The Brown Bomber

In Partnership with

Music Julian Joseph Choreographer Sheron Wray

A dance suite that will knock you out

20 and 21 June 2012

In Partnership with

Director Adam Eisenberg Creative Director Tertia Sefton-Green

PRESENTS

SHADOWBALL Dance Suite Music Julian Joseph Choreographer Ann-Marie Lennon 1. Pitcher, Catcher and Jurist 2. Someday Soon (Lament for Josh Gibson) 3. A Beautiful Dream, Never Ends

THE JULIAN JOSEPH SEXTET Piano Julian Joseph Saxophones and Clarinets Patrick Clahar Trumpet Jackson Mathod Trombone Pete Beachill Bass Mark Hodgson Drums Mark Mondesir

Approximate running time 1 hour 15 minutes with 20 minute interval.

Please ensure all mobile phones, pagers and digital watches are turned off.

Camera flash close to the performers can be very dangerous.

To ensure their safety, photography and the use of all audio and video recordings are strictly forbidden.

The Brown Bomber is made possible with the generous support of

THE BROWN BOMBER A Dance Suite in Three Scenes Music Julian Joseph Choreographer Sheron Wray 1.The Training 2.The Dressing Room 3.The Ring This work commissioned by HMDT Music is made possible by a grant from PRS for Music Foundation as part of New Music 20x12 – a UK-wide commissioning programme initiated by Jillian Barker and David Cohen, and delivered by PRS for Music Foundation in partnership with BBC Radio 3, London 2012 and NMC Recordings.

The Brown Bomber is a jazz and boxing project for secondary school students conceived by Adam Eisenberg and Tertia Sefton-Green. Treatment by Tertia Sefton-Green.

Set built by The Scenery Shop.

Image: Š Corbis

Cast SHADOWBALL THE DANCE BROWN SUITE BOMBER The Homestead Grays Josh Gibson Isabella Levicki Players Aisha Barnes Francesca Habel-Maiden Harvey Hart Delilah Lloyd Molly Lucas Billy Murison Valentina Winship Kansas City Monarchs Satchel Paige Summer Priest Jackie Robinson Samson Adeola Players Eva Giffin Martha Jack Hannah Kidane Lula Paterson Miwa Tatsuhara Beatriz Da Cruz Siobhan Wren Students from HMDT’s I Can Sing!

Performing Arts School

Joe Louis Jason Poullard

Marva Trotter – Joe’s Wife Destinee John Anthony

Max Schmeling Bless Klepcharek

Mike Jacobs – Promoter Ishimwe Cobbey*

Max’s Team

Journalist/Referee Beatrix Da Cruz

Joe Jacobs – Max’s Manager Sonny McCook

Journalist Janay Seivwright

Max Machon – Max’s Trainer Aisha Barnes

Photographer Summer Priest

Trainer/Corner man Shayna Allen

Photographer Alicia Williams

Joe’s Team John Roxborough – Joe’s Manager Samson Adeola Jack Blackburn – Joe’s Trainer Tonye Obene Trainer/Corner man Harriet Mugowu Trainer/Announcer Fatoumata Njie Students from Bridge Academy, Hackney Haggerston School, Hackney Graverney School, Wandsworth I Can Sing! Performing Arts School

Smart Lady Dasia Abrahams Cop Courtney Eckersley Young Girl Georgia Moona-Sam Working girl Mischa Dijer-Antoine Boy Olamide Aregbe Boy Joel Santos *Rambert School of Ballet and Contemporary Dance

JULIAN JOSEPH SEXTET Piano Julian Joseph Saxophones and Clarinets Patrick Clahar Trumpet Jackson Mathod Trombone Pete Beachill Bass Mark Hodgson Drums Mark Modesir

ARTISTIC TEAM

HMDT MUSIC

Choreographer Sheron Wray (The Brown Bomber)

Director Adam Eisenberg

Choreographer Ann-Marie Lennon (Shadowball Dance Suite)

Creative Director Tertia Sefton-Green Projects Manager Missy Mills

Designer Neil Irish

Projects Assistant Alex French

Lighting Designer Aideen Malone

Photography Clive Barda

Film Maker Tim Corrigan

Graphic Design DesignRaphael, Ltd

Costume Supervisor Karen Large

Sound Recording Tony Clark

Assistant Choreographer Dena Lague (The Brown Bomber)

Video Documentation Outline Pictures

Dance Coach Pauly Skerrett (The Brown Bomber) Boxing Coach/Technical Advisor James Cook, MBE Rehearsal Pianist David Keefe Film Students Ife Grillo Hamish Harty Abel Masho Ziyad Said-Wardell PRODUCTION TEAM Production Manager Dennis Charles Stage Manager Helen Gaynor Deputy Stage Manager Laura Stevens Assistant Stage Manager Claire Louise Baldwin Sound Design Othman Read Assistant Costume Supervisor Katy Adeney

Printing Schwartz Ltd SADLERS WELLS Chief Executive & Artistic Director Alistair Spalding Artistic Programmer & Producer Emma Gladstone Director of Communications & Digital Strategy Kingsley Jayasekera Projects Manager Emily Jameson Director of Technical & Production Emma Wilson Technical Manager, Lilian Baylis Studio Roman Bezdyk Senior Technician, Lilian Baylis Studio Michael Rodgers Senior House Manager Marguerite Bullard

Synopsis THE SHADOWBALL DANCE SUITE 1. pitcher, Catcher and Jurist 2. someday soon (lament for Josh Gibson) 3. a Beautiful Dream, never ends

Shadowball celebrates The Negro Leagues, set up by andrew “rube” Foster in 1919 to give black baseball players the opportunity to control and manage black baseball as well as ‘to make as much money as white players”. although a hugely successful business, inevitably it didn’t pay well and players had to ‘barnstorm’ and play for as many teams as possible to make a living. in segregated america they were limited by where they could eat and sleep and weren’t even allowed to use the clubhouses in stadiums.

Despite this,The Negro Leagues invented stadium lights to play at night, helped developed a large black media business and produced some of the greatest players, many of whose achievements were never properly recorded. ironically, when Jackie robinson broke the ‘color barrier’ by signing with The Dodgers in 1947, it signalled the beginning of the end of the Negro Leagues.

Josh gibson, an extraordinary batter who had been desperate to be the first to join the Major Leagues died of a brain tumour that same year and satchel paige, an infamous pitcher, known for his antics as well as his skills, joined the cleveland indians in 1948.

Synopsis The Brown Bomber

In 1936, to the surprise of boxing fans worldwide and the delight of Hitler, former world heavyweight champion German boxer Max Schmeling defeated the number one contender, African-American boxer Joe Louis – known as “The Brown Bomber” in a match that lasted 12 rounds. In 1938, a rematch was scheduled amidst a backdrop of impending war.

Jeweled octoroons from the Cotton Club on Broadway, sport-togged, whitespectacled young blades from Harlem, conservative mulatto businessmen, all rolling up in sedans or touring cars.

Chicago Paper

1. The Training Joe Joe Louis sets up camp in Pompton Lakes, New Jersey.

Joe Louis training at Pompton Lakes

Image: © Corbis

Huge crowds come to watch Louis train, gazing at him from trees, roofs, fences and cars. Promoter Mike Jacobs charges $1 a head to 5,000 people who turn up twice a week to see Louis train.

Image: © Corbis

Max Schmeling and his wife, film-star Anny Ondra meeting Hitler

Max Max Schmeling sets up a training camp in Speculator by the peaceful Adirondack Mountains, 250 miles from New York.

He runs 8-10 miles a day, poses for the cameras between sparring bouts, trains with the punchbag, shadowboxing, skipping rope and performs tricks – ‘a crowd pleaser was a precision punch which knocked the ash of the cigar in Mike Jacobs’ mouth’.

Press focus on his relationship with Hitler who had given him great support. Despite Schmeling refusing the honorary role of an SA Commander and turning down the Dagger of Honour, he is perceived to be a messenger of the Third Reich.

Original design drawings by Neil Irish

The camp was permeated with the flavour of Nazi Germany with Schmeling’s house an island of Nazi Germany, encircled by barbed wire and state troopers.

Dan Parker New York Mirror

Synopsis 2.The Dressing Room Before the fight, there is a heavy police presence at Yankee Stadium with Anti-Nazi League members distributing leaflets for a boycott of German goods and Communists handing out notes to cheer Louis and boo Schmeling.

Louis’s car is swamped en route and he arrives late.

Joe Joe Louis sleeps for two hours in his dressing room.Trainer Julian Blackburn begins bandaging his hands at 9.00pm.

Promoter Mike Jacobs (who increased ticket prices and added rows to collect a hefty million dollars) visits the dressing-room. Joe usually shadowboxed for 10 minutes, but instead he spends half an hour flicking jabs and tossing hooks before putting on his blue silk robe.

Murder that bum and don’t make an asshole out of me’.

Promoter mike Jacobs

Max Max is alone in his dressing room: “A few days earlier the Boxing Commission had declared Joe Jacobs (his manager) ineligible to work in my corner (for a misjudged PR stunt).They banned him not only from my corner, but also to my amazement, from the locker room. Even Doc Casey, who had been to my corner so many times, wasn’t there.The general hysteria and flood of threatening letters had both shocked and scared him. I had never before felt so alone before a fight. In the critical last few minutes even Max Machon (his trainer) was missing, as he had to go and observe the wrapping of Joe Louis’s hands so I was actually relieved when the door opened and an official came to bring me to the ring.”

Max Schmeling’s autobiography

3.The Ring In a heat wave, 70,000 fans pour into New York by train, plane, boat and car with the “Louis Victory Special” chartered from Philadelphia. Celebrities include Tallulah Bankhead, Clark Gable and Gary Cooper as well as Cab Calloway, Louis Armstrong and Duke Ellington.

Give the crowd the greatest fight in heavyweight history Referee Arthur Donavan

Louis and his team, with police escort, enter the arena to great cheers. Schmeling, even with police escort, has to pull a towel over his head to protect himself from abuse and flying objects (banana skins, cigarette packs) thrown at him.

Referee Arthur Donavan calls the contestants to the middle of the ring, and asks them to touch gloves. Back in their corners, Schmeling stands calmly while Louis shadowboxes.

The bell rings.

Image: © Corbis

The Fight on 22 June 1938 at Yankee Stadium

The Rest is History After 124 seconds and still in the first round, a badly wounded Schmeling threw in the towel and Louis reigned as World Champion for the next 13 years. However, even the first African American celebrity did not escape public censure. Eight years after some charity bouts to raise funds for the War, the IRS handed him a bill for half a million dollars. Louis came out of retirement to help pay the bills and was beaten by Rocky Marciano in 1951. He was forced to accept menial jobs such as welcoming tourists at a Las Vegas hotel.

Max Schmeling, once Hitler’s favourite, was immediately discarded and drafted into the army. Despite several hard years, he ended up a wealthy man and President of Coca Cola in East Germany.

By the 1960s Louis and Schmeling had become friends and Max assisted Joe with his financial troubles. As well as helping pay for Joe’s funeral in 1981, (Louis was buried with full military honours at Arlington), Schmeling acted as a pallbearer.

Image: © Corbis

Max and Joe in 1961

CHOREOGRAPHING THE BROWN BOMBER Sheron Wray

W

orking on this project – one that stems from a seemingly distant past has tinges of irony within its annals that make it seem like a very familiar story. The intertwined lives of Max Schmeling and Joe Louis – popularly known as The Brown Bomber is filled with a depth of feeling that made the whole world tune into their 1938 rematch. Masses of the most ordinary of people, men, women and children alike were gripped by them on June 22. It meant something to them personally, philosophically, ethnically and nationally. It made them feel differently about being alive.

I like to think that dance has that kind of agency, that it can inspire and change lives; both through direct participation and spectatorship. The visceral nature of dance creates a direct means for performers to communicate with each other and their audience, to tap into feelings and ideas that cannot be said with words. Words have slippage. Jazz music and dance grew as a means to communicate socially and spiritually in a new world. Through the gift of ‘swing’, that nuanced, mosaic relationship of time that is felt and unfolds as a rhythmic conversation, the dancing body heals and strengthens itself.

The young people that perform in the cast of The Brown Bomber are new to experiencing jazz music as a danced expression. Their individual characters in the dance reflect the personalised and creative nature of jazz improvisation.

This means that within the HMDT Ensemble my effort is not to create a row of synthetic carbon copies that move to a formula, but to enable a creative process that encourages them to explore their imagination and portray interrelated characters. The pillars of focused attention, bodily discipline, improvisatory play and group responsibility are the means to our end. Through this process the dancers have influenced each other’s ideas of how to embody meaning, creating action that intends to connect with you, their audience.

Joe Louis lived through a time during which big band jazz music was at its height, but in this production we portray what happened inside the ring and not in the ballroom. Aspects of the ballroom did in fact come to the ringside and it is widely known that Joe Louis had a great appreciation of jazz.

Enigmatic figures like Cab Calloway and Duke Ellington were among his greatest admirers. The idea of dancing in the boxing ring is a creative strategy used by some boxers to wrong foot their opponents. This was displayed most clearly by a future boxer, inspired by Louis by the name of Muhammad Ali. The concept of the competitive shuffle existed long before him however. Boxers like dancers work toward attaining balance, strength, stability, stamina and agility to achieve their glorious ends. Unbeknownst to most are the countless hours of repetition, planning and observation that are required to reach their goals. To box or to dance is to perform and go beyond your audiences’ expectations.

COMPOSING THE BROWN BOMBER Julian Joseph

T

he contest for The Heavyweight Championship of the World has for many years been the biggest sporting event on the planet, and even though we’re not in the throes of a great boxing era right now, a fight can still pull in the audiences and rack up the receipts from sponsorship and TV. This extraordinary global phenomenon has a long history, epitomised by the rematch between the German fighter Max Schmeling and the iconic American boxer, Joe Louis, at Yankee Stadium on June 22nd 1938. At the time, America was reeling from the fall-out from the Great Depression, and struggling to adjust to a changing national climate. Although the echoes of slavery still reverberated and inequality was very much in evidence, the systems and philosophy upon which they were built were beginning to erode and collapse. Meanwhile, Europe was under threat from the rise of Nazi Germany. Just two years earlier Schmeling had been victorious over the Brown Bomber – Joe Louis – at the very same Yankee Stadium. The rematch came at a critical time, pulling everything into its vortex whilst shining a bright light of irony on a black man who stood as a symbol of the democracy and freedom that was denied to him and his people, alongside a German unsympathetic to the Nazis who was nevertheless representing them as their champion.

These two gladiators found themselves caught in a larger arena, regardless of their personal feelings or political leanings.

dimensions of jazz to construct a workable conception and strategy that has transformed many of the musical structures and extemporaneous devices (essential to the practising jazz musician) for the dancer. Boxing exists in a world of movement, agility and immense physical prowess. It requires great discipline, rigorous training and dedication, with the creative space for spontaneous invention that is so familiar to jazz, the juxtaposition of crafted freedom over a defined temporal structure.

This momentous time in our recent history forces us to reflect on our own humanity, on what we’ve learnt and what we must fight to retain, and to strive for freedom, fairness and equality for all. As part of the Cultural Olympiad, the celebration of athletes at the very pinnacle of their fitness, poised to test years of hard work and patience in a competition that pits them against each other on an equal, global plane, underpins these qualities.

Mastery over mind, body and spirit is demanded of every athlete and arguably none more so than the Boxer.

Max is used to being prepared and knowing his opponent. He, too, is highly disciplined but is trying to remain light-hearted and keep his spirits up. The trombone echoes the fact that he’s fighting for a Germany he doesn’t recognise. The clarinet and trumpet remind him that he’s in America.

Finding a way to express this musically has its many challenges, but to my advantage the use of jazz in a story set in a golden jazz age is all the more powerful. At the same time, the music is an integral element of the prejudice that is the backdrop to this story. Although as popular in 1920s Germany as it was in the United States and across Europe, jazz was one of the first victims of the Nazis’ tightening stranglehold over their nation during the 1930s, banned for its African-American roots and close ties to Jewish culture.

Max, on the other hand, is completely alone, with no-one to support or encourage him. He is working hard to get his mind focused, but it travels to different places. There’s an overwhelming sense of dread but he manages to use it to help his concentration.

The creation of this dance piece taps into another dimension of movement and draws the work closer to its subject matter.

The dancer as a master of movement and possessed of great physical self-awareness can relate to the struggles of the boxer both physically and mentally. Celebrated dancer and choreographer Sheron Wray has long researched all the many

These concepts have been applied in the creation, learning and execution of The Brown Bomber. Ultimately, the piece strives to engage and connect its participants with the rich tapestry of history in a highly eloquent mode of expression. Through jazz, dance and boxing we learn about ourselves, and with Sheron Wray, the young dancers are in the care of a pioneer who lives, breathes, invents and innovates in this great creative arena.

The Brown Bomber is twelve minutes long, divided into three main sections: Scene 1 depicts the “Training” regime. Joe’s training is extremely disciplined and focused. The snare drum represents military precision and the concentration of a man with a serious goal, but also there is a confidence and swagger.

Scene 2, set in the “Dressing Room”, focuses on the swirl of emotions before the two men set foot in the ring. Joe and his team are expectant and confident and there’s a lot of activity.

Scene 3 depicts each man’s journey to “The Ring,” shadowboxing. The music borrows a boogie-woogie locomotive groove typical of the era played in the bass and piano.

Once in the ring, the legendary fighters prepare themselves.

As the pomp and regalia build in prelude to the fight, the bass riff alters in conversation with the clarinet, with the brass improvising in response to the noise and energy of the boxers’ teams and the crowd. Joe and Max circle each other and the contest unfolds as does the tempo and musical intent. Let the battle commence!

The six musicians are integral to the direction of the music and respond to the intent of the fight and the moment in time. Jackson Mathod (Trumpet) has a warm tone and lyrical awareness with an inventive integrity that colours and brings clarity to a melodic idea. Pete Beachill (Trombone) has a tone and intensity that squeezes out the quality of a melody and blends it with emotional perfection. Patrick Clahar (Sax and Clarinets) brings an urgency and poise to his musical approach that distinguishes his creative choices and interpretation toward the best musical outcome.

Mark Mondesir (Drums) and bassist Mark Hodgson (Bass) have, for approaching two decades, been the pillars of our rhythm section’s equilateral triangle conception and have a sense of sound and interpretation essential to the way I wish to create music. They underline the score with the qualities that orchestrate creatively in an important improvisational sense, but also in their approach to the written material.

These musicians bring the music alive because they put their life, experience, soul, and understanding into its service.

Image: Š Corbis

The Brown Bomber vividly expresses the Joe Louis-Max Schmeling contest and its legacy through dance and music. Starring and involving young participants, it gives them the opportunity to know and experience the impact of two men chosen to step up at a time when everything was in the balance, men who bore the responsibilities of nations on their shoulders, and who fought with tenacity and dignity. There were more battles to come for both of them, in and out of the Ring. They were tested, but the ideals they shared with the best Olympians allowed them to shine through as true champions.

BASEBALL, BOXING AND JAZZ

I

n 1930s segregated America, African-American celebrities such as sportsmen and artists did not escape exclusion from hotels, restaurants and many public places and thus many friendships were forged. On 22nd June 1938, a host of jazz celebrities attended Louis’s fight against Schmeling; Cab Calloway and Bill Robinson were present and Duke Ellington had postponed hernia surgery just to come. In fact, Joe rested in Ellington’s apartment during the afternoon of the fight.

A few years later during the war, Louis helped set up the Officer Candidate School for African-Americans. One of the applications he helped facilitate was that of baseball player Jackie Robinson and the two remained close friends.

Although sometimes criticised for not actively assisting the Civil Rights movement, Joe Louis was a pioneer whose victory over Max Schmeling established his position as the first American to achieve celebrity status and brought together the hopes and respect of the white community thus paving the way for integration.

Calloway himself owned and played in a baseball team named the ‘Cab Calloway Band’ and Louis Armstrong owned a team in New Orleans called ‘Armstrong’s Secret 9’.

I’m sure if it wasn’t for Joe Louis, the color line in baseball would not have been broken for another ten years.

Image: © Corbis

Jackie Robinson

Heavyweight champion Joe Louis and Jackie Robinson try the weapon of each other’s trade at Louis’ Pompton Lake, NJ, training camp.

Louis Armstrong with his Secret 9 baseball team

Image: © Corbis

Joe Louis greeting pitcher Satchel Paige

Like Joe Louis, only one arm like Satchel Paige’s comes along in 50 years.

Image: © Redferns/Getty Images

Red Smith

Like Duke Ellington, Cab Calloway & Bill Robinson, Louis had that remarkable sense of rhythm, timing and instinctive pace, which in the ring made him formidable.

Bill Corum New York Evening Journal

The Projects He was a credit to his race – the human race...

Jimmy Cannon on Joe Louis

The Brown Bomber project is based on the heroic sporting battle between American boxer Joe Louis, the first African American to become a national hero, and German boxer Max Schmeling in 1938, bringing to life through music, the connection between two athletes once adversaries in sport, whose friendship endured, despite the idealogical opposition by which they were both surrounded. It focuses on their mental battle inside the ring and celebrates their Olympic values of true sportsmanship, through friendship and mutual respect.

Following on from HMDT’s Shadowball,The Brown Bomber is part of a trilogy focusing on the lives of black sports heroes and their historical, cultural and sporting legacy. Working with secondary schools, PRUs and youth clubs, it combines a new resource pack linking thematic and historical material to the curriculum with an introduction to boxing, led by super-middleweight champion James Cook MBE who specialises in empowering young people to focus their lives.

Since September 2011, HMDT Music has worked with young people at Bridge Academy, Haggerston School,The Boxing Academy and Pedro Club offering boxing and dance classes (with dance coaches Pauly Skerrett and Ann-Marie Lennon), as an introduction to The Brown Bomber Dance Suite.

The project was launched with composition sessions in which Julian Joseph worked with Bridge students to develop the dramatic structure of the piece. Alongside the sporting classes, film maker Tim Corrigan has worked with a student film team to create the backdrop to the work, using both archival photos and footage they shot at the boxing sessions.

Following auditions,The HMDT Dance Company was formed mainly from participants at the classes who have worked intensively with Choreographer Sheron Wray over the past three weeks to mount tonight’s production.

The Projects

速

Shadowball is undeniably a thrilling and illuminating venture for its young participants.

John Fordham, The Guardian

The Shadowball project involves four classes (Years 5 and/or 6) from two neighbouring schools working in partnership: playing baseball and studying the background of Julian Joseph and Mike phillips’s jazz opera in preparation for rehearsing and performing Shadowball in a professional performing environment.

To celebrate London 2012, hMDT has mounted a tour, bringing the project to hackney empire London, The Drum Birmingham and The crucible sheffied.

Local schools in each city work with the teaching pack and play baseball before rehearsing and performing Shadowball in each theatre.

Following the premiere of Shadowball at The Mermaid centre in 2010, two further residencies took place in hackney in 2011 with the fully-staged opera being performed in school halls.

students from hMDT’s saturday i can sing! performing arts centre perform Julian’s specially adapted non-vocal version: – The Shadowball Dance Suite.

Sometimes you’re presented with the opportunity to witness something wonderful, something you wouldn’t have even known existed except by an uncanny twist of fate . . . ‘Shadowball, helps . . . kids learn about music, social injustice, history, baseball and themselves’ . . . but I would go further: it taught everyone, and furthermore, in a truly beautiful and moving way.

DaViD Fay, BaChtraCK

Shadowball in the Majors

Major League Baseball is proud to support hMDT’s Shadowball programme and its aim to get children actively involved in playing baseball while educating them on the history of the sport through music. The sport of baseball has a rich history of breaking down racial barriers, and Major League Baseball believes hMDT’s creative approach in both combating racism and stimulating interest in baseball will be an effective and fun way for the community to become involved in the sport.

HMDT believes that everyone should be able to both experience great art and help make it, and aims to prove that art, that inspires and resonates with many people can be created through the unique dynamic between outstanding professional artists and the community.

HMDT commissions and creates new works of the highest possible quality using this model of artistic fellowship, and is a pioneer in defining new music genres such as jazz opera that engage and challenge new audiences whilst giving artists opportunities to take creative risks.

Each new commission is underpinned by training opportunities for artists and an education programme that enriches participant experience, increases their skills, raises aspirations and has a transformative effect on other areas of learning. Core to HMDT’s work

REPUTATION FOR EXCELLENCE

ON LONDON FIELDS 2004

HEAR OUR VOICE 2006

CONFUCIUS SAYS 2008

Community Opera created as part of Operaction Hackney Skills for Life Courses.

Cantata set to children’s Holocaust writings performed in, and with, children from Nuremberg, Prague and London.

Opera with nine schools celebrating the Bejing Olympics.

CENTRE FOR YOUNG MUSICIANS HACKNEY Saturday music school offering instrumental lessons, ensembles, choirs and orchestras to students aged 5-15.

I CAN SING! Music Theatre School offering vocal and dance sessions leading to performances.

JULIAN JOSEPH, HMDT PATRON

www.hmdt.org.uk

Working with HMDT has been one of the most rewarding experiences in my career as I felt we offered an wholistic approach to learning.

HMDT are expert in connecting the strands of numeracy, literacy, history, social awareness and civil rights through music and drama.The creation, preparation and performance of our Jazz Opera (Shadowball) gave us all – adults and children – a shared sense of ownership and I am overwhelmed by that feeling.Thank you HMDT! Julian Joseph, Composer

HMDT is one of the very few idealistic, altruistic organisations . . . which advocates the use of music in human development . . . genuine heroes. The Times

MUSIC BOX Under 5s programme offering singing and dancing with a range of musicians.

OVER 60S PROGRAMME includes The Hoxton Singers Choir, Gotta’ Dance Ballroom classes and Line Dancing.

ONE SPIRIT Arts and mentoring rehabilitation project with young offenders.

WE NEED YOUR HELP! To transform children’s lives through music, HMDT depends upon donations from people like you.

Please give whatever you can to ensure their musical future.

We can’t do it without your help!

Visit www.hmdt.org.uk to find out how you can contribute.

Photo Andreas Neumann

is the long term commitment to offering all age groups, particularly those with the least engagement, sustained music training programmes, which enable them to participate in new commissions, ensuring there are no barriers to participation.

Biographies One of London’s leading trombonists, Pete Beachill works regularly with many top recording artists such as Bon Jovi, Robbie Williams, Shirley Bassey, Cliff Richard and Paul McCartney. Pete has played on countless TV soundtracks and live shows, albums, film scores and pop tracks, performing in a diverse range of styles. His extensive jazz involvement includes New York Composers Orchestra, BBC Radio Big Band, Kenny Wheeler Big Band, John Taylor Sextet, work with Andy Sheppard and the John Surman Brass Project. Pete has appeared as principal trombone with many leading orchestras such as the London Philharmonic Orchestra, Liverpool Philharmonic Orchestra and the London Metropolitan Orchestra. Currently a specialist lecturer at Birmingham Conservatoire, Pete has had many of his big band compositions performed by the Royal College of Music Big Band in addition to other bands throughout the UK.

Patrick Clahar Saxophones and Clarinets Inspired to play saxophone while at school, Patrick’s first band “Savoir Faire” was formed with school friend Jason Rebello and they were soon joined by bassist Julian Crampton and guitarist Tony Remy. Patrick’s collaboration with Tony Remy continued with the forming of “Desperately Seeking Fusion”, an integral part of the London jazz scene of the late ‘80s who quickly earned the reputation of being one of the best fusion bands in the UK. During this period, while working with the Jazz Warriors, Patrick formed a horn section with Kevin Robinson and Fayyaz Virji who were fellow band members. World tours with Incognito and

Basia followed and numerous studio sessions, gaining worldwide notoriety. A four-year stint with legendary drummer Bill Bruford’s Earthworks followed, including three albums and a live DVD recording filmed in New York. Recent times have seen Patrick collaborating with two of the most exciting big bands on the British scene - The Julian Joseph Big Band and the award winning Jazz Jamaica All-Stars, and a brand new project led by drummer Mark Mondesir.

London. Arcola London, Greenwich Theatre, Palace Theatre Watford, Derby Playhouse, Royal Lyceum Edinburgh, Playhouse Edinburgh, Gate Dublin, Unicorn Theatre, Pavilion Theatres Dublin, Hull Truck, Stephen Joseph Scarborough, Teatro Kismet( Bari, Italy), St Anne’s Brooklyn NYC and National Theatre Turkey. He has a long collaboration with Compass and Red Shift Theatre Companies including many UK and international tours. Operatic productions include work with the National Theatre Company Brno The Cunning Little Vixen, Opera Theatre Company Dublin Pelleas and Mellisande, Almeida ENO Festival, Opera North, Opera Holland Park, Garden Opera, Mid Wales Opera, BAM New York, Opera Comique Paris, New Zealand Opera, English Touring Opera, Garden Opera and Classical Opera Company. Neil has also worked for both Set and Costume Departments for BBC TV. Recent productions have been The Shape of Things (lstanbul Festival), Carmen (Dunedin, New Zealand), Bridgetower (English Touring Opera), Volpone and Duchess of Malfi Greenwich Theatre and Rigged and Dr Faustus, Unicorn Theatre.

Neil designed the award winning Confucius Says for Hackney Music Development Trust and in 2010, Shadowball.

Tim Corrigan Film Maker Tim Corrigan is an artist filmmaker and currently the lead artist of Hastings based charity Project Artworks. He has worked extensively in arts education and has fifteen years experience of delivering arts based projects in a wide range of settings. He is also director of Outline Pictures, a video production company, producing films commercially for a number of high profile companies and charities. In his personal work he has been filming the shifting political landscape in Cambodia over the past ten years, tracing through film a complex web of connections and events, including the election trials and resistance work of the Sam Rainsy, leader of the opposition.

Extracts of this work have been shown in a number of galleries around the UK.

Neil Irish Designer Neil trained in Birmingham and later at the Slade. Neil was a winner of the Linbury Prize for Stage Design and also won the Leslie Hurry Prize while at the Slade. He has worked at Birmingham Rep. West Yorkshire Playhouse, Gate

Photo: Andreas Neumann

Pete Beachill Trombone

Julian Joseph Composer and Music Director Virtuoso pianist, bandleader, composer, arranger and broadcaster, Julian Joseph has been a leading figure on the international jazz scene for over two decades. Acclaimed by critics and audiences the world over, he never fails to inspire with his mastery of the keyboard, the versatility of his musicianship, and the seemingly limitless scope of his creative imagination. As a jazz pioneer in the classical world, he was the first jazz musician to give a series at the Wigmore Hall, has recorded duets by Milhaud,

Stravinsky and Poulenc combining them with his own arrangements of music by Duke Ellington, Chick Corea and Bill Evans, and collaborated with violinist Viktoria Mullova on her fusion project, Through the Looking Glass. As well as four albums and a mass of original material for small band, Julian has written a number of large-scale works for big band and symphony orchestra, including The Great Sage for big band and strings premiered at the 2002 London Jazz Festival, Mountain of Hope, The Reverend: Back Home to Glory, A Ballade of Love, Guardian Angel, an arrangement of Gershwin’s Rhapsody in Blue for big band, premiered at the 2003 City of London Festival and Symphonic Story: The Great Exception performed by the Hallé and BBC Concert orchestras. In 2007 Julian premiered and toured his new jazz opera, Bridgetower: A Fable of 1807 - the story of young black violin prodigy George Bridgetower and in 2010, wrote his acclaimed jazz opera Shadowball, for young people. Julian has made two series Jazz with Julian Joseph for Meridian TV, a jazz series for Sky’s Artsworld channel hosted Jazz Legends for BBC Radio 3 for six seasons. The recipient of numerous music awards, including the 2006 Parliamentary Jazz Awards’ Broadcaster of the Year, he is also a Creative Industries Luminary for London.

Bless Klepcharek Max Schmeling Born in Poland, Bless trained at London Studio Centre Theatre Dance, Ludomir Rozycki Ballet Academy and with Jacek Luminski Contemporary Silesian Company. His career began at the age 15. Since then his ballet and musical theatre credits have included Footloose (European premiere) 42nd Street, The Musical Starlights (European tour) Mamma Mia (European tour), Hercules, Chicago, Oklahoma, 101 Dalmatians, Little Red Riding Hood, The Nutcracker. He made his London stage debut in Raymond

Gubbay’s Carmen at the Royal Albert Hall and in The Red Balloon in Royal Opera House. He was a part of the cast Jazz Dance Company (UK Tour London Studio Centre), Back to the 80’s (Portugal Tour) Aida (Royal Albert Hall). His work in other media includes TV/Movies - Anna Karenina 2012, Sherlock Holmes 2, Dark Shadows, Street Dance 3D, for BBC Series (Holby City, New Tricks, Silk) Commercials for 02, SKY, Roberto Cavalli, Channel 4, Samsung, Popatron (Lotties Music Video).

Mark Hodgson Bass Mark is one of the most in-demand double bass players on the European scene. He has played and recorded with, among others, Randy Brecker, Eddie Henderson, Guy Barker, Sonny Fortune, Pete King,Tommy Smith, Scott Hamilton, Andy Sheppard, Cedar Walton, Django Bates, Joey Calderazzo, Stan Tracey, Gary Husband, Mark Taylor, Des’ree, Mica Paris, Georgie Fame, Ian Shaw, Clare Martin and Jamie Cullum. He first joined Julian Joseph’s Big Band in 1996, and can also be seen in Tim Garland’s Underground Orchestra, the London Jazz Orchestra and the BBC Big Band. From 1998 to 2003 he was a member of Bill Bruford’s Earthworks, recording four CDs and a live DVD, making tours of Europe, Asia, Africa and the USA. Mark has performed at some of the world’s most prestigious clubs and festivals, including venues such as Birdland and The Knitting Factory in New York, Washington DC’s Blues Alley,Yoshi’s, Catalina’s and the House of Blues in California, Sweet Basil’s and the Blue Note in Japan, the Teatro Opera in Buenos Aires, as well as London’s Ronnie Scott’s, Barbican Centre and Royal Festival Hall.

Ann-Marie Lennon Choreographer, Shadowball Ann-Marie started her training at a young age studying at various schools, including Anna Scher Theatre School, Lewisham College, W.A.C. and Laban Centre. Before embarking on her own distinguished career, she had already worked with choreographers such as Alexandra Reynolds (The Cholmondeleys) and Henri Oguike (Henri Oguike Dance Company). On a professional basis, she has appeared on London’s West End, Edinburgh Festival, toured extensively throughout the UK and Europe as well as worked on numerous pop videos and TV appearances for a variety of UK performing artists. She is co-founder of DNA Dance, which runs classes and workshops for schools, young people at risk or who are unable to afford formal theatre training throughout the greater London area. For the past five years Ann-Marie has focused on using dance as a form of therapy for people with both physical and developmental disabilities in the UK and the USA.

Aideen Malone Lighting Designer Aideen trained at Trinity College Dublin and Goldsmiths College, University of London.

She has worked extensively in theatre, dance and opera since 1994. Some of the companies she has collaborated with are; English Touring Opera,Theatre Rites, Clod Ensemble, Akram Khan Company, Angika Dance Company, Sadhana Dance Company, Bush Theatre, Paco Pena, Red Cape and Flying Cloud. Aideen has been a freelance Lighting Designer and Tutor at Academy of Live and Recorded Arts since 2006. She is also a Director of Junction Inc Ltd, who design permanent lighting installations.

Biographies Jackson Mathod A versatile jazz trumpet player studying at the Guildhall School of Music, Jackson performs in a number of styles ranging from funk to ska. Currently in the third year of his undergraduate degree, he has gained distinctions in several recitals at Guildhall.

Jackson previously studied classical trumpet at Junior Guildhall where he had the opportunity to perform at some of the UK’s flagship arts venues: the Barbican, Royal Albert Hall and Birmingham Symphony Hall. Jackson is an accomplished member of the London Ska Orchestra and Julian Joseph’s Big Band and recently performed with the Julian Joseph Quintet in Julian’s opera Shadowball (HMDT Music) at The Drum, Birmingham.

Mark Mondesir Drums Mark Mondesir is undoubtedly one of the finest drummers the UK has ever produced, and has gained the respect and admiration of musicians the world over. A unique talent, he combines technical velocity, complexity and dexterity with an awesome inventiveness and imaginative dynamism, all grounded in an instinctive feel for groove. He has known and worked with Julian Joseph for over twenty years, and has made an inspiring and essential contribution to all his projects, bringing a musical integrity and diversity that is, quite simply, humbling. He is comfortable in any genre, from jazz to rock to funk to fusion and has collaborated with a range of international artists, including John McLaughlin, Joe Zawinul, Steve Gadd, John Scofield, Jeff Beck, Kevin Eubanks and Brian Ferry, as well as British musicians Courtney Pine, Andy Sheppard,Tony Remy, Dennis Rollins, Cleveland Watkiss and his brother, Michael

Mondesir. Mark is also a distinctive voice in jazz composition, influenced by the seminal names in jazz fusion - Herbie Hancock, Jaco Pastorius, John Serry, Jan Hammer and Alphonso Johnson.

Jason Poullard Joe Louis Born in Pomona, California, Jason Poullard is completing his Bachelor of Fine Arts in Dance Performance and Bachelor of Arts in Drama at the University of California, Irvine this year. As a Drama major he performed in A Midsummer Night’s Dream, Measure For Measure, West Side Story and The Bacchae working with esteemed choreographer Tracey Bonner, directors Eli Simon, Phillip Thompson and internationally renowned Romanian director Mihai Maniutiu. Upon moving to the Dance programme, he worked with Pavel Zustiak, Artistic Director of Palissimo, Patrick Corbin, Artistic Director of CorbinDances, the DTM2 Improvisation Ensemble led by Lisa Naugle, Chair of the Dance Department and the Insight, Jazz Ensemble led by Sheron Wray, the latter two Ensembles leading to performances in Spain and Ghana. In addition, Jason has performed in The Nutcracker and A Midsummer Night’s Dream with the Anaheim Ballet under the direction of Lawrence and Sarma Rosenburg.

Sheron Wray Choreographer, The Brown Bomber Improviser, choreographer, director, teacher and scholar Sheron Wray is Assistant Professor of Dance at the University of California, Irvine where she directs The Ghana Project: an interdisciplinary research project between UCI and the University of Ghana. A self-titled ‘Performance Architect’ with a

Master’s from Middlesex University, her current project Etutu Remix explores the dynamics of African aesthetic principles. In 2011 she was a consultant and performer for Wynton Marsalis’ Harvard Lecture The Double Crossing of a Pair of Heels: The Dynamics of Social Dance and American Popular Music. In 2009 she created Discreet Discoveries, an experimental work for the Ghana Dance Ensemble and won the UK’s Arts and Humanities Research Councils’ post-graduate research award to conduct practice-led PhD research at Surrey University. As a result of her NESTA fellowship, dance of the African diaspora, jazz and improvisation intersect in her concept of digitally enabled improvisation which manifests in the award-winning Texterritory; an interactive performance platform created in collaboration with Fleeta Siegel. Recent productions include Texterritory Congo, Digitally Ever Present and Texterritory USA. Acclaimed for her role as the leading performer and legal custodian of Harmonica Breakdown (1938), choreographed by Jane Dudley, Sheron continues to restage the work globally. For over a decade, she performed internationally with London Contemporary Dance Theatre and Rambert Dance Company working with choreographers Bill T. Jones, Ohad Naharin, Christopher Bruce, Dan Wagoner and Robert Cohen. Her productions of Muhammad Ali and Me and Moj of the Antarctic by activist playwright/ performer Mojisola Adebayo have toured the UK and Southern Africa. As the founder of JazzXchange Music and Dance Company, she collaborated with acclaimed musician-composers such as Derek Bermel, Gary Crosby, Julian Joseph, Wynton Marsalis and Byron Wallen. In 2011 she performed an improvised solo Bodily Steps to Innovation for Tedx, voted as one of the top three performances by the Orange County Register.

Acknowledgements

Mr Joseph’s piano for this production of The Brown Bomber has been generously provided by Yamaha.

With many thanks to:

PHOTO CREDITS

Emma Gladstone, Emily Jameson and all the staff at Sadlers Wells

BOXING PHOTOS Cover, p.2, p.3-4, p.5, p.6, p.8, p.9, p.12, p.13-14, Back Cover, Corbis

James Joseph and James Joseph Music Management Dr Raymond Doswell and the Negro Leagues Museum, Kansas City, Missouri Bridge Academy: Helena Burke, Natalia Dawkins, Ian Dust, Mariam Oyejobi

Media Partner for The Brown Bomber.

Haggerston School: Rachel Ray-Choudhuri, Paul Newman

SHADOWBALL DANCE SUITE Shadowball Photo: Clive Barda Jackie Robinson and Branch Ricky, The Homestead Grays – courtesy of the Negro Leagues Museum, Kansas City, Missouri BASEBALL, BOXING AND JAZZ Jackie Robinson, Satchel Paige and Joe Louis – Corbis Armstrong’s Secret 9 – Redfearns/Getty Images

Rambert School of Ballet and Contemporary Dance: Ross McKim

THE PROJECTS The Brown Bomber and Shadowball Photos: Clive Barda

Amanda Priest

HMDT MUSIC Performance Photos: Clive Barda On London Fields, Over 60s Programme, We Need Your Help! – Ken Howard Music Box – benedictjohnson.com Julian Joseph – Andreas Neumann

Farquhar and Wendy Mckay Eugene Ariyo Viveen Wray University of California University of Surrey Fay Fearon The New Wolsey Theatre Ipswich The Young Vic

New Music 20x12 The Brown Bomber is part of New Music 20x12; PRS for Music Foundation’s UK-wide commissioning programme consisting of twenty new pieces of music, each of 12 minutes in length, celebrating the talent and imagination of the UK’s musical community as part of the London 2012 Cultural Olympiad. The commissions are full of the energy, hope and excitement that will emanate from across the Cultural Olympiad and the Games themselves.They are inspired by the dynamism of Olympic and Paralympic sports, the passion of human endeavour so central to the Games, and the once in a lifetime opportunity of creating a musical work contributing to a global celebration.

Each commission will be broadcast by BBC Radio 3 and available to buy as a download from NMC Recordings at www.nmcrec.co.uk New Music 20x12 was initiated by Jillian Barker and David Cohen, and delivered by PRS for Music Foundation in partnership with BBC Radio 3, London 2012 and NMC Recordings.

© 2012 HMDT Music. All rights reserved.

The Brown Bomber is a registered trademark of HMDT.

You can see The Brown Bomber again as part of The Southbank Centre’s Weekend Celebration of New Music 20x12 showcasing all 20 pieces on 13-15 July.

The Brown Bomber will be performed at The Queen Elizabeth Hall at 1pm on Sunday 15th July.

Tickets Free but require booking: Southbankcentre.co.uk/newmusic 0844 8479911

HMDT is grateful for Core support from

For more information about The Brown Bomber, and Shadowball please visit our website www.hmdt.org.uk

Hmdt Technology Learning Centre 1 Reading Lane London E8 1gq Tel: 020 8820 7410 Fax: 020 8820 7118 Email: Info@Hmdt.Org.Uk Website: Www.hmdt.org.uk