After many weeks of anticipation a special 'Chris Hazell Day' arrived at Loxley Silver Band this week, when they met up and worked with the celebrated composer of 'Mr Jums'.

The date has been eagerly set in the diary since his daughter Ruth joined the band on repiano cornet.

Brass Cats

Chris (left) studied composition at the Royal College of Music before joining Decca as a producer. There he worked on the legendary recordings of the Philip Jones Brass Ensemble, whilst his compositional trilogy 'Brass Cats' (originally written for the ensemble), based on his experiences with several family pets, became a huge musical success.

he worked on the legendary recordings of the Philip Jones Brass Ensemble, whilst his compositional trilogy 'Brass Cats', based on his experiences with several family pets, became a huge musical success4BR

Advantage

Under MD Lee Dunkley, Loxley took the opportunity to perform 'Mr Jums' and 'Kraken' — allowing Chris to take advantage of personal knowledge of the works to amend some minor 'errors' in the printed versions that bands have played over the years!

Chris told 4BR: "I'm glad my daughter has chosen a good band to play with!"