Guards Brass, the Household Division’s Brass Ensemble of Excellence, came to the Midlands under the leadership of WO1 Andrew Porter to treat an appreciative audience to a fine demonstration of their artistic flair and showmanship.  

The concert was staged at Kings Norton Boys School and was shared with ‘Services 4 Education’ with Birmingham Schools Concert Brass Band led by Peter Fisher and Birmingham Schools Brass Band under Stuart Bernie.

Seize the moment

Both seized the moment to perform to their very best, in a programme which included ‘O Magnum Mysterium’, ‘Barnard Castle’, ‘Past Time with Good Company’ and ‘Pound the Streets’, before Stuart Bernie passed the baton to WO1 Porter who along with his squad of musicians, combined forces to perform ‘Thor: The Dark World’.

Then it was time for the Guards - marching to the stage to the sound of the famous ‘British Grenadiers’ - although they seemingly wanted to get back to London as they soon marched back out of the hall!  Thankfully, with a witty piece of stage craft they found their way back with an exhilarating performance of Chuck Mangione’s ‘Children of Sanchez’.  This was stunning playing - with lead drummer CSgt Kev Miles brilliant.

Latin feel

The Latin feel was repeated with their next two numbers: ‘Dulcinea’, with some great flugel and trombone leads by Sgts Gavin and Simon Hall, and ‘Los Canarios’ by Gaspar Sanz.  Contrast came with a splendid rendition of Ballantine’s ‘Don’t Doubt Him Now’ with Gavin Hall, previously of Brighouse & Rastrick swapping from flugel to cornet for some wonderfully lyrical playing.

Tuba player and resident arranger, LCpl Ian Shepherd had produced a new arrangement of ‘Greensleeves’ for the concert and its sympathetic treatment showed the group’s versatility, as did ‘March of the Resistance and Jack Sparrow’, which featured the colossal sounds of Sgt Steve Clarke on bass trombone:  This lad would have had Davy Jones rattling around in his locker.

Interaction

The high-quality presentation emanated from conductor WO1 Andrew Porter of the Irish Guards Band, who had the audience in the palm of his hand with his witty interaction - enabling him to lead the group into repertoire that sounded easy but certainly wasn’t.

‘Malaguena’ was fizzing in passion with the percussion as well as lead trumpet LCpl Ben Beavis on scorching form, whilst ‘Elsa’s Procession to the Cathedral’ was a superb display of controlled momentum and balance - led by guest SSgt Richard Evans of the Royal Signals Brass Band on flugel.

Encore

An encore was demanded and given with the splendid ‘Gonna Fly Now!’ - the Rocky film classic played with a knockout punch - especially from CSgt Paul Hooper on trombone and the improvising, adrenaline fuelled stratospheric lead from Ben Beavis on trumpet.    

As an advert for the best that the Household Division and the Corps of Army Music can offer – this was a concert that made you proud to be British.

Ashley Buxton