Grimethorpe Colliery UK Coal Band

Conductor: Richard Evans
Yeadon Town Hall
Saturday 15th February

Founded in 1917 Grimethorpe have without doubt been one of the most consistent bands in the band movement with countless contest successes and concert appearances all over the world.

The appointment in1972 of Elgar Howarth as musical advisor and conductor took the band to another level, expanding the bands repertoire almost exponentially, and today they are at the forefront of concert programming. The opening of the concert was delayed to allow all the audience to get seated and a full house was the order of the day – a sure fire sign of the continued popularity of the band.

Music from America in the exciting ‘Valero' by Swearingen got the evening under way with some fine playing from Ian Shires on flugel horn in particular in this great swing number.

The Overture ‘Raymond' composed by Thomas in 1908 is one which as sadly been neglected over the years but is still  a test for any band even today with its thin scoring early in the music followed by the need for tight controlled playing as the music progresses. The band was on great form with some superb cornet playing from Robert Westacott deputising for Roger Webster who had a previous engagement. Richard Evans rightly had him standing up to take the deserved applause from the audience who had clearly loved this music.

Sandy Smith, the bands solo horn player is a terrific arranger for bands and the beautiful melody ‘Magh Seola' featured Ian Shires on flugel in a nice lyrical performance, followed by Sandy himself in his own arrangement of ‘If You Really Knew Me' from the show ‘Their Playing Our Song'. Both these musicians are masters of their craft and full credit to the band for there sensitive accompaniments.

The Canadian Robert Farnon, who died in 2005 composed a lovely piece of music entitled ‘Westminster Waltz' and this little gem is both relaxing and easy on the ear and was a good choice for any concert.
Frank Sinatra's classic song ‘The Lady Is A Tramp' featured the horn section along side the soprano cornet, all backed up with a great bass line which really had the audience tapping their feet. The band pulled off this music as well as anyone accompanying ‘Old Blues Eyes' has done in the past and were rewarded with genuinely warm applause.
 
In complete contrast we had Andrew Lloyd Webber's superb ‘Pie Jesu' from his Requiem featuring Kevin Crockford on soprano and Lee Rigg on cornet. This had an uncertain opening but soon settled to a perfectly balanced performance from both soloists, both of who displayed a lovely sweetness to their tone that was just right.

A Grimethorpe concert would not be the same without a piece that the band has made its own, and no one can do it better with the terrific 'MacArthur Park' by James Webb. No matter how many times you hear them perform this music it still retains its freshness with some great soprano cornet playing from Kevin Crockford backed by the all ensemble it had the audience on the edge of their seats. It was a superb performance to end the first half.

Music from the pen of James Horner in the ‘Mask Of Zorro' kept a upbeat feel to the concert which led to the bands bass trombone player Geraint Griffiths giving an amusing performance of Clarence Gaskell's ‘Minnie the Moocher'. The soloist was on fine form with the rest of the band giving a helping hand! The bands back row cornets then came to the front of the stage to perform the Harry James classic ‘Trumpet Blues And Cantabile' which remains a real showstopper and on this occasion the clarity of playing was evident and controlled.

‘Clog Dance' by Herold showed why this band are the tops for entertainment with the bass section standing up to do the dance - elegant movers they were too! The percussion section enhanced this piece with some outstanding work also, and what could have been a bit of a throwaway, really made a mark.

The last soloist was Michael Dodd on euphonium who chose the well known solo ‘Napoli' in the Bellstedt. Arrangement. This was well executed piece with plenty of contrast from a very fine player.

 The moving, but over played ‘Irish Blessing' led to the Xylophone solo ‘Listeria' arranged by Sandy Smith which featured Gavin Pritchard and Will Martin who are a great duo, who can supplement their excellent technique with a nifty turn of visual comedy. It was very amusing and as expected, this brought the house down!

The finale of the evening was Borodin's ‘Polotsvian Dances' from the opera Prince Igor. There are four dances and each one was superbly crafted with the bands wonderful sound to the fore. It was a great end to the concert. As an encore the band flew through Monty's ‘Czardas' – and I mean flew!

Well done Grimethorpe and Richard Evans who once again confirmed what a top class ensemble they are.  Slick, professional and very entertaining. Hopefully they will be here again next year, and you can be assured it will be a sell out again.  
                
David Tinker

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