Hadleigh Temple Guest Night Concert

Soloists: Nick Hudson, Roger Cobb, Stephen Hopkins
Hadleigh Temple Band
Hadleigh Temple
Saturday 29th October

The latest in a series of Guest Nights at Hadleigh Temple featured three visiting soloists: trombonist Nick Hudson, vocalist Roger Cobb and pianist Stephen Hopkins were supported by Hadleigh Temple Band (Bandmaster Ken Hillson) and the evening, which had been arranged by Peter Edwards, was compered in his inimitable style by Roger Buxton of BBC Essex.

The band opened proceedings with Les Condon's fine march "Celebration" and following the singing of "Praise my soul" – in an up-tempo arrangement that prompted the compere to remark that he had sung it many times before, but never at that speed – Nick Hudson came forward to present one of the mainstays of Salvation Army literature for the trombone, Ray Steadman-Allen's "The Eternal Quest".  For Nick it was something of a return to his roots, as he commenced his banding at Sheffield Citadel, and he certainly made light of the difficulties in this highly dramatic solo.  This was all the more remarkable since the only rehearsal with the band had been an hour together during the afternoon of the concert.

Roger Cobb is well-known in the Salvation Army as a vocal soloist, often featuring on programmes given by his own band at Hendon, where he plays flugel horn.  Accompanied sensitively by Stephen Hopkins, also from Hendon, he sang Joy Webb's "Forgiven" followed by Stephen Bulla's cabaret-tinged arrangement of Lloyd Scott's setting of "And is it so". His light tenor voice and clear diction communicated most effectively with the audience.

Hadleigh Band's next contribution was also from the pen of Stephen Bulla, his transcription of Andrew Lloyd Webber's "Love Changes Everything", after which Bramwell Chestney gave a fine rendition of Ivor Bosanko's euphonium solo "My Unchanging Friend".

As well as providing the accompaniment for Roger, Stephen Hopkins presented two solo items.  For the first half, he chose Debussy's familiar "La fille aux cheveux de lin", bringing out effectively the colourful aspects of the composer's writing for the piano.

The name of Don Morrison is well known both within the Salvation Army and in the wider sphere of banding, and his "Consecration" is a masterful setting of the devotional songs "O take me as I am" and "Teach me how to love thee".  With the solo being played at a whisper much of the time, the band worked very hard at keeping below him, and many spoke of this being one of the highlights of the evening.

After a short interval, the band opened the second half with Norman Bearcroft's march "True Courage", in the presence of the composer's sister, a regular attender at the Corps.  Nick Hudson's second major contribution came in the form of Erik Leidzen's air varie "A never-failing friend".  With a typically elaborate accompaniment, and with much use of rubato, the changes of tempo were handled deftly by both soloist and band.

For Roger's second slot, he had chosen "From a distance" and "You raise me up", currently in the pop charts in Westlife's cover version.  Although the latter tested his upper range somewhat, the words and message came across very clearly, and he definitely scored a hit with many of the female members of the audience!

The cornet trio "What a friend" (arr Holz) was presented by Keith Johnston, Paul Hillson and Heather Sheldon before Stephen Hopkins brought his second solo offering, an arrangement by Mark Hays of the familiar song "Holy Ground".  Roger Cobb and Nick Hudson then joined forces with the band in William Himes' setting "My Christ is all".  Originally featured by the composer himself as euphonium soloist, the setting is intended to emphasise that, even amid the pressures of contemporary living, Christ should still have pre-eminence in the life of the Christian, and this thought was developed by Major Alan Bennett, who contrasted the concept of "All in all" with the phrase, often used advertising, "All in one".  To conclude the devotional period, the band played Roy Newsome's arrangement of Noah Bruce's tune to "There is a green hill far away".

Nick Hudson was joined by Carl Carter, Marion Still, John Ashcroft and Anthony Sommerville in Ray Steadman-Allen's trombone ensemble "Wonders begin when the Lord comes in", and remained with the band for the final two items, Paul Drury's lively march "Jubilee" and "The Gaelic Blessing" (John Rutter, arr Ray Steadman-Allen).

It was an evening of high-class music making, with all three guests winning many friends by their pleasant and unassuming manner as much as by their playing and singing.  The audience numbers were less than anticipated, but those present enjoyed a feast of good music and fellowship together, with the delicacy of Nick Hudson's trombone playing probably being the icing on the cake.

Peter Bale

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