Youth Brass 2000

Big Band Sounds
Conductor: Chris Jeans
Soloists: Matthew Letts, Edmund Bennetts, Sarah Lenton, Chris Brice
The Sage, Gateshead
Saturday 14th November

After such a wonderful morning at The Sage where over 60 players enjoyed a Brass & Percussion workshop under the direction of Dr Nicholas Childs and star performers from Black Dyke and Reg Vardy bands, it was a great pity that an opportunity was missed by the organisers to cajole more people into having an equally good time of it listening to Youth Brass 2000 in the main hall as soon as it had finished.

Little effort

With a few hundred people milling about the open concourse following the impromptu concert given by the scratch band, very little effort was made to get the players, or the sea of family, friends and passers by into the auditorium a few minutes later.

Charging a fiver didn’t help either, whilst the absence of an available programme and any announcement on the PA system saw a paltry crowd of around a 130 or so souls scatter themselves around the floor of the hall as Youth Brass took to the stage under Chris Jeans.

High quality playing

Although the sight that met their eyes as they marched briskly onto the stage must have been more than a little demoralising, the young performers didn’t let it effect them one jot – producing a ‘Big Band’ themed programme that was full of youthful endeavour and enthusiasm and no shortage of high quality playing mixed with inventive choreography.

With a quality compere to bring interest and understanding to each piece, the band produced a series of performances that showed just why they are considered to be the top youth entertainment brass band in the country.

Top notch soloists

The quartet of featured soloists were top notch, with Matthew Letts on cornet and trumpet a very impressive soloist as well as cornet section leader, Sarah Lenton a warmly toned euphonium, Edmund Bennetts a confident lyrical trombonist and Chris Brice a whizzer on the sticks on tuned percussion.

Although these were the chosen stand up soloists on the day, some of the sit down ones also caught the ear too – especially the excellent solo horn player and two flugels, the plucky bass end and the young back up team on percussion.

Each of the solo items was played without music and with a degree of confidence that was just the right side of cockiness – from a cracking ‘Georgia on My Mind’ and ‘Londonderry Air’ to ‘Carrickfergus’ and Monti’s old pot boiler ‘Czardas’. 

Ensemble qualities

In between the full band also showed their qualities too with some neat changes of style in Peter Graham’s homage to all things feline in ‘Cat’s Tales’, the perky ‘Soul Bossa Nova’ and the relaxed wanderings in Duke Ellington’s ‘Caravan’.

The up tempo ‘Valero’ was played with real brio, whilst the original foot tapping naivety of ‘My Favourite Things’ was replaced by a sophisticated appreciation of big band swinging in Simon Kerwin’s neat take on the Julie Andrews classic.

With a bit of old Kurt Weill and ‘Mack the Knife’ followed by a stonking old run through ‘Sing, Sing, Sing' the concert came to a high powered close, appreciated by that small but enthusiastic audience.

Chris Jeans enlightened direction has made Youth Brass 2000 into a highly polished and those who didn’t take the chance to hear them on Saturday afternoon missed a real treat.

Iwan Fox

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