The band played four numbers: La Fiesta by Chick Corea; North Shore Morning by Matt Harris; Whiplash by Hank Levy and Night of the Alto by Brian Fahey. In all of the pieces members of the band showed their prowess as soloists, but special mention must go to Alex Butcher, who was singled out for his performance in Night of the Alto.

Musical Director Clive King said after the win: “It is an honour and a privilege to stand on the stage at the Royal Academy of Music in front of 22 such talented and delightful young musicians.”

The next chance to see HSJO in concert will be at the Minack Theatre on May 11. Tickets are on sale through the Minack’s box office.

The band played an interesting and varied programme, which displayed all the different strengths of the band excellently. They opened with the uptempo funk number “No Spring Chicken” by Kris Berg, a favourite composer of the band. This had soloists from across the band, with Oly Hickey on trumpet, Alice Allen on tenor and Alex Butcher on alto. Then it was the Miles Davis classic Boplicity, which featured solos from Caitlin Strike on flugelhorn and Fin O’Hare on piano. Next, it was time for lead alto player Alex Butcher to step up and play his solo “Night of the Alto” by Brian Fahey. They closed the set with Kenny Dorham’s Blue Bossa, which once again featured solos from Fin O’Hare, Alex Butcher and also Amy Hill on alto.

The adjudicators were blown away by the standard of the band; shown by the fact that all they could say about “Night of the Alto” was “wow”. Musical Director Clive King was once again immensely proud of the band’s performance and praised the amount of work and commitment that the band showed in the lead-up to the competition. The band was hit especially hard earlier this year, with seven members leaving to go on to university or college, and the new members have risen to the challenge admirably. All that remains now is to bring back platinum from the Nationals next year, so watch this space!

The special guest for the evening was Gareth Williams, internationally acclaimed jazz pianist, guitarist and vocalist.  Gareth had spent the day working with the band and was sponsored to undertake this educational and promotional work by Yamaha Instruments.  A Yamaha piano , which he played during the concert, was kindly loaned by Trevada Music of Camborne.

The concert consisted of three sets, the first being played by the Jazz Orchestra and featuring  many of the leavers in solo items.  The second set was led by Gareth Williams, in which he played some solo pieces and some with members of the band.  The final set again featured the Jazz Band and they were joined by Gareth for the final numbers.  The concert concluded with a rousing rendition of the bands favourite “Big Mama Cass”.

Musical Director, Clive King, thanked the whole band for their hard work and commitment throughout the year, and he paid tribute to the leavers- wishing them well for their future and hoping that they will look back on their time with Helston School Jazz Orchestra with enjoyment.

The varied programme commenced with Feather Report by Kris Berg, a favourite composer of the band.  Jack Curnow then sang Nat King
Cole’s classic Straighten Up and Fly Right, for which the adjudicators acclaimed him as being better than Robbie Williams!  The third item was a ballad, I’ll Be Around, where soloists David Ferris on piano and Caitlin Strike on flugelhorn were highly praised for their musicality.  To conclude their set, the orchestra played Basie’s Buddy B, an uptempo number which featured all sections of the band.

Musical Director Clive King said he was very proud of the hard work and commitment shown by the young people of the band, and felt the award reflected their continued efforts.  The band are now busy practising for the upcoming summer season, and details of where you can next see them can be found here.

The adjudicators were impressed by the quality of the group, especially praising the soloists and singers, the latter of whom they were very pleased to see coming from inside the band.  The band’s close group dynamic and evident enthusiasm was also complimented.  Musical Director Clive King praised the band’s efforts, especially the new players who were performing for the first time as members.

The Gold Award at this stage of the competition means that HSJO will now progress to the finals of the festival, to be held at the Royal Scottish Academy of Music and Drama in Glasgow at the beginning of April.  The band will next be performing in public at the Helston Community College Christmas Concert, now to be held on Monday the 13th of December after postponement due to the bad weather.

The special guest for the evening was highly acclaimed trumpeter Tony Fisher, who travelled down from Yorkshire to play with the band. Former leader of the Bert Kaempfert Orchestra and a regular musician on the Michael Parkinson show, he was welcomed on stage by the band playing the Parkinson show theme tune. Tony had spent the afternoon working with the band on four pieces he had chosen to play with them.

During the concert he congratulated the band on their past successes and said that they were the best school band he had played with. He was particularly impressed by the way they handled the difficult music hed had brought down with him.

Band members and audience alike enjoyed a memorable evening.

The first of these was an event organised by the Torrevieja Immigration society, where HSJO represented the UK in a showcase concert featuring artists from across the world.  Their next was a sell-out performance in the amazing 800-seat Torrevieja Teatro Municipal, where they received an overwhelming reaction from an enthusiastic crowd.  Finally they performed two amazing outdoor concerts, one by the waterfront in central Torrevieja, and another in the nearby village of La Mata.  All of the concerts were fantastically well supported by supportive audiences.

In between playing, the band also enjoyed trips to nearby beaches and theme parks, and thouroughly enjoyed the thouroughly un-Cornish 40 degrees Celsius temperatures!

HSJO returned from Birmingham after performing their socks off at the NCBF National Finals on April 10th. They were awarded a ‘Platinum’ Award for their outstanding musical performance and were also awarded with the ‘Outstanding Continuous Achievement Award’.

Their programme began with a Morales arrangement of Hank Levy’s ‘Whiplash’ a super-exciting 7/8 chart featuring and alto and tenor sax duet from Alex Butcher and Claire-Louise Auguste, then a smooth transition into Miles Davis’ ‘Boplicity’ with a stunning Flugel solo from Andrew Burton and an elegant keyboard feature from David Ferris. Claire-Louise Auguste then took to the microphone with the classic chart ‘Fever’which brought a raw-jazz feel to the hall, then to finish the set they got the audience on the edge of their seats by playing Gordon Goodwin’s toe-tapping funk chart ‘Get In Line’which included solos from David Ferris on Keys and CLaire-Louise Auguste on Tenor Sax.

The Jazz Band showed great professionalism in their general conduct and performance and represented both Helston Community College and Cornwall with great pride.

Well Done to all!