'The Great American Brass Band Festival'

     On the weekend of June 13/14th, the 'Great American Brass Band Festival' took place. I travelled to Danville, Kentucky to take in this event.

     Danville is touted as one of the greatest small towns in America, and after visiting there, I can understand why. It's a town of about 14,000 souls, and is one of those idyllic places that seems too good to be true.

     Each year the town hosts the above mentioned festival. Bands from all over the U.S. and Canada come to participate, by invitation only. I travelled with the Canadian Staff Band, leaving early Friday morning, to arrive late that evening at our destination. Basically what happens on the weekend, is that on the Saturday and Sunday, concerts, each lasting just under an hour, take place fairly continuously from mid morning to late in the evening.

     The weekend started with a parade through the town on the Saturday morning, with most of the Bands participating. The centre point for the outdoor concerts was the grounds of a College, where a covered stage had been erected, with opportunity for the audience to bring lawn chairs to sit in the grounds and listen to the visiting bands perform. The whole town seems to support the event, and with the thousands of visitors, there could be at any given time, anywhere from 7 to 15,000 people out in the audience.

     The weather was extremely hot, and fortunately for the musicians, the College cafeteria building was right behind the band shell, where the players could congregate, and change in and out of uniforms in air conditioned comfort!

     Each group gives two concerts over the weekend. Some of the groups that participated were the aforementioned Canadian Staff Band of the Salvation Army, The Illinois Brass Band from Chicago ( the current U.S. champions), The Advocate Brass Band from Danville, The Band of the U.S. Air Force Reserve, as well as a few groups that you might not consider 'mainstream' brass bands. For example, how about the Mr.Jack Daniels Original Silver Cornet Band, from Lynchburg, Tennessee, with the emphasis on 'net' in Cornet. This group was superb. Visualise an ensemble like the London Brass, add banjo, xylophone, and drum kit players, and there you have it.

     The players were attired in waistcoats and bowler hats, and their whole concert was a finely crafted 50 minutes of music and stories. The conductor doubled as the M.C. for the group, and in a Tennessee drawl, spoke about the Band and the town of Lynchburg as it might have been at the turn of the century. He also introduced the soloists as important persons in the town, for example the barber, the mayor, or the town blacksmith. Two soloists that stand out in my mind were David Hobbs, who played a theme and variations solo on 'Danny boy', and Bernie Walker on the xylophone.

     Another interesting group was the Saxton's Cornet Band. Again an ensemble size group, who dressed in American Civil War uniforms and played authentic 1860's period cornets and saxhorns. Again, all were great players and were interesting to listen to. One of their cornet soloists gave a theme and variations rendition of 'Yankee Doodle Dandy', which I had never heard before. This was one of the finest performances of the weekend, made even more admirable by the fact that it was played on a cornet which was over 100 years old!

     Also performing during the weekend was the Olympia Brass Band from New Orleans. This was a colourful group comprising two sousaphones, 2 sax; a trumpet, and a bass and snare drum. Dressed in yellow tee shirts and red pants with suspenders, they were the prototypical Bourbon Street jazz group.

     I have it on good authority that this is the group that was featured in the opening funeral scene of the James Bond movie some years back, 'Live and let die'. I had a chat with the snare drummer who was telling me he had been in the band for 24 years, and that one of the members was 72. Most of their items were New Orleans jazz style arrangements, with most of the parts being improvised!

     After 4 p.m. on the Saturday, the area in front of the band shell was set up for an outdoor picnic, where families and corporate sponsors had rented tables, which they proceeded to decorate in an outlandish fashion. Judges came around during the evening to award prizes for the best decorated table. Some of themes used in the decorations were incredible. One in particular was made up to look like a bed, with the family dressed in pyjamas and dressing gowns! Thus the Saturday evening took on a Boston Pops style setting.

     On the Sunday morning an ecumenical worship service was arranged with the CSB being the 'duty' band. A massed choir from the local churches presented the 'Hallelujah' chorus, accompanied by the Band, and the minister, Dr. Norman Hagley, spoke eloquently and challenged the large crowd with his message based on the theme, 'The gift of a gentle heart'. Reference was made to the Columbine High School tragedy, and some of the problems that seem to be surfacing in todays society, particularly amongst our youth. The message was thought provoking.

     The Staff Band also played Jim Curnows' arrangement of 'How great Thou art'. The choice was appropriate as the composer was in the audience.

     Some of the other highlights musically of the weekend were as follows.

     The Illinois Brass Band played the march, 'The Victors Return', and gave a creditable performance of Lalo's ,'Le Roi D'ys'. Principal cornet Amy Nelson was featured in Demare's 'Cleopatra'.

     The CSB featured several major works, amongst them, 'Finale from the Little Russian' (arr. Gordon), 'He is exalted' (arr. Cordner), 'Capriccio Espagnol' (arr. Wilkinson), 'Riverdance', and 'Quintessence' (Redhead).

     Ivor Snell thrilled the audience with a scintillating performance of the euphonium solo 'Brillante' (Graham).

     Kevin Metcalf brought the crowd to its feet with the flugel/trumpet feature, 'Blessed Assurance' (Bulla), and Kevin Hayward presented his own trombone arrangement of 'Joshua', again eliciting a standing ovation from the appreciative audience.

     Other notables in the spotlight over the weekend were; Scott Hartman, featured as guest soloist with the Advocate Brass Band. Scott was one of the founding members of the Empire Brass. He effortlessly played the trombone solo 'Thoughts of Love' (Pryor).

     Dr. Donald Hunsberger of the Eastman Wind Band made a guest conducting appearance with the Air Force Reserve Band, and James Thompson, trumpet professor at the Eastman School of Music, was featured in a trumpet solo, again with the Air Force Band.

     Before travelling to the Festival, I was unsure of what to expect over the weekend. Having been to this event, I would highly recommend it to anyone, not just to brass band aficionados, but to anyone who enjoys a great weekend of taking in all kinds of good music, professionally presented.

     One final comment about Danville. I mentioned at the top of this article, how it had a reputation for being a great 'little' town. With all the throngs of people in attendance, I did not see one incident of rowdiness or anything of that nature. Everyone was friendly and put a lot into having a good time without any of the nonsense that we tend to associate with large events of this nature.

     I trust this report was of interest to you all.

Bandmaster, Stan Ewing

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Recent Plaque Recipient, Alex Cumming!

On Easter Sunday a plaque was presented to Alex Cumming for 61 years service in the Band, 41 years in the Songsters, and 23 years in the League of Mercy. Thank you & Congratulations Alex!

The Senior Band meets Tuesday evenings @ 8:30 p.m.