Executive Board or email me at treasurer@britishtrombonesociety.org With many thanks for your continued support and looking forward to another successful year of BTS events, Best Wishes, David Carnac BTS Treasurer

THE TROMBONIST | SPRING 2012 | PAGE 5

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ON THE HORIZON

On the Horizon BTS Day in Bromley, Saturday 24 March 2012

Tiddly Troms Day in Wales, Sunday 13 May 2012

Bromley Temple Salvation Army will be hosting a trombone workshop event in Bromley Methodist Church (Kent), which will feature Brett Baker (principal trombone, Black Dyke Band) and Dudley Bright (principal trombone, London Symphony Orchestra), who will be leading workshops looking at technique, sound, breathing and performance.

Also confirmed for this event are Black Dyke Trombone Quartet and Bone-a-Fide quartet. There will also be a trade stand from Phil Parker Musical Instruments.

The event will form part of the celebrations for Bromley Temple Salvation Army Band’s 125th Anniversary. It is open to all trombone players, regardless of age or ability, and the aim is to inspire, motivate and encourage all trombonists who are able to attend, regardless of whether they are members of The Salvation Army or not. All welcome!

Costs: £5.00 for BTS Members (including evening festival) £10.00 for the non-members (including evening festival) Optional Hot Lunch: £5.00 - bookable in advance. Alternatively, Bromley town centre is nearby if you would prefer to pop out.

Tea and coffee will be available throughout the day.

Evening Festival at 6.30pm: £5.00 9.30am Registration and coffee 10.00am Warm-up and massed blow with Paul Woodward 10.30am Masterclass with Dudley Bright 11.30am Coffee break 11.50am Massed blow 2 with Brett Baker 12.30pm Lunch and Bon-a-fide lunchtime concert 2.00pm Brett Baker lecture recital 3.00pm Coffee break 3.20pm Massed blow 3 4.10pm Black Dyke Trombone Quartet 5.00pm Rehearsal for band and soloists 6.30pm Evening Concert Venue: Bromley Methodist Church, College Road, Bromley, BR1 3NS Contact: Richard Debonnaire rich.debonnaire@me.com

In association with the British Trombone Society and Gwent Music Support Service.

Come and join us for another fun-filled day of everything trombone!

Following on from the success of last year’s Tiddly Trom Day, we are looking for beginner trombonists (up to grade 5) to attend this free event, at which young trombonists will have the opportunity to perform, watch and work with some of the best trombone players around. Last year, our young trombone players had the unique opportunity to meet trombone players from the BBC National Orchestra of Wales and the Welsh National Opera, plus guidance throughout the day from the trombone students of the Royal Welsh College of Music and Drama. With a similar line-up this year, plus some other special guests, this day is not to be missed.

Venue: Rogiet Primary School, Station Road, Caldicot, NP26 3SD 9:30am Registration 10:00pm Fun-filled interactive musical games and activities 12:15pm Lunch and outdoor games 1:00pm Slide Show 2.00pm Break 2:15pm Massed rehearsal for concert 3.00pm Break and get ready for concert 4:00pm Tiddly Troms take centre stage in a concert for friends/family Please bring your trombone, music stand, packed lunch and appropriate footwear for lunchtime games.

For more detailed information and a registration form please contact: Jo Hirst on 07729 144690 or j.l.hirst@hotmail.co.uk All completed registration forms to be returned by Friday 27 April

BTS Day in Bacup, Saturday 19 May 2012

BTS Day in Porthywaen, Sunday 9 September 2012

At 2nd Rossendale Scout Group Bandroom, Scout Headquarters, Burnley Road, Bacup, Lancashire, OL13 8AE. Featuring Brett Baker, Jonathan Warburton and the RNCM Trombone Choir conducted by Adrian Morris 10:00am Welcome and Registration. Please make it known if you wish to be considered for an opportunity to perform in the afternoon concert as part of a Solo/Duet/Trio/Quartet, and also if you wish to take part in the Solo Masterclasses.

10:15am Warm up and Trombone Choir Rehearsals with Brett Baker (Main Hall) 10:45am Jonathan Warburton recital 11.30am Break 12.00pm Workshop with Brett Baker 1:00pm Lunch 2.00pm RNCM College Trombone Choir conducted by Adrian Morris 3.00pm Break 3.15pm Trombone Choir rehearsals with Brett Baker 4.00pm Run through with soloists for evening concert 7.30pm Concert with soloists from the list above Further information and to register, contact Brett Baker - president@britishtrombonesociety.org

At Porthywaen Silver Band Hall, Oswestry, Shropshire, SY10 8LX. Featuring Brett Baker, the Black Dyke Trombone Quartet, Stephen Lomas, Danny Brooks and Jonathan Warburton 9.30am Registration and coffee 10.00am Massed blow 1 with Brett Baker 11.00am Coffee break 11.30am Alastair Burrows, Stephen Lomas, Danny Brooks recital 12.30pm Lunch, with an opportunity to run through pieces with Fenella Haworth-Head 2.00pm Ensemble masterclass with quartets (Black Dyke Band) 3.00pm Coffee break 3.30pm Massed blow 2 with Brett Baker 4.00pm Workshop with Jonathan Warburton 5.00pm Rehearsals with band, soloists, Brett Baker, Black Dyke Quartet, Danny, Stephen and Jonathan 6.30pm Concert with soloists from the list above £5.00 to members, £15.00 non-members £5.00 to all for the evening concert Further information and to register, contact Brett Baker president@britishtrombonesociety.org or northwest@britishtrombonesociety.org

THE TROMBONIST | SPRING 2012 | PAGE 7

ON THE HORIZON

BTS National Event Royal Welsh College of Music and Drama, Cardiff Saturday 26 May 9.30am Registration (RWCMD trombone choir in foyer until 10.00am) 10.00am Massed trombone choir in the DS hall 11.00am Recital in the DS hall: Simon Minshall (bass trombone) 12.00pm Workshop in the foyer: BBC National Orchestra of Wales trombone section 12.45pm Tiddly Trombones Performance 1.00pm Lunch 2.00pm Workshop in the DS hall: Davur Juul Magnussen (principal trombone, Royal Scottish National Orchestra) 2.45pm Break 3.30pm Recital in the DS hall: Royal Welsh College of Music and Drama Brass Ensemble 4.15pm Recital: Dirk Amrein and Jonathan Warburton in the DS hall 6.30pm Concert in the DS hall: Dirk Amrein, Royal Welsh College of Music and Drama Brass Quintet, Royal Welsh College of Music and Drama Tubas and world premières performed by Jonathan Pippen, Brett Baker and Simon Minshall

Sunday 27 May 9.30am Registration (RWCMD trombone choir in foyer until 10.00) 10.00am Massed trombone choir in the DS hall 11.00am Recital in the DS hall: Jacques Mauger 12.00pm Workshop with the WNO trombone section in the DS hall 1.00pm Lunch 2.00pm Don Lusher competition in the DS hall 3.30pm Bar: Interview with Denis Wick (Christopher Beaumont from Michael Rath Brass Instruments

available for instrument-related questions) 4.00pm Performance in the foyer: Gordon Campbell 6.30pm Concert in the DS hall featuring Royal Welsh College of Music and Drama Brass Band, Don Lusher competition winner,

Davur Juul Magnussen, Jacques Mauger, Delegates’ Trombone Choir and Professional Trombone Ensemble Cost of the weekend (excluding evening concert, unless you are performing): BTS members £20, £40 for non-members.

Each evening concert: £10 - tickets: www.rwcmd.ac.uk/whats_on/events/british_trombone_society.aspx Royal Welsh College of Music and Drama, Castle Grounds, Cathays Park, Cardiff, CF10 3ER Contact: Colin Barrett: colby@hotmail.co.uk Brett Baker: president@britishtrombonesociety.org Kevin Price: Kevin.Price@rwcmd.ac.uk

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YOUTH FEATURE

British Trombone Society Instrument loan project In partnership with Warwick Music, John Hornby Skewes & Co Ltd and John Packer Ltd The BTS is excited to announce collaboration between Warwick Music, John Hornby Skewes and John Packer that will encourage more students to take up the trombone over the next few years. The lack of young people starting to play instruments at school, and indeed continue to play once at secondary school, is a major concern to the Society. Brett Baker, BTS President, is aiming to raise £4,000 towards supplying instruments to young players, along with £2,000 that will be generated from selling the new CD, Fanfare. A pilot scheme will take place in South Wales as our Teacher of the Year, Jo Hirst, has had success with 30 eleven-year-old pupils and organised last year’s Tiddly Trombone event. She will be supported by the provision of trombones that will be the property of the BTS and labelled as such.

In a separate development, with John Hornby Skewes, in the north of England the BTS will purchase its Odyssey trombone range to encourage new players to start up along the M62 corridor. In the south of England, John Packer Ltd. has entered a partnership with the BTS, which will see the Society utilise its JP031 model trombone. Hubs will be set up in Leeds, Manchester, Leicester, Sheffield, Gloucester and London.

Brett Baker commented: “The great thing about the trombone is its flexibility to play many styles of music. I really hope this pilot project takes off!”

So far, we have raised £820 towards the £6,000 total target, from contributors such as Denis Wick, Donald Hanson, Diana Lusher, Ian Bousfield, Stephen Cobb, Steve Hanover, the Black Dyke Trombone Quartet and Bob Hughes. One young trombone player has raised £62 through his local Scout group for the scheme! If you would like to be involved in the scheme and help the BTS to raise money for this worthy cause, then please contact president@ britishtrombonesociety.org

Mouthpieces Michael Rath: S4 1/2 and S5, both have small shank and are in leather pouches.

Vincent Bach: Bass Trbn. 2G All mouthpieces are as new, but half the price! Plus £10.00 shipping.

Greg Black: Small Shank; 5c, 5gs, 6AL (1/8” deeper) Large Shank; 6M (Alessi), 5G m, 4.5G-5G, 4.5G m BassTbn. ; 2G m (deep) 1.5 G m (Mt. Vernon copy) Monette 4TT (which I bought as an original, but possibly a copy) (it is slightly shallower than a normal 4, which makes the top register easier) All in new condition £80.00 each, including shipping Stork: Small Shank; 5, T1, T2b, Large Shank; 4, 4.5, 4.5s, 5s, 5 Bass Trombone; 1

All at £35.00 each including shipping Yamaha: Large Shank; 52E2 Bass Trombone 59 Both at £30.00 including shipping Shires Alto Trombone Shires Gold Brass Alto Trombone with 3 brass leadpipes. Tuning on slide, like old Conns.

As new - never really used. Dark, rich warm sound, easy to play softly (e.g. Rhenish in an audition) and easily blends with other instruments.

Soft articulation, well suited to Chamber Orchestra situations, when it’s easy to be too loud. Open to reasonable offers.

Contact: Richard Scoates richardscoates@gmail.com

THE TROMBONIST | SPRING 2012 | PAGE 9

SLIDES

A FIRST-class da

by Peter M. Chester

On a day, October 1st, when a record high of 30°C - another ‘first’ - was recorded in Yorkshire, it was appropriate that several other ‘firsts’ should occur at the British Trombone Society event, held at the Hexagon Music Centre in Beverley. Our host was Peter Walker and the East Riding Music Service, to whom the Society are deeply indebted. New music, new groups, and debut performances all found their place on what turned out to be a very enjoyable day of music making.

In the public eye for the first time in the morning was the recently formed Black Dyke Youth Quartet, made up of Dan Eddison from Leeds, Ross Johnson from Shropshire, ‘Wizz’ Bateman from Stockton and Adam Reed from North Yorkshire. After a few hours of intense rehearsals earlier in the week, their debut performance revealed not only their talent, but also their considerable potential and all present think we will hear much more from this group in the future. A polished and warm sound characterised their playing throughout.

Piazzolla’s rhythmic Libertango opened their spot, followed by Their Hearts Were Full of Spring, arranged by Mark Freeh. BTS members may well have come across the group’s third piece, A Song for Japan by Stephen Verheist, as it is freely available on the Internet, in a variety of combinations. As a trombone quartet the music worked very well, and the sound the quartet produced was beautiful. This opening slot finished with an exciting exercise in attack and control - the gallop from Rossini’s William Tell overture.

The first soloist of the day was Stephen Lomas on bass trombone. Stephen currently plays with Leyland Band, but deliberately seeks out music to play from a wide variety of fields, and

PAGE 10 | THE TROMBONIST | SPRING 2012

his recital programme reflected this. Asked at one point about how he chose his music, particularly transcriptions, he replied that the choice, in a sense, is random. Much depends on the musical merits of the piece and it is a matter of listening to music and trying different ideas. Enthusiasts for the instrument know that the bass trombone has one of the great ‘voices’ of the musical world, with significant musical flexibility. Stephen’s rich sound, the warm tone and the clear articulation even in the gentlest of quiet passages produced some of the highlights of the day.

Alongside music written especially for the bass trombone, such as the Blues March from the suite, Split Personality by David Fetter, and the Dance movement from the wonderful contemporary baroque-style suite for unaccompanied bass trombone by Eric Culver, Stephen offered us music transcribed for the instrument. There was the Variations on Dona Nobis Pacem by David Fetter, originally written for Douglas Yeo, and an aria from Glinka’s opera, Ivan Susanin. In this, Stephen was joined by pianist Margaret Bolton, as he was for Bozza’s Theme Varie. In both his morning and evening performances Stephen showed how eclectic and flexible the bass trombone can be with superbly musical performances of a Bach Flute Sonata in E-flat, transcribed for bass trombone. One wonders what Bach would have made of it, had bass trombones like Stephen’s been around in the 18th century.

It is likely he would have been very much impressed.

Brett Baker also contributed solo pieces in the morning recitals, demonstrating as ever his phenomenal range of techniques, but also the challenges that aspiring trombone players

should be ready to face, such as taking music originally written for cornet, for example, and playing it on the trombone. This was evident in the piece Cleopatra by Eugène Damaré.

Brett’s second piece, The Watermill by Ronald Binge, was also not originally for trombone but adapted very well, giving Brett the chance to show us some beautifully smooth playing in the high register.

Brett used his third piece, Pryor’s Variations on Annie Laurie, as an interesting prompt to a question and answer session. After demonstrating in the music at times almost unbelievable feats, we were asked to identify what we had heard and consider the techniques involved. This produced the following informative responses from Brett: On double and triple-tonguing? - important to keeping the air moving over the tongue to keep the sound going.

On multiphonics? - value of practising with a practice mute to line up the tuning between instrument and voice.

On lip-trills? - it is actually more of a ‘tongue and jaw’ trill, but best seen as an extension to a rapid lip slur, with minimum facial movement.

On playing fast? - If you must play fast, start slow and build it up, but for solos and auditions “speed is not everything”. Don’t be afraid of working on a fast piece (remember the slide was invented before valves!), but play to your strengths in solos. Work at basics such as tone, sound and intonation before going to faster pieces. In a typical theme and variations piece the theme is just as important as the flashy final variation.

Of course, the other important activity of the morning was the massed blow and in fact there were three occasions during the day

SLIDES

ay in Beverley…. when the group of 20 or so players of varying ages were able to practise the pieces that were played later in the evening concert. The repertoire eventually performed consisted of a lively March from Holst’s Second Suite for Wind Band, James McFadyen’s The Magic Forest and Three Movements by Kevin Morgan.

The quality of the food and drink at the Hexagon Centre proved a ‘hit’ during the day and, after a good lunch and another massed blow, members were treated to a sparkling recital by James Stretton and his friends, collectively known as A Bit on the Slide. James is by training a trumpeter who has mastered the whole range of brass instruments, even the intricacies of the trombone. This new ensemble of six trombonists produced a programme that showed again the range of voices that the trombone family has. ‘Firsts’ were in the air again, with not one but two world première performances.

American composer, Joseph M. Russo, provided a very interesting new addition to the trombone quartet repertoire, in the shape of Seaside. The three movements evoke aspects of the sea and were inspired by his childhood spent by the sea. The contemplative opening movement suggested the ebb and flow of the tides, and was characterised musically by some lovely bell-like figures, with some high register playing from the lead trombone. The second movement, reflecting the vastness of the ocean with a calmer mood than the first, again had some melodic writing stretching the range of the instruments. The final movement was like a nautical march, built around a jaunty tune suggestive of fishermen and those working on the sea. Hardly drawing breath after that impressive piece, we were treated

to the second world première of the day, Antiphon by James Stretton. This approachable, almost theatrical work is for two distinct groups of trombones. On one side stood an alto, a tenor and a bass, representing three boisterous medieval street musicians; on the other side two tenors and a bass representing three solemn clerical voices. The groups played independently as well as blending together, with the results showing the possibilities and voices of the trombone to great effect.

It should prove a valuable and entertaining addition to the repertoire and was certainly well-received.

A ‘first’ of a different kind was included in their programme, with another rendition of Libertango - the difference being this time that trombonist, Iain Jackson, revealed his talent as an accordionist for the first time. An effective accompaniment was, of course, provided by four trombones! Claire Taylor swapped her trombone for a flugel horn to add a new colour to the ensemble for a jazzy rendition of Undecided . This very enjoyable recital closed with James on his trumpet in a very clever arrangement of Arutiunian’s Concert Scherzo.

It was most satisfying to hear that the entire orchestration of this symphonic work could be reduced to four trombones and a piano - and very effective it was too! Another ‘first’?

As often happens at BTS events new groups are formed on the day and the evening concert gave an opportunity for some younger members to play in public as a group for the first time. Hannah, Matty and John, with a little help from the Black Dyke Youth Quartet, gave us some beautifully smooth sounds in Crimond and I Vow to Thee My Country as well as having fun with The Muppets. On their own, the Black Dyke Youth Quartet gave us three more excellently executed pieces. They opened with a smooth and stylish Mr. Sandman before proceeding to Gospel Time by Jeffrey Agrell, in which all had featured solos and Adam had the chance to give us the lowest public note of the day, a splendidly resonant pedal C! Paul Woodward’s arrangement of Rimsky-Korsakov’s Procession of the Nobles provided a colourful and exciting finale for this promising quartet.

A Bit on the Slide was able to stay for a brief spot in the evening, typically providing the unexpected, with James Stretton on his soprano trombone leading the trombone group in Try a Little Tenderness. For those who had not seen them before, another ‘first’ was the appearance of three multicoloured pBones, used to conclude their slot in a lively arrangement of Bugler’s Holiday.

Soloists for the evening were Ross Johnson,

with a confident performance of Weber’s Romance, along with Brett Baker and Stephen Lomas. Brett gave us a flamboyant Atlantic Zephyrs by Gardell Simons followed by a beautifully smooth Demelza by Goff Richards, another eminently successful transfer to the trombone, this time of a piece for tenor horn.

Stephen Lomas returned to the stage to give yet another engaging performance of the unaccompanied Blues March from the morning, alongside that very clever transcription of the Bach Flute Sonata in E-flat.

For one young BTS member, Lewis from Scarborough, the massed blow finale was to provide a very special ‘first’ that he will long remember. Aged seven, and playing for only nine months, he found himself in the front of the massed blow group, in his first public performance adding his weight to the solo parts in The Magic Forest, and taking his first public bow. Little wonder that when he was asked what he enjoyed most about the day, his reply was “the chance to play with so many other trombonists”. Of course, older members already know this but it is so rewarding to hear it from first-timers!

THE TROMBONIST | SPRING 2012 | PAGE 11

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COVER STORY

BTS East Anglia 7th Annual Trombone Day in Oundle

BTS North East Day for Young Trombonists in Leeds

I have only been a member of the BTS since early 2011, so this was one of my first experiences of one of these events (my first being the previous day in Beverley!). I arrived at 9.30am on the morning of Sunday 2 October, to be greeted by Geoff, who I had met the previous day and was given the outline of what was going to happen. While I waited for everything to kick off, I had a look around and checked out the trade stands, which were still setting up - I have a habit of getting to places very early!

Once everyone else began to arrive things started to happen. While lots of the players started one of the massed blows of the day, I went to the AGM. After that, I went back downstairs and checked out the trade stands (now all set up) in a bit more detail. Warwick Music was there with a selection of sheet music, which I had a good look through and came away with some great pieces and a whole stack of music from the ‘£1 box’. Derrick also had a few pBones on the stand, which were causing a bit of a stir and it wasn’t long until they were all sold!

I had a look at all the bits and pieces on the Prozone Music stand, where there was a lovely bass trombone which, like the pBones, was causing a bit of excitement. Unfortunately, this meant I didn’t get close enough to find out what make it was! I also took my trombone to Dawkes Music for some repair work, as the trigger on my Conn 88H was clunking a bit and the slide was a little sticky. Within five minutes, everything was again in working order and I was amazed. There was a very scary moment when I saw how Adrian was getting the slide back into shape!

After lunch, there was a performance by Bones and Co, which is made up of Pete Austin, Paul Faulkner, Andy Flaxman, Mark Horton, Adrian Jarvis, Matt Quick (all on trombone), Andy Townend (guitar), Adam Linell (bass), Ronnie Fenn (drums) and Mike O’Neill (piano). They played a number of fantastic tunes that showed off the trombone sextet with the rhythm section really well. Once they had played, there was a short break, followed by Trombonanza, made up of Phil Cambridge, David Carnac, Mark Horton and Andrew Lester. They gave a wonderful display of musicianship in the wide variety of music they performed.

Finally, there was another massed blow, in which we all played a number of trombone choir pieces, including Locus Iste by Bruckner, which was originally a sacred choral piece of music and transcribes well for trombone. As well as this, we played a few other tunes, finishing off with a real showstopper - The Muppets Theme!

As one of my first visits to a BTS event, I thought the day was wonderful and I met a lot of fantastic trombonists from many different walks of life, from professional players to people who play for fun; from the very young to the very un-young! One of the benefits was being able to get together a quick quartet to try out one of my own arrangements, which allowed me to hear the music for the first time outside of a computer program! Thanks BTS. I can’t wait for the next one!

On a bright and sunny October morning, 45 young trombonists gathered together in Leeds for a Young Trombonists Day, organised by the BTS and ArtForms (Leeds Peripatetic Music Service). The aim of the day was to enthuse the young players and to give them the opportunity to meet other young trombonists. The age and ability range was wide, the youngest attendee being 8 and the oldest 17, with abilities ranging from just able to play five notes to Diploma standard.

The day was led by Brett Baker and the other members of the Black Dyke Trombone Quartet - Paul Woodward, Garry Reed and Adrian Hirst, along with Neil Wittmann, a trombone specialist teacher from Leeds peripatetic teaching staff.

The day started with a massed warm-up and blow led by Brett. He spoke about the importance of warming up properly - here he was supported

by Adrian Hirst, who gave an insight into his warm up routine. Brett led exercises to warm up lips, breathing and tongue. The children then divided into three groups based on ability: five notes to Grade 1, Grade 2-4 and Grade 5-plus. Each group attended two out of a possible three workshops in different parts of the building: Solo Performance - led by Brett and Garry Technique, breathing, production and articulation - led by Adrian and Paul Playing jazz and improvisation - led by Neil Each session included preparation of some ensemble pieces ready for a performance at the end of the day. Between the workshops other special showcases featured a masterclass led by Brett involving two young players: Andrew Straiton a grade 5/6 player performed the classic solo, The Firefly by Harold Moss, and Lydia Cockburn (grade 7/8), who chose to play Sonata No 5 in Bb by Marcello.

A lively discussion followed both performances and looked at communication between soloist, audience and pianist, and how the piano was not in a particularly good place for this to happen effectively, so some rapid scene shifting occurred; good job the tutors are strong as well as talented!

Brett spoke about communicating with the audience, about choosing three people around the room and playing to them. He also spoke about and demonstrated how to project the sound out to the audience. Brett and Paul wowed the audience with soloists showcases, Paul focussing on music from the Salvation Army repertoire and Brett including Atlantic Zephyrs by Gardell Simons. After lunch there was time for a ‘scratch’ quartet (Tom Byrne, Tom Western, Jake Jones and Dan Eddison) who joined the ‘Dyke’ quartet to play Washington Post and Gospel Time. This left just enough time for a quick chat before the impromptu concert for parents and teachers scheduled at the close of the day.

Each workshop group performed a piece they had used in the sessions, with a finale of the ‘augmented’ Black Dyke quartet and a massed blow of Dear Lord and Father of Mankind. A great sound at the end of a great day for all.

by Sheila Eddison

photo@wittmann.me.uk

by Paul Emmett

THE TROMBONIST | SPRING 2012 | PAGE 13

PAGE 14 | THE TROMBONIST | SPRING 2012

STARS OF THE FUTURE

ISOBEL DAWS AGE: 11 INSTRUMENT: JP331 Rath CURRENT POSITION 1st trombone - Under 13s National Children’s Orchestra of GB 1st trombone - National Children’s Brass Band of GB 1st trombone - Junior Guildhall School of Music and Drama Brass Band 1st trombone - Hendon Salvation Army Junior Band STARTED PLAYING - 2003 TEACHERS Maisie Wiggins 2003-2008 Rob Workman 2008-present FAVOURITE PIECES Festiva Brazillia (Paul Lovatt-Cooper) Golden Slippers (Norman Bearcroft) Summon the Dragon (Peter Graham)

FAVOURITE TROMBONE SOLOS The Conquest (William Scholes) Morceau Symphonique (Felix Alexandre Guilmant) Trombonology (Tommy Dorsey)

AMBITION To be Dr. Isobel Daws, Doctor of Music.

Isobel began to play the cornet at the age of three under the direction of Maisie Ringham Wiggins MBE with her dad, cornetist David Daws, keeping a watchful eye. Under Maisie’s supervision, Isobel moved onto the trombone in September 2008. It seemed a perfect match and Isobel soon flourished on the new instrument. Six months later, she auditioned for a place to study trombone and piano at the Purcell School of Music.

Isobel was successful and joined the Purcell School in September 2009, where she holds a scholarship under the Government’s Music and Dance Scheme. Isobel is now tutored by the Purcell’s Trombone Tutor and Brass Ensemble Coach, Rob Workman, who is a freelance trombonist and principal trombone of the Glyndebourne Touring Opera Orchestra.

Isobel is a member of the National Children’s Under 13s Orchestra of Great Britain where she has been awarded a Leverhulme Trust Scholarship two years running (2010 and ’11).

As part of Isobel’s scholarship, she has been privileged to benefit from lessons with Dudley Bright and Ian Bousfield. Isobel describes her lesson with Ian: “My Dad and I travelled from London to York on Sunday 1 May for my lesson with Ian Bousfield. When we arrived, Ian was SO friendly!

He really made me feel welcome and was very encouraging. Ian worked on some of my solos with me and he also played a lot, which was very special. He particularly helped me with my breathing but really the best bit was getting to hear him play!

“He suggested that I listened to music at night time. Ian told me that his Dad had put on different pieces of classical music for him every night when he went to bed to build up his knowledge. Ian thought this was really helpful but also told me he often only heard the first movement as he fell asleep! I now listen to classical music on my i-Pod every night as I go to sleep. The lesson went really quickly, unlike the journey

home which took seven hours!” Isobel is also a member of The National Children’s Brass Band of Great Britain (NCBBGB) and thoroughly enjoyed her first course as principal trombone in the Summer of 2011, under the musical direction of Dr. Nicholas Childs. Isobel particularly enjoyed the trombone sectionals, led by trombonist, Chris Thomas. This was her first taste of ‘true’ brass-banding with the demands of more challenging music - she cannot wait for next year!

Each Saturday Isobel attends the Junior Department at The Guildhall School of Music and Drama, where she enjoys playing in the Wind Orchestra and Brass Band. 2011 has been a busy year for Isobel; she has featured as a soloist, alongside her Dad, in concerts in Staines, Regent Hall, Seattle and San Diego. October saw Isobel with the NCBBGB at the Bridgewater Hall in Manchester and December she appeared with the NCO under 13s at the Queen Elizabeth Hall. You’ll often find Isobel rehearsing with the London Central Fellowship Band and Welwyn Garden City Band to keep dad (the conductor!) company.

Isobel plans to take her ABRSM Grade 7 on the trombone and piano later this year and is currently working hard on Guilmant’s Morceau Symphonique for her 2012 NCO audition. Born into a Salvation Army family, music has been an important part of family life. Along with Mum, Dad and sister Stephanie, Isobel (a sixth generation Salvationist) is a member of Hendon Salvation Army, where she plays in the junior band and sings in the junior choir. Music appears frequently in Isobel’s family history and two of Isobel’s great-grandfathers - Charles Stevens and Ron Pemberton - were accomplished trombonists.

Isobel spends a lot of her spare time with her Labrador puppy, Bella, who is keeping the whole family busy with her mischievous ways.

THE TROMBONIST | SPRING 2012 | PAGE 15

INTERVIEW

Matthew Gee Back in 2011, Simon Minshall interviewed the principal trombonist of the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra SM: Could you let us know a bit about how you began playing the trombone and how you developed as a musician?

MG: I began playing the trombone at the age of seven in my local youth brass band in Leicester, where I was taught by Bud Fisher. I started lessons because it got me out of attending church parade with the Scouts! Shortly after this, I started learning with Chris Jeans, and through him began playing with Youth Brass 2000 and the Kibworth Band.

SM: It sounds like you were enjoying playing throughout that time. How did you progress after this?

MG: Well, I was a member of the National Children’s Orchestra from the age of 12, then the National Youth Orchestra until I was 18. I also started studying at the Guildhall School of Music Junior department with Andy Waddicor. I remember sneaking into the Barbican on some Saturdays with a friend of mine to hear the London Symphony Orchestra rehearse. It was around that time that I set my heart on getting a job in an orchestra.

After talking to people in the profession, and quite surprisingly obtaining the required grades, I started a degree course at King’s College, London.

Whilst studying there I was able to have lessons at the Royal Academy of Music with Dudley Bright and Dennis Wick.

SM: Did you have any other teachers throughout this time?

MG: Yes, I began having lessons with Ian Bousfield from the age of 16.

About once a month, I would travel down to Bushy and, more often than not, get a really tough time. The few years that I spent learning with Ian really set things up, especially given my decision to study at university rather than at music college.

SM: So, what happened whilst you were a student?

MG: “Well, I was a member of the European Union Youth Orchestra and also the Gustav Mahler Jugendorchester. I’d say highlights from around this time include performing Mahler’s 3rd Symphony with Ivan Fisher in the Concertgebouw, Strauss and Webern with the Vienna Philharmonic Orchestra in the Musikverein, and giving the UK première of Kurt Schwetsik’s Trombone Concerto in St. John’s, Smith Square.

After graduating from King’s College, I did a postgraduate year at the Royal College of Music with Lindsay Shilling, during which time I began a trial with Scottish Opera. I was fortunate to be offered the job that year and made the move to Glasgow at the start of the summer.

PAGE 16 | THE TROMBONIST | SPRING 2012

SM: How did your career develop after this exciting time?

MG: After nearly four years at Scottish Opera, I went to the Orchestra Philharmonic de Santiago, Chile. Just before I left I was offered the principal trombone position with Opera North, so I left Chile after only three months. I was at Opera North for 11 months and had such a fantastic time there. It is without doubt one of the best jobs around; musically there is no better place than an opera pit, and the large number of concerts also gave me the buzz I needed from sitting on stage. The brass section there is second to none; really great guys and fantastic players, so I always looked forward to work. Whilst this was going on, I met my girlfriend, Sarah. She was keen to move to London, having been in Leeds for many years, so when I was offered the job of principal trombone with the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra, we had to give it a go.

SM: So what is planned for the near future?

MG: We’ve got some exciting tours with the orchestra coming up, for example Moscow, China and the Canary Islands. I’m also preparing for the Prague Spring International Trombone Competition, which has been very exciting and really made me evaluate every aspect of my playing.

SM: It’s been great to talk to you Matt and I wish you well for everything coming up over the next few months.

A DAY IN THE LIFE

Orchestral Snapshot: Mark Templeton I took a train into Paddington on a bright Sunday morning. I was off to Abbey Road to finish the recording of the national anthems for the Olympic Games medal ceremonies with the London Philharmonic Orchestra (LPO). However, the train was much busier than I had expected and my trombone, folding bike and mute bag turned me into an obstruction for other passengers to get around. I found myself apologising a lot, but I was still feeling happy because I was going to do a job that I enjoy.

I arrived in time to have a bacon sandwich and to check that there weren’t any nasty surprises in the music. I then spent the next four hours recording numerous national anthems, for countries from Iran, Chile and Luxembourg to Iceland, St. Lucia and even Great Britain. Altogether, the LPO (where I have been since 2006) recorded 207 national anthems in 17 three-hour sessions. Imagine playing Christmas carols at high volume all day and you get an idea as to how much of a smash in the face it was.

At 2.00pm, my wife, toddler and baby picked me up from the studio to go to my friend Will’s for a barbecue in Tring. The weather was good and all the kids played nicely and so did the adults. We all agreed not to buy ostrich burgers again!

On Monday I had a day off with the family, which was brilliant, because on Tuesday, I was off on tour.

I left for Heathrow airport at 7.00am to arrive in Essen in time for lunch.

Lyndon (our bass trombone player), a couple of bassoonists and I went to a Turkish restaurant. Then I went to my hotel room for a 30-minute cat-nap and had a video chat with the family back home on Skype.

Later, I boarded the coach to go to the venue for a two and a half hour rehearsal, mainly doing the Rachmaninov Piano Concerto No.1 and touching up a bit of Brahms 4.

These seating rehearsals, as they are called, are mainly to adjust the levels to suit the varying degrees of resonance one might encounter.

Most balance problems seem to be remedied by the brass being told to play quieter! In the concert, the levels go back up a notch, as the audience soaks up some of the boom and the strings give it a bit more.

We had played Brahms 4 a few times over the previous six months (mainly on tour). Having to wait 35 minutes to play your first note might appear dull to some, but the way I see it is that I get to relax and listen to some great music before doing what trombones do best: LOUD CHORDS! The concerto, however, was unfamiliar. It was only when I got to the last page and saw my own handwriting on the part (a trumpet cue at a tricky bit) that I realised I had played it before. Such is the nature of the job.

Normally, we rehearse for two days, do a concert, then move on to a completely different programme. My short-term memory gets filled with the current information needed, only to get flushed out when the next load arrives. Symphonies and bigger works tend to leave more of a mark, however hard you scrub, but concertos tend to slip easily round the bend!

When I was a student, I always hoped, but never expected, to be doing what I do for a living. I put in the hours at the Guildhall learning orchestral excerpts and nailing down my technique and was fortunate enough to meet Denis Wick, who coached the Gustav Mahler Youth Orchestra. He taught me so much about section playing. He once said whilst we were preparing Mahler 1, “We have so little to do, that when we do it, it has to be absolutely perfect.” That’s one of the good things about touring a repeat programme. You really get to know a piece, so the ensemble gets tight and you all make the phrases together. I get as

much of a kick when a chord rings nicely and the section all comes off instinctively as I do from playing a solo well.

Anyway, back to Essen and the tour… Everyone left the concert whistling the tunes and headed off to a little bar discovered the last time we were here, to drink some ‘alt beer’ and play some table football. I went to bed slightly tired.

On Wednesday at 10.00am, we took a coach to Frankfurt, so before boarding I grabbed some meat and potatoes (well we are in Germany) for breakfast and sat on bus number 3 for two-and-a-half hours playing cribbage and backgammon.

Once in Frankfurt, the rhythm of the day was pretty similar to the day before, but the programme was slightly different. The Rachmaninov Piano Concerto, with all its sumptuous harmonies, was replaced by a very modern piece, which wasn’t quite as accessible. It was mostly effects from the orchestra with not many real notes for us to play. Not my cup of tea this one, but the audience clapped hard and long enough for Julia Fischer (the violinist for whom the concerto was written) to come back out and treat the audience to some Paganini, which was greatly appreciated. The rest of the tour took us to Stuttgart, Utrecht, Besancon, Eindhoven and Luxembourg, and carried on in the same manner: travel, lunch, rehearse, tea, concert, a few drinks, sleep, then to the next day’s breakfast, don’t miss the bus, play some cribbage, arrive at next hotel (hopefully where your room is ready, so you can leave your bags), have lunch, do rehearsal, do some practice if you can find a room at the concert hall, do concert, do drinks, do sleep.

When you’re at the back of a bus with the lads, or in an airport somewhere exotic, it’s good to remember how fortunate you are earning a living this way.

I’m glad I decided to play the trombone. Growing up, I found playing the trombone was, quite frankly, the best thing in the world. I loved it.

Playing solos in the school hall, meeting people from different schools/ towns in orchestras/bands and going on residential courses made the trombone key to opening lots of doors in my life.

Twenty years later, those fun things are still there, but now when I go on tour our curfew is a bit later, we don’t have pillow fights and my wife does my washing instead of my mum!

MON-TUE-WED-THU-FRI-SAT-SUN THE TROMBONIST | SPRING 2012 | PAGE 17

COVER STORY

Arthur Pryor

by Steve Dillon You may remember that in the Autumn 2011 issue of The Trombonist Brett Baker reviewed Joseph Alessi’s CD, Slide Partners. This article describes in greater detail the ideas, choice of music and unusual techniques employed to create this CD and to explore the musical legacy of Arthur Pryor.

Arthur Pryor’s technical playing is the stuff of legend. To this day, trombonists strive to keep up with the standards that he set.

Pryor could play faster, higher, lower and cleaner than the players of his day - and most players of today! However, one of the little known facts about his playing was that he could play a simple ballad with such beauty that it would evoke great emotion from the audience. Two examples of this come from his audience members and peers. A reviewer at the New York World (Newspaper) of 14 May 1894 wrote: ‘Arthur W. Pryor contributed several trombone solos, being rendered with a mellowness of tone and delicacy of expression not often associated with this instrument.’ One of Pryor’s band members plainly stated: ‘Mr. Pryor could make the old ladies cry.’ Even seasoned professionals were moved by Pryor’s performances; while on tour in Europe with the Sousa Band, Pryor happened to play an aria from Leoncavallo’s Pagliacci while the composer was in the audience.

After the performance, Leoncavallo greeted Pryor and stated that he had never heard his aria played so beautifully on any instrument.

The CD, Slide Partners, was a way of honouring Arthur Pryor’s cantabile playing, while introducing new pieces and welcoming old pieces back into the repertoire. Each piece chosen had a special meaning to Pryor, whether from a recording he made, a concert he gave or a piece that he wrote. Each section connects with a different period of Pryor’s career, but as the CD is entitled Slide Partners: 100 Years of American Trombone Virtuosity, we did not want to play the pieces just as Pryor performed them.

Instead, we recognised that it is 100 years

PAGE 18 | THE TROMBONIST | SPRING 2012

later and musical styles have changed.

To copy the rubato style of the earlier era would sound strange to modern ears and would not uphold Pryor’s progressive mindset. If Pryor were alive today, he would not be playing his solos as he did in the past; in fact, Pryor was known to change his interpretation and style from day to day. In my collection, I possess eight different recordings of Pryor playing The Blue Bells of Scotland, and they are all different. With that said, however, Joseph Alessi did consult multiple recordings of Pryor and so put some of his nuances into this recording.

Another aspect of this CD, which we did not originally envisage, was that Mr. Alessi played some of the sections on Pryor’s custom-made 1894 trombone.

This trombone was made by Conn, with a .453 bore and a 6-inch bell. Although many instruments were made for him during his career, this trombone is the only one that Pryor kept. Alessi chose to use Pryor’s instrument for a few of the pieces; we urge the listeners of this CD to try to determine which pieces were played on Pryor’s trombone, and which were played on Alessi’s own Edwards trombone. Regardless of the instrument used, Alessi’s robust and beautiful sound still comes forth, showing us that it is the man behind the instrument - and not necessarily the instrument - that makes the difference.

As a side note, during this project it came to light that Joseph Alessi might have a greater connection to Arthur Pryor than just their playing. Mr. Alessi’s father and grandfather both played in the Metropolitan Opera Orchestra, where Simone Mantia, Pryor’s right hand

man and fellow trombone virtuoso, was principal trombone and personnel manager. Alessi’s grandfather would have known Pryor from the connection to Mantia and possibly was a substitute in the Pryor Band. This unearths both a musical and familial connection between the two players. Joseph Alessi’s grandfather was in fact a noted trumpet/ cornet virtuoso, and could be found playing solos in various theatres of the day.

In 1917, Arthur Pryor gave a benefit concert in Ocean Grove, New Jersey with the great organ that is housed there (to find out more about Ocean Grove, visit www.oceangrovehistory.com). This was one of the few times in Pryor’s later years that he would play such an extensive programme, but it was for a good cause.

The Asbury Park (New Jersey) First Methodist Episcopal Church had burned down on Good Friday of that year and Pryor was approached to help raise money for the rebuilding. The programme of this concert was not listed, so for this project, we picked three hymns that Pryor recorded with the Victor Company: The Holy City, One Sweetly Solemn Thought and The Palms. The arrangements were done in a style that Pryor might have played, but were specially written with both the ‘old’ and ‘new’ in mind. One Sweetly Solemn Thought was done in a ‘Pryorist’ technical style; while it contrasted with the cantabile theme of the recording, we all felt that it would be fun to keep it in the project. The added attraction here was that Joseph Alessi was playing on the same stage, with the same organ that Pryor had done almost 100 years ago, and was even playing it on Pryor’s trombone!

The organist was Gordon Turk.

COVER STORY

During Arthur Pryor’s career, he was often featured in duets with a cornetist; staying true to common practice of the day, where the musicians took operatic pieces written for soprano and tenor and recreated them with cornet and trombone. The music chosen for this project were pieces that Pryor not only performed, but also recorded.

Home to the Mountain was one of Pryor’s first duets recorded with the cornet virtuoso, Herbert L. Clarke.

Pryor also regularly recorded with cornetists, Emil Keneke and Henry Higgins. Those who have never performed operatic pieces before may be surprised at the great endurance and control required to play them effectively. A particularly noteworthy piece in the collection is Nearer My God to Thee, which was originally recorded with Henry Higgins around 1898. It features four bars of piano introduction followed by acappella cornet and trombone; the piece concludes with the final ‘Amen’ by the piano. The duets were performed with Philip Smith.

A little-known fact is that Arthur Pryor had a trombone quartet twice during his career. The first time was in 1902, when he was still with the Sousa Band. The quartet recorded three different pieces for the Victor Phonograph Company; one of the pieces recorded was Sweet and Low, which we have reproduced on this CD. The second time the Arthur Pryor Trombone Quartet resurfaced was in 1916 in Asbury Park, New Jersey.

Every time it played it was ‘encored’ multiple times; the unfortunate thing about these performances was that the concert programmes never published what the Quartet would be playing. The only reference to a composition was in

an article about the Quartet in which Arthur Pryor states: “Before the season is over they (the Quartet) will be playing pieces like the Hungarian Rhapsody.”

Whether or not they ever performed this is unknown, but we thought it would be an excellent addition to this CD. The trombone quartet was performed by former and current members of the New York Philharmonic.

The age-old question: What did Arthur Pryor really sound like?

We have recordings of Pryor, but they were done in an era before the invention of the microphone; thus, they do not represent his true sound quality. In this project, we originally intended to bring Pryor into the 21st century, where he would ‘play’ a duet with Joe Alessi. The producer, Adam Abeshouse, however, had the idea of sending Alessi into the past. Abeshouse suggested having Alessi record on equipment similar to

what Pryor would have used 100 years ago, employing Peter Dilg’s expertise and equipment. Dilg is an expert in the use of early recording equipment and also owns an Edison Studio Machine.

We selected two pieces that Pryor had recorded and had a second part written for Alessi. The second parts were recorded onto a cylinder (with Alessi using Pryor’s trombone) and then spliced together with the original Pryor recording.

The result? One would think that these two were playing right next to each other. The answer to the age-old question? Arthur Pryor sounded like Joe Alessi! Or, Joe Alessi sounds like Arthur Pryor, minus Pryor’s heavy vibrato.

More information, photos, and video can be found at www.ArthurPryor.com UK distribution of Slide Partners CD and music available at Michael Rath Brass Musical Instruments Limited and can also be found at www.rathtrombones.com

THE TROMBONIST | SPRING 2012 | PAGE 19

TIPS FROM THE TOP

Untangling Bass Trombone Valves

by Douglas Yeo

Try everything. Take advantage of opportunities to try trombones, whether at a local music store, at a BTS sponsored trombone event, or at one of the annual International Trombone Association Festivals. It is only by trying instruments yourself that you can hope to find a trombone that suits you. If your teacher tells you that there is only one brand or configuration of trombone in the world that you should buy, find another teacher.

That kind of dogmatism rarely serves a student well and good teachers know that the trombone is not a ‘one size fits all’ proposition.

Valve section of Olds F/E bass trombone, c1938. Photo courtesy Jon Moyer

Difficult as it might be for our modern players to imagine, the modern largebore bass trombone is a relative newcomer to Great Britain. The venerable G bass - often referred to as the ‘English Rose’ or the ‘Kidshifter’ - with its narrow bore, long slide and handle, remained ensconced in British orchestras and brass bands until 1951. In that pivotal year, the New York Philharmonic Orchestra gave 12 concerts at the Edinburgh Festival and its trombone section played on large bore American-made instruments.

By the end of the year, Jimmy Miller of the Scottish National Orchestra became the first bass trombonist in Britain to abandon the G bass in favour of the larger B flat/F bass trombone. The transition was hard-fought - an embargo on foreignmade instruments prevented the legal importation of non-British trombones.

As late as 1955, Fred Mansfield of the Philharmonia Orchestra had his Conn bass trombone impounded upon arriving back in London, after a tour of the United States.

But time and history marched on and the trade barrier ultimately came down.

Most bass trombonists had put aside their G basses by the early 1970s and its fitful use after that time was mostly confined to a handful of brass bands.

Today, players are presented with a dizzying array of instruments by all of

PAGE 20 | THE TROMBONIST | SPRING 2012

the major instrument manufacturers and a host of smaller, independent makers.

The number of valve designs and tuning options available leads to much head scratching and the inevitable question, ‘How do I know what kind of bass trombone I should buy?’ This article is a modest attempt to give some clarity to the various options available and give confidence to players who wish to find an instrument that best suits their needs.

The most frequent question I get asked at masterclasses and via email through my website is: “What is the best trombone?”

My answer is straightforward and unequivocal: “The trombone that is best for you is the one that is best for you.”

In our modern age, where the goal of advertising is primarily to convince you that you are unsatisfied with what you have, it takes some fortitude to ignore the many endorsements that noted players - this writer included! - make.

While it’s nice to know what kind of instrument well-known trombonists play (full disclosure: I play a Yamaha YBL-822G), just because they play this or that brand doesn’t mean their instrument will be well suited to YOU. High-level players can play anything and sound great, but if you play their trombone, you won’t sound like them at all - you will sound like yourself playing an instrument that works for them. My advice is this:

Trombone players have a great many decisions to make when choosing an instrument - hand slide bore, metal alloy of the bell, bell diameter, lacquer, valve/ no valve, leadpipe and even the kind of spring on the water key. But bass trombonists have the sticky wickets of valves and valve tuning to sort through.

The variety of options can seem to be overwhelming.

The B flat bass trombone with a single valve F-attachment was the ‘standard’ large bore bass trombone throughout the first 60 years of the 20th century.

But trombones with two valves - either in-line (where the two valves work independently of each other and are placed on the gooseneck of the bell section) or dependent (where air can only go through the second valve if the first valve is being utilised) - began to appear as early as 1921. Ernst Dehmel’s design for a contrabass trombone in F seems to be the first design for a double valve trombone. American companies followed with double valve configurations for bass trombones, with Olds making an in-line design in the late 1930s and Holton (with Edward Kleinhammer) and Reynolds (with Kauko Kahila and Allen Ostrander) making dependent valve models in the 1950s and early 1960s. These early double valve models featured the first valve in F and the second valve - when operated along with the first valve - in E. A practical consideration of this tuning was that it allowed for production of the low B natural in seventh position, thereby

TIPS FROM THE TOP

and Tuning giving the trombone a fully chromatic range that it lacked with only a single valve in F. Over time, makers lengthened the second valve tubing first to E flat and then to D, and most double valve bass trombones today utilise the B flat/F/D tuning.

The dependent valve bass trombone offers some particular advantages. We must first keep in mind that over 95 percent of the notes that fly across a page of music that sits on a bass trombonist’s music stand are played without using any valve whatsoever. And of that remaining five percent, 99 percent of THEM can be played with a single valve. The second valve simply isn’t necessary that often.

With a dependent valve bass trombone, the first valve is placed on the gooseneck and air passes through it on EVERY note.

The only time air has to pass through the second valve is when notes are produced using both valves together. This configuration results in less disruption of the airflow as it passes through the valve as opposed to the in-line configuration, where having both valves on the gooseneck means air passes through two valves on every note played. Also, the two valves will have different tension in their springs, and on a dependent valve bass trombone, a player can make a smooth slur when going from a note played on two valves to a note played with no

Edward Kleinhammer with Holton 169 F/E bass trombone, c1960 Photo courtesy Edward Kleinhammer

valves by simply letting up the first valve - since the second valve used by itself has no effect whatsoever. This concept is difficult to express in words, but with an instrument in hand, it instantly becomes clear.

On the other hand, it is often argued that the in-line bass trombone is preferable because with two independent valves, a player has more options on where to place the slide for a host of notes. This is undeniable, and players with in-line trombones work to play notes with either the first OR second valve OR both valves together. While most in-line bass trombones still utilize the B flat/F/D tuning, the result is the second valve alone is pitched in something between G and G flat, requiring a new set of slide positions to be learned.

By now you may be asking, “How do I get to learn these slide positions? Where

Kauko Kahila with Reynolds “Stereophonic” F/E bass trombone, c1960 Photo courtesy Boston Symphony Archives

can I get a good slide position chart for the double valve bass trombone in the tuning configuration I prefer?” While there are many such charts around one of the best can be found in Eliezer Aharoni’s New Method for the Modern Bass Trombone - the truth is that the best slide position chart is the one you figure out for yourself. Learning trombone slide positions is not nuclear science - there are a limited number of positions for any given note and they can be quickly found out by trial and error. Learning all of the options for yourself gives you a better understanding of the trombone than just accepting someone else’s word for it.

Increasingly, there are double-valve bass trombones made with more unusual tuning configurations, including extended tubing resulting in a B flat/F/C instrument, and even trombones made with microtonal tuning. All of these options work for someone, but just like 19th century makers, who after adding up to 14 keys to the serpent erroneously thought it would solve the instrument’s inherent intonation challenges, the valve configuration and tuning of the valves will not in themselves help you one whit with your intonation. The trombone is, fundamentally, a long tuning slide. It is capable of playing every note perfectly in tune simply with the manipulation of the hand slide (in this we are the envy of bassoon, oboe and clarinet players, who even with all of their keys, need to make embouchure adjustments on nearly every note they play). All of the available valve tunings are advertised as having advantages, but the truth is that just about any music that you encounter

THE TROMBONIST | SPRING 2012 | PAGE 21

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TIPS FROM THE TOP your trombone, be sure to oil it frequently to keep its very tight tolerances well lubricated. Liberal use of valve oil will also help stave off corrosion of the valve that is an inevitable effect of warm breath going through the instrument.

Douglas Yeo with Yamaha YBL822G F/D bass trombone, 2011 Photo by Michael J. Lutch

can be played just as well with any configuration. I often tell my students that my teacher, Edward Kleinhammer - who played bass trombone in the Chicago Symphony Orchestra for 45 years from 1940 to 1985 - played through the entire Fritz Reiner era (including the orchestra’s many famous recordings under his baton) on a single valve Conn bass trombone.

He managed just fine! In-line is not ‘easier’ than dependent; a C valve does not give you better low notes than a D valve. Fine players have preferences for every possible tuning of bass trombone valves. The important thing is whatever tuning you decide to embrace, use it.

Don’t buy an in-line valve bass trombone if you’re never going to use the second valve by itself. Don’t buy a dependent valve bass trombone if you don’t take advantage of the smooth slurs that can be made between the open and double valve sides of the horn. Most of all, don’t buy any configuration because someone tells you it is ‘best’. There is no such thing.

Remember: The trombone that is best for YOU is the one that is best for YOU. The same goes for the myriad valve designs themselves. For many years, a ‘standard’ rotary valve was the only option for any kind of bass trombone, from the old G/D bass to the modern bass trombone of the 1980s. The invention of the ‘axial flow valve’ by Orla Edward Thayer was the first of many revolutionary valve designs that attempted to reduce air turbulence through the valves.

Thayer’s design was subsequently licensed and refined by a number of custom trombone manufacturers (such as Edwards and Shires), while the

Hagmann valve (favoured by makers like Rath and Thein) and specialised valves

by Conn, Greenhoe, Kanstul and many other companies are now available.

The venerable rotary valve continues to be improved on by Yamaha and other makers, and the debate rages as to whether a less turbulent flow of air through the valve and the associated bends of tubing is desirable or not. On one hand, less resistance in the valve section would intuitively seem to favour easier and a more relaxed sound in loud dynamics. On the other hand, having a little resistance for the air passing through the valve would seem to be helpful for soft playing. Scientific studies are as divided on this as is the experience of players. Fine trombonists make great music on every possible valve type and personal experience is the only guide. No matter what kind of valve you have on

If you began reading this article with the hope that I would give you a specific recommendation, then you are certainly disappointed. But I hope that I have given readers a new freedom - freedom to try and experiment, and freedom from advertising claims and dogmatism.

Dennis Brain played Mozart on a garden hose with a funnel on the end and he sounded like Dennis Brain. Put a pBone in Jiggs Whigham’s hands and he sounds like Jiggs Whigham. A single valve bass trombone in the hands of Edward Kleinhammer sounded like... Edward Kleinhammer. Selection of equipment provides the icing on a cake that is already made up of sound fundamentals diligent practice and study. Your quest for the bass trombone valve and tuning that works best for you will tell you as much about yourself as the equipment you are testing. And, who knows, perhaps in the process, you may come up with a new idea and follow in the footsteps of those many people who over the last 100 years have given us the modern bass trombone.

• • • Douglas Yeo (yeodoug.com) has been Bass Trombonist of the Boston Symphony Orchestra since 1985. In autumn 2012, he will take up the position of Professor of Trombone at Arizona State University.

Rath R9 F/Gb/D and R9D F/D bass trombones with Hagmann valves, 2012 Photo courtesy Michael Rath Trombones

THE TROMBONIST | SPRING 2012 | PAGE 23

HISTORY

The ‘Beeb

A backward glance at a BBC career and sketches of th My colleagues held a memorable leaving party for me following the afternoon recording session of my last working day before Christmas 1998. It was memorable for many reasons, one of them really irritating. In nearly 30 years of playing in the BBC Symphony Orchestra, I had never done overtime to get a programme in the can, but Vernon Handley managed it with some obscure pieces by Delius and I arrived late at my own party.

Chris Mowat and Henry Hardy had invited my family plus a crowd of orchestral chums and jazz mates, who could not be expected to hold back, and I joined them after the fun had already started.

Obviously a speech was expected and I had done some research in readiness. Having reached the compulsory BBC retirement age of 60 (things have changed in the meantime) and seen players in the trombone section come and go, it was clear that I must have been among the longest serving. In the appendices of The BBC Symphony Orchestra by Nicholas Kenyon, there is a list of personnel and their dates from the orchestra’s formation in 1930, and it turned out that I beat Bill Teskey by a week, both of us putting in more than 28 years of service.

It isn’t until you’ve got a fair old number of decades under your belt that you can track how seemingly random events have formed a discernible thread through your life. Very recently, while clearing out loads of personal clutter that seemed to have stuck to me for a very long time, I found the programme of the first Promenade Concert I ever attended on 7 September 1957, a couple of weeks before I rolled up to the Royal Academy of Music to find out what the world of music was all about.

I knew very little about music then and was overawed by the whole thing. The trombones were Bill Teskey, Jack Pinches and Bill Coleman.

A matter of days later, I nervously showed up with my B&H Emperor at a room at the top of the Academy for my first lesson with Sidney Langston, principal trombone of the BBC SO from its formation to 1947. I needn’t have had the jitters as Sid was a very friendly man, always smiling, with a fund of stories and, if I’m being honest, not the greatest inclination to pass on his knowledge and experience. But

PAGE 24 | THE TROMBONIST | SPRING 2012

I liked him, and although he never played a note in lessons, there’s no doubt that he was a master of the instrument in the days of the peashooter trombone.

It is hard for young players of today to understand that at that time there were no foreign-made instruments in the shops. The reason was that, post-war, the government imposed a ban on the import of foreign instruments to protect Boosey and Hawkes and other British makers. Some contraband instruments crept through the net, like the German Grönitz that I acquired from I can’t remember where, but I only got my first Conn 88H in 1961 after trade laws were relaxed.

The Polish trombonist, Alfred Flaszynski, left the Philharmonia in 1965 to become principal of the BBC SO at a time of huge programme policy changes, devised by Sir William Glock and a new young French composer/ conductor, Pierre Boulez. Alf’s career, his style and his personality are legendary among my generation. He was the subject of the first article I wrote for BTS in 1986 and it is available online.

Also in 1965, John Iveson walked straight from the Royal College of Music into the newly created position of co-principal trombone.

He joined John Fletcher on tuba and Peter Harvey (bass trombone) at exactly the time when the orchestra was moving away from the traditional programming style of Malcolm Sargent’s days, which had been all Brylcream, Jerusalem and carnations, to a policy that embraced the avant-garde. If you didn’t like that you could always leave and freelance, or join one of the other four London orchestras that lived off the old warhorses. There was a lot of mobility in those days and changes of personnel took place among many BBC SO sections, usually younger men coming in for older ones (some of them really big names) who didn’t like the way the winds of change were blowing.

John Iveson moved to principal of the RPO, I got his job and my contract with the BBC began in January 1970. Of the trombone section I had heard at my first Prom, Jack Pinches remained. He was a proud Yorkshireman, very kindly and cheerful, and

he owned a Rolls Royce car. Not many second trombonists can brag about that (or firsts), but from the coal mines to solo trombone of Black Dyke Mills Band to the BBC, to teacher at Eton College, it meant a great deal to Jack. He looked after me in my first principal job and warned me of things to look out for. But a great deal of this new repertoire we all had to find out for ourselves.

I still didn’t own an alto; there were so few in the country. Alfred had a Lätsch, acquired when he worked for a while in Hamburg, a classic German design which he left to me, and which I still use. But I needed one of my own if was going to get anywhere near the Berg Three Pieces, Opus 6, and hang onto my job under the demanding gaze, and ears, of Boulez. Luckily, John Iveson’s Grönitz came on the market. It only had six positions, but the way I worked it out I’d only need seventh once and I reckoned that even Pierre probably wouldn’t notice one

HISTORY

b’ and me!

he colleagues who populated it, by Anthony Parsons note missing in such a dense score. Nowadays every kid has got an alto, but I don’t know how players coped with the Rhenish, the Beethoven, Mozart and Schubert Masses, and so on, in the days when the alto shelves were bare. They must have been very brave men.

Boulez introduced many new ideas and in the early 1970s the orchestra worked with high intensity, often at music it had no taste for.

We did a huge number of first performances; not so many second. But for all his exacting commitment, Boulez had a good sense of humour if the moment was right. We rehearsed his Pli Selon Pli to death, performed it, recorded it and took it to Paris. There we hatched a little joke. The piece begins with an almighty crash; every note on the piano. The antidote was obviously a chord of C major. No one chickened out and the effect was stunning, especially for Pierre who almost had a seizure and needed several moments to get over his laughter.

Jack Pinches left to become Head of Brass and tutor of the Corps band at Eton College, to be followed by as contrasting a character as you can imagine. Tom Clough was another RCM product with huge ability in the techniques of contemporary music. He worked with the London Sinfonietta in their smaller scale repertoire and joined us at a time when our performances seemed to get ever more monumental, incomprehensible or exasperating, according to your mood.

Tom stayed only a couple of years and apart from his splendid playing he achieved some notoriety for an audible comment he made during the closing announcement of a broadcast during our late night series from the Round House, Chalk Farm, to the effect that listeners would probably not have another chance to hear that particular piece again.

Down at the bass end of the section, Peter Harvey had decided to sample the freelance life a few months after I joined in 1970 (he said it was nothing personal) and Richard Tyack came from the Bournemouth SO the same year to take over. Dick had studied on a joint course at Manchester University and the RNCM for his B.Mus, with trombone lessons from Terry Nagle of the Hallé. He freelanced in London after that and did rather well. On his 22nd birthday he got the call to join the LSO on its world tour,

and with his clothes packed in a cardboard suitcase purchased in Kilburn market, flew off on his own to New York to catch up with the orchestra. Dick stayed in the BBC for 20 years and then finished his career at the Royal Opera House, wallowing in the fruity register of the contra bass trombone.

We all got on very well and sustained each other through musical excesses such as Stockhausen’s Carre for four orchestras, which took hours of rehearsal and a lot of self-control, to Schoenberg’s Gurrelieder, which was money well spent, exhilarating to perform and only possible with the BBC’s financial resources.

David Evans, principal of the CBSO, followed Tom Clough in our second trombone chair, a powerful player and a social asset in the agreeable line of all our appointments. But he moved on to be principal at Bournemouth and eventually into teaching at the military establishments down in that area, happier to have a settled life with his family than spending it on the orchestral coach.

Tom Winthorpe then joined us from English National Opera. Tom was an apprentice draughtsman after leaving school, but was an accomplished violinist and when he decided to give music a go it was as 1st study violin/2nd study trombone at the RAM. Sid Langston was still Professor, and he agreed that Tom could do equal 1st study when he began to prefer the brass section. He landed the job of principal in the BBC Northern Ireland Orchestra and it was quite a plum appointment because the Ulster Orchestra had no trombones of its own and actually fitted rehearsals around the BBC section; a nice little earner on the side. He moved to ENO at the Coliseum in 1974 and to the BBC SO in 1979. He had always wanted to be in a big symphony orchestra, but somehow got the hankering for opera again and went to the Royal Opera House in 1985, where he joined up with Dick Tyack again.

Alfred Flaszynski was our principal through all these times and changes, but he was feeling the strain by the early 1980s, having survived serious heart troubles, and died in 1985. Chris Mowat emerged on the orchestral scene by a different route, a music degree at Cambridge University and lessons with Denis Wick. He

broke through immediately and had a tenyear BBC career as principal in the Northern Orchestra, followed by a year with the Hallé before moving to the RPO, then to us. I recall him in a Prom standing above the bust of Sir Henry Wood to deliver the dramatic Oration in the Grand Messe des Morts, and several Mahler 3 performances on a tour of Japan, when over three weeks he could never get his jet lag right. Audiences don’t know what players go through sometimes. His compositions and his scholarly editions of many of the best solos are well known to you all.

Replacing Dick had not been easy. True there were extremely good players around, but the one Chris Mowat really wanted had been doing very well indeed in the studios for long time.

Steve Saunders was first-call bass trombone for films, TV and recording sessions, also doubling on tenor tuba and on bass sackbut with His Majestys Sackbutts and Cornetts. He took a bit of persuading that he could still fit in some of that around the BBC schedule, but in the end he decided it wasn’t such a bad idea.

Henry Hardy became the new co-principal when Tom left us. He had done boys service in the army and a stint in the Royal Artillery Band, also studied at Kneller Hall then went to the RCM full-time as a pupil of Arthur Wilson. In only his second year, Henry won the principal job at the Scottish National Orchestra, hastily bade farewell to student life and headed to Glasgow, where he stayed for seven years. With that valuable experience under his belt, he moved south again and freelanced in London for four years until we invited him to join the Beeb.

And that brings us back to 1998, when my involvement with the orchestra ended. There had been plenty of ups and downs, notably the 1982 MU strike of musicians to save orchestras that the BBC wanted to disband; times when our tempers were tested by the ‘artistic’ demands of some contemporary music, and fabulous playing by the soloists from all the sections. Mostly, our conductors were a privilege and a joy to play for, and looking back over the years to compile this article, I was lucky to be in orchestral playing at a good time, and I wouldn’t have changed it.

THE TROMBONIST | SPRING 2012 | PAGE 25

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COMPOSER’S CORNER

The trombone and me Rodney Newton Throughout the 31 years of my professional playing career, I was privileged to work with many fine trombone sections in symphony and opera orchestras and what I heard from them went into my own compositions.

However, it was not until the late 1990s, when I was working extensively with Williams Fairey (as it then was) and Flowers bands, that I began to write solo works for the instrument.

My first piece for solo trombone was Phantasm - written in early 1998 for my friend, Brett Baker, who recorded it the same year with Flowers Band under Michael Fowles. I kept the tessitura fairly high in that piece and introduced some multi-phonics at one point, although the sepulchral low range was not neglected.

Throughout the piece, I attempted to write for the instrument as one would for a solo voice.

However, the next piece was a different kettle of fish. Brett requested a further work and this time I was determined to produce a showpiece for my friend.

Unfortunately, in November 1998, I suffered a brain haemorrhage while rehearsing Sellers International Band in Huddersfield and I was obliged to spend six weeks in hospital. Unable to sleep, I requested that manuscript paper be brought to me and, over the space of a week or so, in the early hours of the morning, I wrote Dick Turpin’s Ride to York while the other patients slept. I had no keyboard at hand and I had to rely on the techniques I had honed over the years, which enabled me to write directly into full score without the intervening medium of an instrument. Just three weeks after my discharge from hospital in January 1999, the work was in rehearsal, being recorded in the July of that year

by Brett and Flowers Band, this time conducted by Bryan Hurdley. In this piece, now aware of the formidable abilities of my soloist, I devised a series of helterskelter running passages in compound time that I expected would put him on his mettle. He was very pleased with the piece, but complained that my

metronome marking was too slow!

I am always astonished by the abilities of many trombone soloists to perform fast, articulated passages of a kind normally associated with valved instruments. Although when scoring for band or orchestra I normally restrict my trombone writing to the rich mid-range, for solo works I am no longer afraid of extending the solo part upwards into the ‘stratosphere’, nor of writing fast-moving passages.

More recently (2007), I wrote Flourish for the splendid young player, Stephen Sykes, to play at his graduation recital (which he did with great success, I am told). I gave him some athletic passagework but I also concentrated on the abilities of the tenor trombone to sing, as I did in a Schubert arrangement that I have made for Christopher Thomas, principal trombone of Cory Band.

In 2009, I wrote Three Burns Portraits for Sue White (which she premièred in Stranraer in the November of that year with Kirkintilloch Band, conducted by her husband, Melvin), using the trombone to depict different characters, sometimes to comic effect.

My most recent excursion into the

world of the trombone has been an arrangement of Henry Mancini’s Moon River (again at the request of Brett Baker) for trombone quartet, and here I took advantage of the abilities of a trombone section to croon like the best ballad singers. I love the sound of the trombone, its wide range and variety of tone colours, from whisper to snarl, and I shall continue to use it in as many of my future compositions as I can.

Rodney Newton is a freelance composer, arranger, conductor, educator, contest adjudicator and music journalist. A former timpanist and percussionist, he has worked as a composer and musical director in films and television and, more recently, in the worlds of brass and wind bands. He was Music Consultant to London Film School for 22 years and for nine years he was the Features Editor of British Bandsman magazine. He is Arranger-in-Residence of the Band of the Coldstream Guards, Musical Associate of Cory and Fairey bands, and is currently engaged in studies for a PhD at Salford University.

THE TROMBONIST | SPRING 2012 | PAGE 27

a week in the life

David Bremner As a Kiwi trombonist who has only studied with Americans, I was incredibly excited at the opportunity of going to work with the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra for three weeks. I was excited on two fronts; firstly, I have never played in an English orchestra. I have been lucky enough to play with a few of the top brass bands in the UK, but the idea of adapting to the ‘English sound’ within the RPO was something that intrigued me. Secondly, I have only ever had principal positions in orchestras, so slotting in on 2nd trombone was going to be an eye-opening experience.

I knew a lot of English trombonists play Conns and I have only ever played Edwards, but I have always subscribed to the theory that although trombones are made differently, it’s the personality you put into it that makes it sound the way it does. So, with my Edwards in hand, I travelled the 30 hours from New Zealand to London, and like a school kid on the first day of term, I eagerly awaited the first rehearsal.

The first thing that struck me was the clarity of production across the brass section. There is a crispness that I believe doesn’t always exist in orchestras, but it was hugely exciting to be in the middle of. The articulation is generally harder than I was used to, this could be a byproduct of the size of the halls the orchestras perform in, but it was something that took a week or so to get my head around. The halls we perform in in New Zealand are smaller than the Royal Festival Hall in London, the

Philharmonie in Berlin, the Konzerthaus in Vienna and the others we performed in, and that firm articulation makes both quiet and loud sections come to life.

I found the sound of the low brass section in the UK very compact, partly because the tubas used are smaller than those used in Australasia and the US. This also allows for the tuba, bass and 2nd trombone to have a very solid unit that the 1st trombone can really sit on top of. The end product of this is that the 1st trombone can really cut through and not have to work as hard, and the brass section as a whole is far more balanced.

The third thing I noticed was how hard these

What a privilege it was to sit in with the RPO, I thoroughly enjoyed my time, and the low brass guys - Matt Gee, Roger Argente and Kevin Morgan - are not only top players, but top chaps (blokes in New Zealand!), and it was a honour to have sat in with them for those three weeks. I left the UK with a bunch of new CDs by English orchestras and a hope that, on my next trip, I can find a Conn to buy!

David Bremner (second from right) with the members of the RPO low brass section

Bob Hughes Bass Trombone Competition 2012 The British Trombone Society is pleased to announce this brand new competition for bass trombone players under the age of 26; those born on or before 28 October 28 1986.

The first prize is a top-of-the-range bass trombone, kindly donated by Courtois Instruments, and the Bob Hughes Bass Trombone Competition plaque, which remains with the winner until the next competition. The BTS thanks Lyndon Chapman of Courtois/Buffet Group for making the generous gift of the instrument.

The competition winner will also be invited to perform at a BTS event of their choice during 2012-2013.

The preliminary round of the competition is through the submission of a CD recording of two pieces for bass trombone and piano: 1. The first movement of the Timothy Bowers Bass Trombone

Sonata, published by Queen’s Temple Publications, 15

Mallard Drive, Buckingham, Bucks, MK18 1GJ, Tel: 01280

813144. Available from June Emerson Wind Music,

Ampleforth, Yorks, YO6 4HF, Tel: 01439 788324 2. An own-choice piece for bass trombone lasting about 6 to 8

minutes, with or without piano.

The total playing time should be around 12 to 14 minutes.

PAGE 28 | THE TROMBONIST | SPRING 2012

guys work! ‘Days Off’ are swear words for them.

They work their butts off and they do it with a smile on their faces, enjoying the bad gigs as much as the good.

Candidates must submit four copies of an unedited performance on CD, no later than 1 September 2012. The CDs must NOT have the player’s name on, to maintain judging impartiality.

Three finalists will be invited to play the same programme at the final competition on Sunday 28 October at the Royal Academy of Music, Marylebone Road, London. A piano accompanist will be available at the final, which will take place during the BTS/ RAM trombone day. The candidates’ own-choice work(s) must be sent to the BTS secretary two weeks before the final. Judging will be by eminent professional bass trombonists in UK symphony orchestras.

Please register your candidacy in the first instance by emailing, by 31 July 2012, your name, date of birth, title of own-choice piece and a very brief biography to: secretary@ britishtrombonesociety.org For BTS members the fee is £10.00, for non-members the fee is £30.00. Please make cheques payable to British Trombone Society, and send it with your 4 CD copies to: Secretary BTS 3 Church Street, Hutton YO25 9PR Tel: 01377 202 209

DESERT ISLAND DISCS

Dávur Juul Magnussen Here are eight recordings which have shaped my musical mind and identity throughout my life.

1. Metallica, Black Album I have to thank my older sister for many things.

She bought a massive stereo with money she had collected for a long time, and made it clear to me that I was under no circumstances allowed to touch it. That was the exact same moment that I became very interested in stereos and music. Of course, I had to try it out, and one day when I came home early from school I ran into my sister’s room, turned on the stereo and turned the volume way up. I didn’t even check what CD was in the tray, and my mind was truly blown when Enter Sandman came crashing out of the speakers.

This is the first album that I remember not just liking, but ‘digging’, and it made me appreciate that music is not just nice tunes - it can move you fundamentally.

2. Gustav Holst, The Planets One day in the late 1990s, I was browsing the classical section at my local record shop in the Faroe Islands and one of the CDs had a picture of ‘Space’ on the cover. I decided instantly to buy this CD, purely on the strength of the artwork on the cover.

At this stage of my life, I was starting to entertain the idea of becoming a professional musician, but I guess I had not quite let go of the astronaut dream either, as I was very interested in all things to do with astronomy, so to find a piece of music which combined two of my favorite things was just great. And I was not disappointed.

What a magical work of art. It is relatively simple music but has a very unique sound to it. This music totally blew my mind. It made me realise what an irresistible force the orchestra can be, and I often use this piece to move the almost immovable object, that is the stereotypical perception of classical music. It almost always works.

The history behind the work is also fascinating, and I was especially chuffed when I learnt that Gustav Holst actually played the trombone with my orchestra, The Scottish National Orchestra, for 3 years in the early part of the last century.

This music goes straight inside you and stays there forever. This is my favourite piece of music ever. What a shame that astronomers did not discover any more planets in Holst’s lifetime.

3. Miles Davis, Kind of Blue I got into jazz around the same time that I started drinking coffee, when I was doing my A-levels back home in the Faroes. Writing

an essay about your favourite book with a good cup of coffee and with Kind of Blue in the background is a very evocative image for me. The absolute genius of these musicians is mind-boggling. They recorded the whole album over two afternoons and almost all the tracks were first takes. The only preparation Miles made for the recording sessions were sketches of some melodies and a few rough ideas of some modal scales and chords. That was it. Kind of Blue is the most sold jazz album ever.

4. Beck, Modern Guilt Such a varied musician. His substantial music output goes from quasi heavy-metal to the sweetest pop, via techno, funk, latin and folk.

Listening to all of Beck’s music is fascinating because you can follow the evolution and re-evolution of a fantastic musician, and it is almost like listening to the evolution of a whole genre through one man. Beck has a song for everything.

My favourite song by Beck is Everybody’s Gotta Learn Sometime. It is a simple pop song, but has got a very skilful and detailed arrangement suitable of a symphonic work. There is always something new to listen to.

5. Sigur Rós, () The most beautiful girl in the world introduced me to the most beautiful music in the world. These Icelandic guys started together as a normal rock band, but when they were limited to rehearsing in an old gutted-out cinema with a huge echo, their music changed radically. I guess they were the first minimalist pop band, and their album which is only called () or ‘the bracket album’ became a massive hit. On a desert island this album would be very good for me, since whenever I listen to it, I never feel lonely. The music is often melancholic but somehow it makes you feel good. It’s like walking around on a rainy day and enjoying it.

6. Jan Garbarek and The Hilliard Ensemble, Mnemosyne Jan Garbarek is one of the few saxophonists in this world who is not afraid of playing less than 273 notes in every bar. Listening to him taught me that you can be as clever as you want, but if what your playing does not have a nice sound to it, nothing else matters.

He plays straight from his heart, and the music is not shaped by any stereotype or convention.

It does not always work, but when it does, it is as close to perfection as possible. His music is

pure instinct. I especially like his collaboration on the album Mnemosyne, where he improvises over renaissance motets, which are beautifully sung by the Hilliard Ensemble.

7. Ärvo Pärt, Miserere Silence can be the most important part of a piece of music, and Ärvo Pärt is the master of silence. This album in particular has lots of it.

Everything is just so much clearer when you listen to Ärvo Pärt, and the quiet confidence in his music fills me with determination.

The story of Ärvo Pärt is also especially fitting for a Desert Islands Disc selection, because before becoming a world famous composer he went on a self imposed seven-year exile from society. When he re-emerged he had created a completely new style, which he just called ‘tintinabuli’ which means the sound of ringing bells. I would really like to know what his desert islands discs were.

8. Eivør Pálsdóttir and the Danish Radio Big Band, Trøllabundin Eivør is a Faroese singer who got together with the Danish Radio Big Band a few years ago to record an album which now has a cult following around Scandinavia. Trøllabundin means ‘spellbound’, and I truly am every time I listen to it. The tracks are very varied. One of them makes me feel like I am stroking a kitten, whilst the next one makes me feel like I have the strength of ten men and am about to reinstate the rule of the Vikings across the British Isles.

PS: It really was a surprisingly difficult task writing a desert island discs segment, but I recommend that everyone try it. Then you will realise how much music you actually know, and how many different musical influences you actually have. It is impossible to create the whole picture on eight CDs. I am really happy that I don’t have to live on a desert island. I mean, what would I do without my Christian Lindberg collection?

THE TROMBONIST | SPRING 2012 | PAGE 29

PAGE 30 | THE TROMBONIST | SPRING 2012

WHERE ARE THEY NOW?

AFTER THE BALL (was over)

by Frank Mathison

No! It’s not a football story, or anything to do with Strictly Come Dancing, but for 30 years I had a ball playing with the London Symphony Orchestra (LSO) in the bass trombone seat. I thought retirement would be boring, but I was wrong.

My last tour with the LSO was to Italy, with Georg Solti, ending with a concert in London at the Barbican Centre. Towards the end of the tour we had a free evening, so Lindsay Shilling, who was playing with us at the time, invited Kathy, my wife, and I to share a bottle of champagne and a meal with him. We were sitting in the hotel bar sipping our champagne and observed members of the brass section passing us, all ‘dressed to kill’. Patrick Harrild, our tuba player, passed by looking very smartly dressed. I remarked on this and he said he was seeing a blonde later.

Shortly after this Lindsay said: “we must be going, I’ve booked a table in a restaurant.”

When we got there, to my amazement, there was a long table with the brass section and several of my friends from the orchestra. This had been arranged completely unknown to me. I think it brought me to tears, it was so emotional, this farewell party.

It wasn’t completely farewell, as we had the concert in the Barbican with Solti, who had said he did not need a rehearsal, as it was a repeat concert from Italy. The Board told him he had to have a morning rehearsal as it was Frank’s last concert before retiring and they were making a presentation. Solti said he was not aware of this and said he must do something.

He did, and presented me with a lovely goblet inscribed with, ‘Frank, with many thanks for 30 years of musical collaboration. George Solti’. The orchestra had had a whip round, unknown to me, and presented me with a top-of-the-range Yamaha keyboard along with some beautiful wine glasses and a nice farewell speech.

That would have been in April 1993. At the concert in the evening, I took champagne in for my friends to drink in the interval, and said goodbye after the concert, but it was not a final goodbye as I was asked to do my final Daytona Beach Festival the following June, which I did and was able to say goodbye to friends I had made in Florida. I was then completely retired, from the LSO at least.

I settled down to my retirement at my house

in Wembley and wondered how I would pass my time without being bored. I had this new keyboard, which the orchestra had bought for me. They had collected quite a lot of money and I wondered if it was because they liked me or were so glad to be rid of me. I shall never know! I spent quite some time with keyboard, playing and singing, and making cassette tapes to send to my mother. I was asked to play my trombone in some of the London theatre shows, opera at the Coliseum, Les Misérables, Starlight Express and several others, while still teaching my band in Wandsworth Prison.

We had decided that when I retired, we would move to Yorkshire, or some other place. We looked at Devon, Cornwall, Wales, the New Forest and had even considered buying a sailing cruiser and keeping it on the marina at Dartmouth, but in the end Yorkshire won, and we began looking for a house in that area. We already had a cottage in Old Town, Hebden Bridge, but decided it was too small for our retirement. We already had a social life in Yorkshire so it made sense to retire there. I had my eye on a few properties and one came up for auction. I inspected it but decided it was going to cost too much to get the place as I wanted it.

Eventually we found a perfect house and when I bought it I was not aware that the field attached to it was also mine. It took almost a year to sell my house in Wembley, but we eventually moved into Moorcroft. The field was unkempt, high grass and weeds, and I must have said one evening whilst in the local pub, we could do with a horse to eat some of the grass. A few days later, a chap came to the door and said, “Ah ear tha wants an hoss, ‘av getten thee foor,” and promptly brought four horses into the field. They stayed for some time, ate the grass, but I cannot remember how we parted with them.

I did a lot of work making the field into a garden, with concrete paths, greenhouses and sheds. I was asked to do some deputising with the Performing Arts Symphony Orchestra, which specialised in firework concerts in large country houses. I was ‘depping’ for Paul Milner, who was bass trombone with Opera North and is, incidentally, now sitting in my chair with the LSO.

In my local pub, someone told me that there was another musician who lived locally, and we met, eventually. It was John Marshall, a violinist who was leader of the Halifax Symphony Orchestra and soon after he asked me to come to a rehearsal and I began playing with it.

I had never really been involved with dance music, except on occasions when an orchestral piece had some jazz excerpts within it, such as Bernstein’s West Side Story, but I was invited to join the BlueLiners, a local dance band. They were not very good, but through them I met Jack Botterill, who had been my school friend, and we had joined Lindley Band together (by accident). He played in another dance band and persuaded me to join it, as bass trombone.

It was the usual big band formation, four trumpets, four trombones, four or five saxes, piano, bass and drums. Through this I met Haydn Hiley, who asked me if I would join his band who played in a club at Burley-inWharfedale. I was getting quite busy. Haydn joined me in a trombone quartet, as I seemed to have acquired a decent library of trombone quartet music.

The band at Burley was the Leeds Dance Orchestra and it was very good, and I was getting a good feel for the jazz rhythms. Haydn also played with the Bradford Brass Consort run

by David Pratt, who had been principal cornet with Black Dyke Mills Band. He asked me to join, which I did. I was asked to play in concerts with the Todmorden Symphony Orchestra and the Airedale Symphony. I was still arranging meetings with my trombone quartet, then formed a brass quintet with Haydn playing the horn parts on trombone.

So many things happened to me since I retired (some hope!). I acquired a large white dog, who we call Smokey, I had a knee replacement, then broke my other leg after playing a concert with the Huddersfield Philharmonic Orchestra, which I had also joined. I was confined to a wheelchair for a while, and whilst taking Smokey for his walk, or should I say him taking me, partly pulling the wheelchair, he was very aggressive to other dogs and on occasions if he saw one, he would be off, tipping me out of the chair, and pulling it along the lane behind him.

I was never hurt, and he would always come back. He was young then, but now he is over 12 years old and quietened down.

THE TROMBONIST | SPRING 2012 | PAGE 31

WHERE ARE THEY NOW? I did get the ‘sack’ from the Halifax Orchestra. A new chairman arrived and said that everyone must pay their subscriptions. I said that I had been well paid for playing in one of the best orchestras in the world and was not going to pay for one which left a lot to be desired!

A similar thing happened with the Huddersfield Orchestra. The conductor was a lady from Venezuela who fell out with the trombones, so we all left, or were ‘sacked’. The orchestra really shot themselves in the foot by doing this, as they had to pay for a trombone section for each of their concerts, who, we were told by the trumpets, were not so good.

The lady in question has since left, the trombones are back with the Huddersfield Philharmonic, which is a fantastic orchestra, with a new conductor, Nicholas Smith. I enjoy playing with it as much as with the LSO. I am also back with the Halifax Orchestra, playing 1st trombone. Someone gave my telephone number to Jens Hislop who runs a Bavarian Oompah Band, and I do most of the work with that on 1st trombone.

Retired, I think not, I’m only 83…

Slide Rule Slide Rule Slide Rule Slide Rule Bone-A-Fide Brass CD Joseph Alessi (Trombone) and Imperial Brass Summit Records DCD480 Joseph Alessi needs no introduction. His artistry and musicianship have gained a reputation unsurpassed in this generation and it’s wonderful to see that Mr. Alessi has finally had time to record an album with brass band accompaniment. Imperial Brass from New Jersey shares the billing and is conducted on this occasion by cornet legend, Derek Smith, and composer, Glen Daum.

The album features a number of ‘standards’ from the Salvation Army trombone repertoire - Concertino for Band and Trombone by Erik Leidzen, My Refuge by Bruce Broughton and a wonderful transcription of John Larsson’s Someone Cares - played an octave above the original cornet part throughout! It’s lovely to hear Joe’s interpretations of these solos and, being so close to them myself, it’s refreshing to hear a different approach and style. It just proves that they aren’t bound by stereotypical performances and are very much open to creativity and imagination. Throughout these works the trombone playing is masterful. The technical difficulties that we mere mortals have spent hours trying to overcome are thrown aside in an almost nonchalant, humorous manner - it all sounds so easy.

An interesting inclusion on this release is a specially commissioned solo for Joe and Imperial Brass by Bramwell Tovey - Veritas for Solo Trombone and Brass Band. Based on Bram’s slow movement from his Cello Concerto, it is a moody piece, full of atmosphere and character and gives Joe the opportunity to display his

PAGE 32 | THE TROMBONIST | SPRING 2012

impeccable tone and range - his sound is simply ‘white hot’. Not often do you find a player who displays such quality and tonal colour at the extremes of the register. There isn’t the slightest hint of strain or tension in the sound wonderful. The rest of the release is given over to some wonderfully effective arrangements by trombonist, Mark Freeh, and composer, Glen Daum. Mark Freeh’s arrangements have a trademark style of their own and this style of repertoire is a wonderful vehicle for his skills.

Mark has done a great job of recreating the sounds of the famous Urbie Green Twenty One Trombones album of the 1960s in The Green Bee and Here’s That Rainy Day. Mark’s ability to imitate the colours and textures of these original scorings is admirable and I urge any trombone player to purchase these as they make a terrific addition to our somewhat limited concert repertoire.

In conclusion, the trombone playing throughout this album is simply sublime. This master of trombone is undoubtedly an icon of trombone performance and musicianship and on that basis alone I can strongly recommend this disc. The fact that the repertoire and quality of the arrangements is exceptional is more than a bonus! Congratulations are due to Joseph Alessi, Imperial Brass, Mark Freeh, Glen Daum, Derek Smith and Summit Records for bringing this project to life. Here’s looking forward to the next one…

Nick Hudson Canticles Jörgen van Rijen and Ben van Dijk Amstel Classics

It’s fantastic to review a CD where two great talents are exposed together - Jörgen van Rijen and bass trombonist, Ben van Dijk. This CD, entitled Canticles, features the music of Johan de Meij and features original compositions as well as arrangements.

The title track, Canticles, is performed exceptionally well by van Dijk with accompaniment from the Orquestra de Vents Filharmonia. The music is very pleasant to listen to, whilst still retaining complex music lines and virtuosic playing from both soloist and wind orchestra. This concerto is a fine addition to the repertoire for bass trombone.

The next track is the T-Bone Concerto, performed

by Jörgen van Rijen. In this recording you can hear his fabulous tone and musicianship, and what a treat it is! The technical passages are performed faultlessly and the orchestra compliments him throughout. The second movement of this work highlights my favourite side of van Rijen’s playing; the lyrical line he is able to create, keeping the music flowing at all times. The finale movement is a master class in control of fast tempi and high register.

We then hear some Puccini; Ch’ella mi creda from The Girl of the Golden West, or La Fanciulla del West. This short arrangement by de Meij is very refreshing to hear and the solo line lends itself well to the sound of the trombone.

Then follows a duet from one of my favourite operas, Verdi’s Don Carlo, taken from the second act where, whilst monks pray for the soul of Emperor Charles V, his grandson Don Carlo takes the stage, tormented by the fact that the woman he loves is now married to his father.

I must mention the fabulously characteristic

SLIDE RULE

bass trombone playing from the Orchestra and, again, van Dijk’s and van Rijen’s playing is faultless and perfect in style.

Also on this CD we are treated to a bonus track of Jesper Juul Sørensen performing Søren Hyldgaard’s Rapsodia Borealis, accompanied by the very fine Danish Concert Band. There is such characteristically lyrical playing, with a very fine legato and sense of phrasing. The challenging ending to this work sounds effortless in Sørensen’s hands.

The CD cover could have been a little more detailed, but the programme notes inside are informative and easy to read. I really enjoyed some of the showcase playing on offer here and feel this CD would make a fine addition to both tenor and bass trombonists’ libraries.

Ben Henderson Superbrass - Under the Spell of Spain Superbrass The idea of the brass ensemble has now been with us for a considerable period of time, taking the medium of brass playing to stratospheric levels and, importantly, engaging composers and arrangers to new heights to vastly improve the repertoire the brass idiom desperately needed. Phillip Jones set the impetus flowing with his groundbreaking assembly known simply as the PJBE. Fine Arts Brass Ensemble took the quintet to new levels through the clarity of programming classic concerts, and from the continent, Mnozil Brass pave the way for sheer entertainment.

What, then, is new for brass ensembles? Well Roger Argente, I believe, has succeeded.

Superbrass is his new muse with one objective: “EVERY musician should record and produce their own CD.” Well Roger has certainly done that with his debut CD, Superbrass - Under the Spell of Spain.

In this recording, Roger has assembled 20 of the country’s finest orchestral, commercial and Jazz players on the scene currently, and the end result is a resounding success. The players complement, by respectful cap doffing to each other’s strong skills, but if there was one player to single out it would have to be the chameleon like hornist, Chris Parkes. He consistently provides the single glue, holding together the fabulous top and bottom end playing. Other key artistes include multi instrumentalist Andy Wood, Mike Hext, Phil Cobb, Matt Gee, Mike Lovatt and many, many more, I could list them all but please go and get the CD and read it for yourself.

The influence of the CD was Roger’s love for all things Espagnol and as such he cajoled some

of the most leading musos in the country to equally arrange fabulous charts for the canvas he wanted to pain, with the palette he provided.

So, a few notes - the CD is professionally packaged with clear notes and from the heart narrative. This is not a commercial CD; this is education, passion and self-belief written in the sleeve notes, and immediately you can engage honestly with the music on offer. So to the music…

Leading into the 16 tracks on offer is a McKenzie arrangement of Como poden per sas Culpas. This is court music from medieval Galacea. Starting with sinister percussion, the full toned fanfare for the massed group rings out, then move into dance played by a canon of piccolo trumpets. It is simple, exciting and more important, a great teaser of all things Spanish.

The next four tracks make up a suite by Gareth Wood called Tientos y Danzas. Whilst being an original work, it loses not of its authenticity and keeps true to the genre of Spanish, a series of virtuoso fanfare skips into lightly scored waltz demonstrating the horn of Chris Parkes. The third movement opens with some muted colour changes and is deeply haunting, and repeats in duality some of the fanfare elements of the first movement. The final movement, opens using the fanfare theme and moves into a face paced horn led theme.

The next number is another of McKenzie’s arrangements of a traditional theme, Dindirindin. At first listen, you could be forgiven for being taken back to the Elizabethan court, but apparently this is the Spanish equivalent of a madrigal - excellent music all round.

Steve Waterman needs no introduction as one of the country’s leading Jazz trumpeters, and his composition for the group, Fugatango, shows off the skills of both Andy Wood and Chris Parkes in equal measures. The music borrows heavily from the tango, and lends a level of drama to the whole composition. It really is clever writing.

A French composer writing for the French court, doesn’t sound very Spanish, but the arrangement of Jean Baptiste Lully’s, Air des Espagnoles, deserves its place on this CD. When you have a player like Andy Wood in the ensemble, it would be sacrilege not to feature him. Who better to write for one of the country’s leading jazz trombonists, than one the country’s leading jazz trombonists, Mark Bassey. Donde el mar Saluda al Cielo is an original work and suits Andy like a glove.

Homenaje a Don Luis de Victoria, arranged by David Powell, is a marriage of choral, classical

and jazz. This features LSO principal trumpet, Phillip Cobb, and jazz trumpeter, Mike Lovatt.

Richard Walker A Bit on the Slide

by Brett Baker The album starts with a popular pot-boiler, Bolivar. Little is known about the piece or the composer, but it has certainly seen resurgence in performance in recent years. Simon’s high register has always been strong and he demonstrates this to the full in this Latin American work. Next is the middle movement of Andy Duncan’s Concerto for Baritone, the middle movement played on trombone works much better than I would have thought though I still prefer this as a baritone solo. Simon comments that Andy Duncan needed to alter the piece slightly for trombone and the use of the trigger in the faster passages works very well.

Thoughts of Love is next up and Simon returns to his brass band days at Fairey in this performance, which is a piece he was fond of at the time. Then three slow melodies appear on the disk in succession in the form of Autumn Leaves, Stardust and I loves you Porgy. Simon captures the mood in each of these solos playing with sensitivity and panache. I would have preferred to see the arrangements spread evenly throughout the disc but absolutely think they are excellent choices for a trombone album with brass band for me you can get better than an arrangement of anything by Bill Geldard. Gordon Langford’s Rhapsody for Trombone comes next on the album and this fresh approach to the solo works well, the cadenza being particularly enjoyable and Simon’s impressive high register again being shown to the full. An interesting choice of repertoire then follows in the form of the same composer’s arrangement of Lark in the Clear Air. This works really well for trombone and the arrangement is excellent, making one wonder why it has never been used before? The last but one solo is then the old favourite - Blue Bells of Scotland. Although played often it is a popular solo by young trombonists and it fits well within the repertoire choice. Finally, in the form of an encore, the section of Kingdom Brass are joined by Simon to play Trombola by Frank Bryce. Andy Duncan and Anne Crookston lead the band and shape the music skilfully and sensitively never getting in the way and providing a firm foundation. Simon’s first solo disc is well overdue and let’s hope we get to hear more of his superb playing in the form of more recordings in the future.

Simon Johnson

THE TROMBONIST | SPRING 2012 | PAGE 33

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DIARY DATES

Diary of Events 2012 Please refer to pages 7 and 8 for detailed information about BTS events, including times and costs.

Friday 23 March: Workshop at Aberdeen University Featuring Brett Baker Contact president@britishtrombonesociety.org for details Saturday 24 March: BTS Day in Kent 9.30am Registration Featuring Dudley Bright (principal trombone of the London Symphony Orchestra), Brett Baker, Bone-a-fide Quartet and Black Dyke Quartet.

Bromley Methodist Church, College Road, Bromley, BR1 3NS Contact: Richard Debonnaire rich.debonnaire@me.com Wednesday 18 April: Big Band concert with Mark Nightingale, in Wales At 8.00pm, come along to Whitehead Sports and Social Club, Bassaleg, Newport, Wales to hear Mark Nightingale with the Pete Phillips Motley Groove and John Spruce’s trombone quintet, Bone Fracture.

Admission £9 (members £8), all welcome!

Sunday 13 May: Tiddly Troms Day in Wales In association with the BTS and Gwent Music Support Service 9.30am Registration Rogiet Primary School, Station Road, Caldicot, NP26 3SD For more detailed information and a registration form please contact: Jo Hirst on 07729 144690 or J.L.HIRST@HOTMAIL.CO.UK Saturday 19 May: BTS Day in Lancashire 10.00am Registration 2nd Rossendale Scouts Band BTS Workshop and Concert Featuring Brett Baker and Jonathan Warburton.

Also Featuring the RNCM Trombone Choir conducted by Adrian Morris 2nd Rossendale Scout Group Band, Scout Headquarters, Burnley Road, Bacup, Lancs. OL13 8AE Contact Brett Baker on President@britishtrombonesociety.org

Sunday 20 May: BTS at the Black Dyke Band Festival in Yorkshire 9.30am Registration Featuring the Black Dyke Band Trombone Quartet Leeds Town Hall The Headrow, Leeds, LS1 3AD Contact: Paul Woodward on northeast@ britishtrombonesociety.org Saturday 26 and Sunday 27 May: BTS National Event in Wales Featuring special guests; Jacques Mauger, Simon Minshall, Davur Juul Magnussen, Jonathan Pippin, Dirk Amrein, Gordon Campbell, Brett Baker, trombone sections from the BBC National Orchestra of Wales and Welsh National Opera, plus the RWCMD trombone choir.

Royal Welsh College of Music and Drama, Castle Grounds, Cathays Park, Cardiff, CF10 3ER Contact: Colin Barrett colby@hotmail.co.uk Brett Baker president@britishtrombonesociety.org Kevin Price Kevin.Price@rwcmd.ac.uk Monday 28 to Wednesday 30 May: Christian Lindberg at the RWCMD, Cardiff Royal Welsh College of Music and Drama Address as above Contact: Kevin Price Kevin.Price@rwcmd.ac.uk BTS members will have free access to the rehearsal on Monday morning Wednesday 4 to Saturday 7 July: International Trombone Festival 2012 Paris , France 60 of the best trombone players from all over the world.

This should not be missed. Featuring all genres from all four corners!

Conservatoire a Rayonnement Regional (CRR) de Paris 14 rue de Madrid 75008 Paris, France Metro: Line 3 Station Europe Bus: Line 53 station Europe www.trombonefestival.net

Sunday 22 July to Saturday 28 July: Ian Bousfield Masterclass Solothurn, Switzerland All those interested can register online at www. musikakademie-so.ch/welcome-page/ or can contact Ian Bousfield directly via his website for more information: www.ianbousfield.com Sunday 9 September: BTS Day in Shropshire 9.30am Registration Brett Baker and Black Dyke Band Quartet, Stephen Lomas (bass trombone, Leyland Band) and Porth-y-waen Silver Band.

Porth-y-Waen Silver Band Hall, Porth-y-Waen Oswestry, Shropshire, SY10 8LSGW Contact: northwest@britishtrombonesociety.org Sunday 7 October: East Anglia BTS Day and Annual General Meeting 9.30am Registration Artists TBA Oundle School, Oundle, Peterborough, PE8 4GH Contact: Ben Bouzan eastanglia@britishtrombonesociety. org Sunday 28 October or Sunday 25 November: Royal Academy of Music Trombone Day Marylebone Road, London, NW1 5HT Contact Bob Hughes: pastpresident@ britishtrombonesociety.org Featuring Dudley Bright, Black Dyke Trombone Quartet, Ian Bousfield and more.

Saturday 3 November: Isle of Mann BTS Day Featuring the Black Dyke Trombone Quartet Details TBA Contact: secretary@britishtrombonesociety.org If you want an event to take place in your Area then contact president@britishtrombonesociety.org

Solution to Winter 2011 Crossword

THE TROMBONIST | SPRING 2012 | PAGE 35