Just Jazz, Canterbury Foundation Brass

‘Just Jazz’ – Canterbury Foundation Brass, conducted by Davey Boyes, Aurora Centre, Christchurch, New Zealand, Saturday 18th June 2005

Brass bands seemingly have to jump through hoops to be able to attract audiences in New Zealand at the present time. Long gone are the days when a band could stick to a trusted formula of march, overture and cornet solo etc. This is why so many of New Zealand's top bands are getting creative and presenting themed concerts. I'm in favour of anything that brings the public in to enjoy the brass band movement's immense talents here in New Zealand.

Canterbury Foundation has begun a new innovative concert series, which last Saturday night saw the first themed concert simply entitled ‘Just Jazz'.

Canterbury Foundation is a young band with many personnel having being involved with the National Youth Band of New Zealand and the New Zealand Secondary Schools Band, amongst the youth are a few of New Zealand's most respected stalwarts and indeed a number of them were featured as soloists in the concert.

Appearing as guest soloist was Jennine Bailey who is one of New Zealand's top jazz singers. She oozed class and her dusky, sultry tone was mesmeric. She sang such classics as ‘I've got you under my Skin' and ‘Sweet Lorraine' but the highlight of her songs for me was ‘Cry me a River'. She captivated the audience not only with her vocal talent but also with her stage presence. Jennine was accompanied so well by Barry Brinson on keyboard. My only criticism is that Barry and Jennine were almost tucked away at the side of the stage; it could have had more impact with them centre stage.

After speaking to Davey Boyes, the conductor of Canterbury Foundation I was bowled over with his enthusiasm for the concert series. He is originally from Hull in England and relocated to Christchurch several years ago. He has a vision that the band will not only challenge for the ultimate prize of the New Zealand National title but also to put on professional quality concerts. Not only was Mr. Boyes involved in conducting the band he also played a huge part in the organization of the concert and how the band appeared by experimenting with lighting effects, having the tubas, trombones and back row cornets on platforms which had a huge effect on the balance and sound of the band.

Davey Boyes had en unenviable task of picking a ‘Jazz' programme, which for brass band is no easy task especially as brass bands have the awkward reputation of ‘being able to swing like a lead balloon!' He was successful in varying the programme and also having the contrast from the full band to the soloist with keyboard.  Maybe one more band piece in the second half would have been beneficial.

Kevin McMorran on principal cornet chose to play Harry James version of ‘Carnival of Venice' in an arrangement by Mark Freeh. This was a refreshing change to the usual theme and variations and Kevin's style was spot on. He seemed most at ease in the cornet's top register.

Julia Moseley is the bands young flugel player and was most recently featured with the National Youth Band of New Zealand. She gave a very haunting account of Norwegian composer Jan Magne Forde's ‘Domen'.

The highlight of the concert without doubt was solo trombone player Brian Eckersley's vocal solo of ‘Mack the Knife'. He gave a top-notch performance full of swagger and roguish charm. It worked so well with band accompaniment. Brian's performance was made all the more remarkable when the audience learned that Brian is the proud father of a baby girl born just two weeks before the concert.

Other pieces featured were, ‘Caravan', ‘Opus One', ‘Trumpet Blues and Cantabile', and interesting arrangement of ‘Nutcracker Sweet' which didn't quite come off on the night, ‘Hall of the Mountain King', ‘Bluejohn' and Dave Brubeck's ‘Blue Rondo al a Turk'. The audience was extremely enthused after the last item and demanded an encore; the band delivered a slick performance of ‘Lightwalk' by Barrie Gott.

The band managed to attract an audience of 500 to the Aurora Centre last Saturday, which was an excellent accomplishment as Otago were taking on the British Lions at the same time. It is without doubt that there was considerable investment in the audience. The band had advertised this event on local television, radio, newspapers and mail outs, which as anyone with marketing experience will realize is a very expensive exercise. However, they believe that this investment will pay off and through recommendations can eventually see regular capacity audiences at Christchurch's fine Aurora Centre.

The next concert in the series is ‘Just Movies' on Saturday September 3rd 2005 at the Aurora Centre at 7.30pm.

Alexandra Kerwin

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