On Thursday HSJO left school bright and early
en route to the School Big Band Class of the National Concert
Band Festival held in Manchester at the Royal Northern College
of Music.
The class contained finalists from throughout
the UK and previous experience should that the competition
was going to be very tough! Playing in the splendid Opera
Theatre, HSJOs new young sound engineers, students James Eustice
and Iain McDonald setting up the stage and the PA system in
the 10 minutes allotted and did a brilliant job throughout.
The band played a contrasting programme, starting
off with Buddy Rich’s “Big Swing Face” driven
along by the fine swinging rhythm section and featuring solos
by Robyn Hill (piano), Jamie Graham (baritone sax) and Cathy
Davies (flute), her playing being described by adjudicator
Goff Richards as “tasty”! The second item “Blues
for Mr Mellow” featured the considerable solo skills
of Tom Butcher on alto saxophone, who captured the bluesey
mood perfectly and was greatly admired by the adjudicators
and audience alike.
Cathy Davies and Tom Bassett sang a duet featuring
a special up-tempo arrangement by Basil Tait of “Pick
Yourself Up”. These vocals and the band backing including
the soprano sax playing of Leah Taylor received most complimentary
comments from the adjudicators and a short vibraphone “break”
by Calie Hough during this item gave us a foretaste of things
to come!
“Round Midnight”, another special
arrangement by Basil Tait, was sympathetically and exquisitely
played by Calie on the vibraphone. Her performance was adjudged
to have been the finest solo playing of the class and won
her the “Outstanding Soloist Award”.
The band closed with the Buddy Rich’s
arrangement of Joe Zawinal’s “Mercy, Mercy, Mercy”
which opened with fine playing by Chris Varah (drums) and
a spirited guitar solo by Darren Roberts.
All in all, a very successful and enjoyable
experience for the band and one which earned them a Silver
Award at National Level keeping HSJO in the very top flight
of school bands in the UK – and experience which we
hope will be repeated next year!
John Austin
Musical Director
29.3.04
