South London based Alliance Brass, which twice qualified for Championship Section of the National Brass Band Finals in 2003 and 2004 and won the Senior Trophy in 2005, has decided to call it a day.

Formed in September 2000 by two then students of the Guildhall School of Music and Drama — Lewis Edney and Ben Ellin — the band has ended with immediate effect.

Promotion

The band was promoted to the Championship Section in 2002 after winning the London & Southern Counties regional title and then coming runner up at the Lower Section National Finals.

...it became increasingly more difficult to compete as many of the band members had to chose between working as a freelance musician or band. We never wanted to be a band of also rans, so we decided that the time was right to stop competingLewis Edney

Shock

The following year, the band shocked the brass band world by qualifying for the National Finals at its first attempt, after coming second in the regional championship.

The band repeated the feat the following year, coming 15th under John Clark at the Royal Albert Hall and in 2005 won both Brass at the Guild Hall and the Senior Trophy at Blackpool.

Occassional appearances

The band only got together two or three times each year to compete in competitions and last performed at the Grand Shield competition in 2007, when it was conducted by trumpeter Paul Cosh. Despite some of London’s finest young brass players in its ranks, no one was paid to perform with the band.

Lewis Edney, a professional trombonist, who was also the band’s manager, told 4BR: "Alliance Brass was initially put together to allow students in London to play together in an ensemble that they might not otherwise have been able to experience. Many of the brass players had not even performed in a brass band until they joined the band."

More difficult

He added: "Unfortunately, as the band matured, it became increasingly more difficult to compete as many of the band members had to chose between working as a freelance musician or band. We never wanted to be a band of also rans, so we decided that the time was right to stop competing.

We would like to thank all those who have supported or played in the band since its inception, especially Dave Hobbs from the London and Southern Counties Brass Band Association and Colin Johnson from the British Brass Band Registry.”

Conductors

The band was originally conducted by Ben Ellin, who left in 2003, whilst they also enjoyed being conducted by Peter Parkes, who is also a patron of the band and John Clark, a former professional tenor tuba player, who was the resident conductor.

All in all the band won three main contests from the thirteen ocassions they took to the contest stage, with wins on their debut in the London First Section in 2001, at Brass at the Guild Hall in 2005 and at the Senior Trophy in 2005.

On their two appearances at the Royal Albert Hall they came 19th in 2003 and 15th in 2004 and on their last appearance at the Grand Shield in 2007 they came 19th.