Battle of the Bands Final
28-Nov-2006Defending Champions, Warringah Concert Brass has won the 2006 Battle of the Bands Entertainment Festival for the third year running. The Grand Final was held at St Marys Band Club on Sunday, 26 November.
Under the baton of Guest Conductor, Darren Cole, Warringah's flugel soloist, the "standout lady on drums" and the two "ladies on zylophone" furiously battling out Black and White Rag, attracted special mention from the Adjudicator, Squadron Leader John Buckley.
In announcing the winning band, Squadron Leader Buckley, commented that the three other competing bands handled their choice of program brilliantly and were all very engaging.
The Warringah band presented a number of well-rehearsed and slickly performed floor performances including an amusing mime between three performers attempting to hide their (well hidden) private areas with ever-decreasing pieces of music manuscript. This was done to an arrangement by Darren Cole of Tea for Two.
The band gathered young children from the audience to ride wooden horses around the floor during Shostakovich's Galop.
Other pieces in the band's repertoire included Malaguena, Whiter Shade of Pale in segue with Air on a G String, I Will Follow Him and a rousing finale of Jericho.
Castle Hill RSL Youth Concert Band with about 60 players was conducted by James Brice. Mr Buckley commended their young vocalist, Amelia Patterson, on her mature performance in a medley from West Side Story. The band took a world tour of music for their selection that began with Waltzing Matilda through to a rousing finale with Riverdance.
Their other choices included Sabre Dance for Russia, Theme from The Great Escape' for Germany also represented by Bach's Toccata and Fugue in D Minor. Donning sombreros, the young percussionists added greatly to a spirited rendition of El Comanchero.
Waratah Brass conducted by Ron Prussing also attracted special mention for both flugal and tenor horn solo work by Dave Wilkes in The Piper of Dundee the only non-American work in the program. The band's trombone and cornet section were also highly praised.
Waratah chose a big band layout for their performance, commencing with Chicago, and then moving through Valero, Cole Porter's It's Alright With Me, Richard Rogers' 1936 classic Slaughter on 10th Avenue, Neal Hefti's Cute and finishing with the title theme from the movie Charade.
Whilst the standard of performance was very high, Waratah Brass were restrained in presentation and lacked the showbiz flavour of the other competitors.
The last band of the day, Parramatta City Brass, under the baton of Jonathan Gatt, caused Adjudicator Buckley to comment that it was "the first time he'd seen a nun with a beard"! a reference to the band's performance of I Will Follow Him inspired by the Whoopie Goldberg movie "Sister Act" - the second airing of this piece on the day. He also praised the work of drummer Matt Riley.
Conductor Jonathan Gatt had the best line of the day when he introduced I Will Follow Him with "On the first day God created the heavens and earth. On the second he created trombones!"
Not content with dressing up for one number, five members of the band took to the floor to emulate The Village People for YMCA. Yes, the moves were hard to remember.
The band, in a very strong performance, included Breezin' down Broadway, the Duke Ellington work It Don't Mean a Thing featuring Jonathan Gatt on euphonium, Swing Time Religion with a cornet solo by Michael Riley and his son Matt on drums for the finale Sing Sing Sing, a performance praised by John Buckley.
The runner-up of the Northern Heat of BOB, CNL Brass, had withdrawn from the Grand Final.
