Sing Sing Sing!

Brass Band of Battle Creek
Conductor: Kenneth Bloomquist
Soloists: Steven Mead, Vince De Martino, Tom Prince, Carl Rowe
Recordings: BBCF 05
Total playing time: 64 minutes approx

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The Michigan based Brass Band of Battle Creek will need no introduction to many although given the fact that this CD, dating to 1993, does not include any booklet notes whatsoever, a few words of introduction may be appropriate!

Formed in 1989 by two enthusiastic amateur musicians, the BBBC is extraordinary both for the sheer quality of its personnel and the diversity of their musical talents. Drawn from the largely professional musical world by invitation only the list of members reads something like a brass player's Who's Who, ranging from some of the finest players from the jazz world, top ranking orchestral players and senior lecturers from pretty much every US conservatoire of note. A quick glance at the players on this particular disc will also reveal a certain Steven Mead on euphonium and Billy Rushworth on horn whilst Mark Frost is another English player who makes frequent appearances with the band.

The range of music performed is as wide ranging as the skill of the players and a quick glance at the band's website www.bbbc.net (well recommended as an introduction to the band and players) shows their programmes for 2005 incorporating items as wide ranging as Shostakovich's 'Festive Overture', jazz numbers by Duke Ellington and 'Year of the Dragon'!

Just a brief session with this particular CD in your player will however prove one fact right away. These guys really know how to swing! We say this with no disrespect to our own bands but it is probably true to say that at some time or other we have all sat listening to a band desperately trying to play a jazz arrangement and not sound as if it is giving off splinters such is the wooden nature of the playing. Listen to a couple of the jazz numbers to start you off on this disc and the ease with which the players communicate the idiom is plain to hear.

Neil Hefti's 'Li'l Darlin'' (incidentally in Philip Sparke's excellent arrangement) is wonderfully easy going, relaxed to the point of being almost horizontal and featuring not only fabulous solo trumpet playing in the middle section but a bass end that is a joy to hear, the notes of the slowly treading line lovingly stroked, almost caressed by the players. Alan Fernie's arrangement of 'Sing, Sing, Sing' has become a popular concert item in recent years but here it is Mark Freeh who provides the arrangement and it's a cracker.

Featuring Vince DiMartino on trumpet (a superstar if ever we have heard one!) Tom Prince on drum kit, Carl Rowe on soprano and Steve Mead we reckon you will struggle to hear swing better played than this on a band disc anywhere. Admittedly it helps to have a drummer who is a natural jazzer on kit and Tom Prince really is another of the band's stars. But this piece really had us reaching for the remote control for an immediate repeat hearing, it's simply hair raising stuff.

Vince DiMartino is the star once again in 'La Virgen de la Macarena', nothing to do with the awful dance craze of a few years ago but a stunning demonstration of high trumpet playing in a Latin number that we found really infectious.

So we know the Battle Creekers can jazz, but what about the straight stuff, much of which is staple repertoire for our own bands? Well, first of all it is a question of getting your head around the sound of the band. As well as we all know Goff Richards' 'A Disney Fantasy' it does take a little getting used to in that the top end of the band, not surprisingly, is a good deal brighter with trumpets rather than cornets.

Elsewhere the sound of the band is also generally leaner but not without warmth. In fact the basses produce a lovely, mellifluous tone when called for and it is all aided by a good quality, well balanced recording. The other Goff Richards contribution, 'A Sweet Shepherdess', is beautifully played although here we do prefer the sound of a warmer top end. No problems with warmth in Steven Mead's performance of Philip Sparke's familiar 'Party Piece', which receives a committed reading (other than a noticeably ragged final bar) from both band and soloist.

Mark Freeh's name crops up regularly in Battle Creek's programmes and deservedly so given that his arrangements of jazz and big band numbers are amongst the best around. 'Malaguena' is one of the first of his arrangements that brought his name to British attention back in the 1980's when Bramwell Tovey and Rigid Containers recorded their disc Freeh-Way and it has figured in many a concert programme since. The band is once again in its element here and it makes for a bright and upbeat start to the disc.

The 'Overture to William Tell', William Himes' well known and strikingly effective arrangement of 'Amazing Grace' and Karl King's 'Barnum & Bailey's Favourite' all come off effectively. The oddity is 'Russian Christmas Music', odd in that it sits somewhat strangely with the music around it. The absence of any sleeve notes means that we are left guessing as to its origins other than that it appears to be by someone called Reed! Presumably the music is inspired by or has its roots in the Russian Orthodox tradition, growing from a solemn, stately opening via a unison trombone melody that could have been drawn from Rimsky Korsakov's 'Russian Easter Festival Overture' to a rousing climax of sonorous splendour.

This is a disc with much to enjoy although it is the jazz numbers that really do take some beating. We could listen to them all day and as a result items such as 'A Disney Fantasy' almost seem to get in the way. But don't let that put you off. It's worth the price of the disc just to hear how these guys swing.

Christopher Thomas

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