Saving Face

Rod Franks
Doyen: CD148
Total Playing Time: 65.51 mins

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With: Fodens Courtois Band, Black Dyke Band, Coldstream Guards Band, William Fairey Band, Youth Brass 2000, Richard Bissill, horn, Andrew Parnell, organ, Ian Dixon, Clarinet and saxophone
Conductors: Bryan Hurdley, Nicholas Childs, Ian McElligott, James Gourlay, Chris Jeans

There is a dark human trait that is present in all of us. It's the one that questions our self-belief and inner moral strength, our innate innermost ability to overcome setbacks, grief and misfortune. Very few of us own up to it, but nearly all of us have thought deeply about it at some time in our lives.

What would happen if we were widowed? Lost our jobs? Had an accident? We put these things to the backs of our minds for the majority of our happy and busy lives, set away in a recess of our thought process hopefully never to be confronted in anyway shape or form. We take comfort in that we believe we could cope, but scared to death that we may at some stage have to face them. Happily the vast majority of us never have to question our moral and personal fortitude in these extremes but sometimes, some people have no choice but to face their worst fears head on.

This is what happened to Rod Franks, a musician with a world class reputation. He was the Principal Trumpet of the London Symphony Orchestra, was a performer who had played with and played for some of the greatest names in the musical world and was perhaps at the peak of his playing powers. His was a glittering career built on talent hewn from a musical background that included an apprenticeship within the brass band movement and one that had a musically and financially prosperous future assured. Then he had trouble with his hearing.

After seeing his GP he was referred to a specialist and after undergoing a MRI brain scan was informed that he had a 3cm benign tumour called a "Acoustic Neuroma" which if not treated would become terminal. The fears that a career and even his life could be at an end were realistic thoughts indeed, as was the sombre news that even of the tumour was successfully removed, his hearing and facial movements could be so badly effected that any continuance of his carreer as a trumpet player would be at an end. His self-belief was to be tested to the full.

Rod Franks was operated on and in the recovery room and to the relief of all his family he was able to purse his lips and form a perfect embouchure. The good news did not last long though. Within a few weeks he developed a facial palsy that meant he had to wait anxious months before there was improvement, whilst his hearing also took a considerable time to come back to something approaching its true self. In a world where conductors demand great performances of great works as a matter of fact rather than of the extraordinary, Rod Franks inner belief in himself as a player was tested to the limit.

Thankfully the hearing recovered and so, some six months after his operation a great musician was back where he always wanted to be – leading the brass section of one of the worlds great orchestras. Sentiment at this level has no part in the decision process for the player or the orchestral management, and so Rod Franks knew that if he was no longer up to the task, he would have had to look closely to what the future held for him away from his calling. That is when you to have to look closely and honestly at your self-belief. Rod Franks did, and with the help of a great team of medical experts, immense family support and a dogged Yorkshire attitude he now plays just as well as he did before that fateful day when he was told the awful news.

This CD then is a celebration, and a fine celebration it is, with the proceeds going to the continued work of the Friends of Guys Hospital and the Ronald Moore Sickness and Benevolent Fund (LSO). The performances on the 20 tracks showcases a tremendous player revealing his mastery of the art of high class trumpet playing, and so you get a chance to hear him playing music from the Court of Louis XIV, enjoying himself live with Black Dyke and Youth Brass 2000, ripping through the "Arutjunian" and "Harry James" Trumpet Concerto's (the latter in a slightly weird 1970's kitsch arrangement by Ian McElligott no less) and relaxing with a couple masterclass performances of slow melody favourites.

The highlight for us though was the superb "The 20's, 30's, 40's Suite" by Richard Bissill which is as authentic sounding as you could wish to hope for. This is the music of Django Reindhart, Scott Joplin, Bix Biederbeck and the rest of the great old boys all rolled into one and recorded in what sounds just like a cheap nickel and dime joint in backstreet Chicago. You can imagine them dressed up like characters from the film "The Sting".

On it's own this is a fine recording of one of our very best orchestral trumpet players. As it is for a fine cause and celebrates the recovery to full health of a nice bloke (he once mortgaged his house to help set up the Norwegian Brass Band Championships) it makes it a double pleasure. Make sure you buy a copy and even send a donation off to the Ronald Moore Sickness and Benevolent Fund and the Friends of Guys as well. You will feel better, you will enjoy the CD, and many more talented people can helped when they have to face their darkest hours.

All the proceeds go to the good causes that helped him back, so you can enjoy the playing knowing you are doing some good as well.

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