Grimethorpe

Conductor: David Hirst

Grays Civic Hall, Essex
Saturday 22 November 2003

It was just the wrong weather to go out to a concert, it had been raining for two days, no matter the distance one had to cover, you were soaked in 10 yards, but did this deter brass band enthusiasts in Grays Essex last Saturday night? Not a chance, in fact the rain could not stop 680 of them (at £13.50 a pop)! And why? Grimethorpe were in town!

I will now have to admit to long-term admiration for this band stretching back to 1987, and, this is nowt to do with "Brassed Off" for once! My connections were with a few players but mainly due to Frank Renton who had been my old MD while I was at Manchester CWS.

The band took the stage promptly, deportment style stage entry, full marks. I've noticed over many years now that most bands go on stage like "Grange Hill" enters a class room, and leave the same way. Take a lesson from the pros, and look like pros, even if you're not!

The band literally shot off with the March, "Melody Shop" by King. Now one can't know every piece in the World, and I thought, "not unlike the Waltonians" it screamed along nicely. They hadn't gone 16 bars, and I got stage fright! Yes, I thought that the band seemed rather underpowered and lacked a little bottom and middle, "the stage" I thought. It was a deep stage, and the band had left plenty of room at the front, bass end were right against the back wall and above were three layers of high God-like curtains going to the front. Hmmmm? I sat back, and wondered.

The quiet middle section was indeed a real piano, and the percussion dynamics were wonderful under that, and still marvellously clear, I thought the sop had a little trouble in matching some of these low dynamics and I spotted slight frayed edges to notes, as in "on the edge of production not working fully"

This march was indeed a flyer and the bass end semis (in the usual bass solo) were tight as you like. The obligato semis showered over the main tune from the cornets, and with a double tap we had arrived at the end. The little old lady next to me (referred to as Lol form here on in) had silently clapped along throught, and the audience enthused along with its infectious speed!

David Hirst (our conductor for this evening) took a bow, and only slightly out of breath, launched into his welcome. As I had thought, the March had USA connections, and with J P Sousa, in fact King had been a member of his band, the style and the manner of the whole march then became clear to me then.

David Hirst is no stranger to the band scene by a very long way, having played with Imps as a lad (later to return as MD), and joining Dyke on sop in the early 70's (later to return as resident) and playing JSVB, and also repiano at Brighouse. His MD banter was indeed informative and humorous and never got to the point where one thought, "Oh do get on with it" his great northern tone of South Yorkshire is much appreciated down Essex way punctuating the place and pedigree of this great northern band.

After David announced the next number (and divulged most of the sub-text to it) we were off on "Le Roi d'Ys Overture" by Lalo, indeed a warhorse test piece from 1959. Ground well known (I said to myself)! This particular piece had been in my old bands pad when I was a lad (BR Edge Hill Liverpool) for some two years at one stage, and we still couldn't play it!

The mysterious bass line opened up in octaves, pp, and in tune! We came to the long flugel solo played by Ian Shires; this was sheer control and musical gravitas! The one thing we could never do (and this applies to lots of bands) is doing tremalando's quietly with a regular demi-semi rhythm, you know what I mean, it always sounds like a bag of gravel in a dishwasher instead of a trem!

Well, the lads on the back row made the trem's shiver with perfect control, it actually made one believe in the tremalando and its effect! Off we went in the double time, the weighty big tune. I was still feeling at this point that the band was still a little under power (was it that damn stage?).

The piece then quietened to the euph solo which did seemed a little lontano (adding to my stage theory), but he (Michael Dodds) was sat further back than most, this was well crafted and projected well from his point and was as tidy as it gets, there were some bone octaves that could have been tweaked tuning –wise around here also. The big tune reappeared, this time feeling a little stronger all round, moving on to the tempestuous finale with masses of triplets all round the band done very well on all the exchanges of the rhythm to bring a rousing end to an Overture I'd not heard for many a year.

The first soloist up was Richard Marshall who has to be one old the most virtuosic cornet players we have around, he was about to give us a rendition of "Charivari" arr by John Iveson, it's a kind of a mish-mash of Med folk tunes, like, Granada, Oh Chi-Chonya, and other Spanish/gypsyesque melodies! And wallop, someone hit the band volume button, "erm, what stage problem" they must have hit film-type music mode, style/life/colour came effervescing from the whole ensemble. Grimey had landed!

Richard's cornet sound has to be one of the biggest noises from a cornet I've ever heard, chins were on the floor as he ripped through lines that left a blaze of colour behind.

The accompaniment was superb also. The solo cadenza section came along with a couple of quotes thrown in here and there, I'm sure I spotted a bass touching on the opening of the Arutunian Trumpet concerto?

Now, Richard was able to display his control of slow plus quasi Spanish mariachi playing, and low dynamics that even the band at times found it hard to keep to some of his ppp, and not only in this solo piece! It was time to race off again with a multitude of semi's in variation. God he makes you sick, what a fantastic ending, BING! Game set and match on a top D. Lol was after taking Richard to the Costa Blanca…

Next up was a bit of "Brave Heart" by James Horner, "For the love of a Princess" Now I love film music done by brass bands and a good arranger, but, it's a bit over done by bands in general. But does lol care? No!

The oening was a bit rocky ensemble wise but by bar three you could sell the warmth of this band to National Power I'm sure they'd keep most of the Gulag (that's near Pontefract) well above freezing!

Time to wake up again with a number from my old mentor and teacher Howard Snell. I came across this ballet score at an early age of 12/13, when my Dad bought a job lot of LP's from a junk shop. It was the LSO with Anotal Dorati (1969) playing Gayaneh Ballet Suite 1943 by Aram Katchaturian (died 1978).

Howard was first on the scene with his wealth of orchestral repertoire after being in the LSO for so many years, and grabbed most of the best pieces on offer. I'm now just waiting for Howard to do an arrangement of Katchaturian's 3rd Symphony, as it has 19 trumpets and solo organ in it!!

Lezghinka! It's kind of a Armenian lads (Katchaturian was born in Armenia) O-Ki-Ko-Ki with sabres, plus rustic tenor drum behind it.

The line is fiendish for cornets in the opening, a constant tarantella of triplets, executed with perfect clarity. When it came for the secondary tune to fit under/over the frenzied triplets, I could have done with a bit more weight from the middle of the band. It seemed a little light at times.

The secondary tune piped up again with a modicum of extra weight behind it, we hit the coda, the cornets again showing off some dazzling chromatics at high speed. Bravo!

Soloist number two, on the grill please. Ian Shires on flugel had already shown us some fine playing in the Kings Underpants (as we used to call Le Roi d'Ys), he was about to give us an alternative title as well - "Orange Juice". Those of you who have watched "Brassed Off" will know what I mean.

The audience laughed well at the well crafted story from David, and off we went into this well worn tune, "Concerto Di Aranjuez" (1939). It's not particularly well arranged for the tutti band, but sits well for the soloist. Ian gave it a haunting yet lilting velvet tone, with superb control of well placed grace notes and ornaments of that Spanish style. Can't say I liked the tempo drum kit under the number, but it brought a little up-tempo & lets go forward effect to the fairly dull accompaniment. Lol was fanning herself, awash with Amber Solaire & sangria. Ian's performance was indeed a class act!

Next on the menu was a bit of over done steak (30 + years over done). Men of Harlech by Gordon Langford. As the saying goes, "if I had a penny for every-" but one thinks, just think about how its played, eh. And of course these lads (and I say lads as there are still no women in the ranks of this band) could make "F & G March" sound the Biz!

The tempo was right on the edge of being just too slow, but it made perfect accurate sense, and the band was right in the middle of that beat and never wavered from that. However, I wasn't turned on musically by this aged warhorse. Lol had been up and down the aisle twice now with military precision, smelling of sun tan oil and sangria. Perfectly played chaps in exquisite precise style!

The last item before the interval was Riverdance, by Whelan, arr Ray Farr. Although this number had been past me on a number of occasions I'd not actually heard a band do the whole thing!

The off stage solo was a bit muffled, but then again he was blowing through three sets of curtains, but needless to say it was flawless. The muted tutti ensemble was very fine and well balanced. The build was indeed dramatic, and the drumming was excellent and very enthusiastic for one player!

Now for the stand-up duet between solo cornet and flugel, well matched and again equal balance. ‘Nil Points' for the dancing though lads!

Just when you thought it had built to its max, a few more stops were pulled, and bang, a rousing end, which had most of the audience to their feet in infectious appreciation! Lol, now several pints of Guinness the worse had, like all of us, thoroughly enjoyed this first hour of music.

The second half started with Agincourt Song, arr Farr. Most of us know this tune, especially if you have been around since the 14th Century, or just remember Vaughn-Williams's arrangement for band or Walton's use in "Henry the Vth. However, Mr Farr's idea was a little different. The band had set up very differently, Sop & back row standing to the left and front row standing on the right, bones in the centre and flg & hn's stage left. The arr had some of the modal hallmarks of VW but had that extra 21st Century Mr Farr touch. This is a good arrangement, and it was the first piece so far I'd not heard before.

"Mambo Caliente" by Sandoval. Now, I'm going presume this is the great Cuban jazz trumpeter, Arturo Sandoval, and,as I like to name drop when I can, he was a good mate of mine for a week or two while he was in London in 1989 & 90. I bumped into him while he was looking for a new trumpet in Pro Brass in Kentish Town. He was in the basement there as I entered the shop. The first note I heard from down stairs was a super B at ffff which blew some of the small windows out. After an hour or two with him discussing stuff he gave me some tickets to Ronnie's that night, which was brill.

Now, knowing his playing I could see him (his musical lines and style of playing) in this arrangement. This sizzled from the start, you could tell all were into it; percussion had a field day. Yeah, MAMBO! They shouted. Flugel ripped into a death defying solo followed by a gob-smacking Mach II solo from Richard Marshall. I could hear and feel the Arturo line here, and knew if Arturo was playing this it would have been an octave higher - next time Richard! All the cornet players in the audience were ready to hang up their ‘spit traps'!

A blinding wind-up, and the audience went bonkers. Meanwhile, Lol had limboed several times under a pole to around six inches off the ground - just as well the band stopped. Full marks for the ‘wow' factor lads!

The next soloist to be broiled on the menu was soprano player Nigel Fielding. So far I'd felt that the sop was not on one of his best days, and was having a few problems with the low dynamics (there was a lot of turning the chair in on some pp tutti's, and it still sounded mp'ish to me).

The solo was to be "Nessun Dorma" the big Pavarotti hit. With Pavarotti a tenor voice and Nigel a soprano I was wondering how this might work. I have to say, it didn't work for me. It just didn't sit right. It was great sop playing though. Nigel opened up a fine noise, and a shame he clipped the penultimate high note at the end.

On to a real fave of mine (although comes under the, well-done steak class), "McArthur Park" by Jim Webb. Smooth long lines to start, very sexy solos, sympathetic drummer (and inventive too). This really rocked in the double tempo section, and good attention was paid to the phrasing of the long's and shorts in the 3/8's. Some very fast finger work from the solo cornets in a decorative scale passage!

Back to tempo one, and the big tune now is really big, great sop playing here! Very exciting stuff! Lol twiddled her hippy beads and reminisced.

"Irish Tune from County Derry" by Grainger, or more well know as "Oh Danny Boy" came next. Although the arranger (for this brass band version) had been omitted from the programme, I found this very dull indeed from an arranger's point of view, and frankly; I don't think it worked very well.

Next up (and not in the programme) was a Lennon & Macartney arrangement from the well worn pen of Alan Fernie - "Eleanor Rigby" - and I for one had not heard this arr before (hurrah!).

An almost angelic classical opening as the contrapuntal lines threaded together seamlessly, and then we were off in double rock tempo. I have to say, I liked it and the band gave it a very rounded full approach to it, and the fade at the end was as good as any digital fade I've ever heard. Lol was twist'in in the aisles - skirt above the knee!

"Another fine mess" came next. I had noticed that two members of the band had left the stage earlier (during Eleanor Rigby), the two euph players Michael Dodds & Shaun Hudson. The music started with the exact sounds of a Laurel & Hardy film starting up, that funny walk they did, the clash semi tones on clarinets, now done on cornets of course. I instantly knew that the arranger had done his homework here, and some serious study of the Hal Roach celluloid originals!

On they came, the skinny white faced Mr Stan Dodds, & the portly overbearing Oliver Hudson, and they did they look the part! They launched into my all time fave duet from those two clowns, "In the blue-ridge mountains of Virginia" which incidentally was released as a single back in 1969/70. Stan's bass tune was good and grovely, as Ollie fetched the large hammer (plastic inflatable of some 4 ft), and bonk, Stan's a soprano and way up in the high Zed's.

The arranger, of course was, Sandy Smith, who had done a job of intricate research on the scores. This is an arranger's arranger - I have to take my bowler hat off to him, just fabulous. A short dance routine copied exact from film sent the audience into fits of laughter. This is a real treat for all. A salute to the two euph's who choreographed well, and I bow to Sandy Smith who plays Solo Eb horn in the band, who didn't get a stand up for this master piece of an arrangement. Your recognition does not go unnoticed Sandy! Lol was rolling in the aisles, and no one was going to pick her up.

Thr penultimate number was called "Perfect Peace" by Kenneth Downie. I'm not sure if there are any SA connections with this piece, but it got me in the mood for Church the next day. A very warm, sentimental religious opening, long breathless lines, a wonderful joyous noise from the middle of the band and some very good ‘bang in tune' solo unisons between solo cornet, trombone and bass.

The whole thing just seemed to morph, like caterpillar to butterfly into a more modern ending from where it had begun. I thought it a lovely ditty. Lol was caught between confession and ecstasy (not the tablet!).

We were treated to more good MD banter (this is very important in band concerts, and he [David] was a real good'un), before the big finale guns came out. In fact, a Howitzer of a gun, in fact a, Howitzer Snell of a gun in Wagner's "Procession to the Minster".

Now, if the lads in the band weren't quite shattered at this point, this was the gun that was about to finish them off. This was a very well balanced opening indeed, the flugel is first up for a stretch, the phrases and both the solo are very long and Ian Shires gives us his absolute best here with a superb top note towards the end of his solo. Although I could sense some of the other solo lines were suffering from fatigue!

As I said, we were in for a long haul with this piece, and just when you thought it was at it's loudest it just gets louder! Finally we were in the final phrases at double forte plus, which would be around fffff for most bands. Concord had landed; the final cadence had been played. The band stood, the audience went wild and Lol had just become catholic.

What a band, what a night for those in the Civic theatre! Bravo! Encore!

And so it happened. In true "Brassed Off" fashion, the Finale from "The Loan Ranger" . Off we ripped at a crotchet 152. It's funny that Rossini followed Wagner, as Wagner hated Rossini; he thought Rossini was full of washing-up music (he was right an all). But who got the encore Dick?

This was a rousing race to the end for all with ‘Kemosabe' out in front by a clear head! It was still raining outside, but no one regretted coming out to this show. Come back again soon!

Phil Lawrence

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