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Welcome to this complete resource of musical information for London, and places which are easy to reach from London.

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CONTACT ME – HELPDESK

I love to hear from fellow music enthusiasts!

I have set up a Helpdesk on this site so that all queries, requests and dialogue can be easily handled. Please get in touch if you need more information, if you spot something on the site which needs amending, or if you have a music event which you want me to promote on the front page of the site.

All submissions will be replied to as soon as possible, provided the subject matter is relevant to this site. No response will be made to unsolicited commercial submissions unrelated to music.

LONDON AND PROVINCIAL MUSIC HELPDESK

What this site covers –

CLASSICAL AND CHAMBER MUSIC

This site has links to the major London classical and chamber music venues, such as The Barbican, Wigmore Hall, Cadogan Hall, St Martin-In-The Fields, and St James Piccadilly. Also covered are the best seasons which are easy to reach from London, such as the Church of Christ the Cornerstone in Milton Keynes, and the United Reformed Church in Coventry.

BRASS BAND AND MILITARY BAND EVENTS, INCLUDING BANDS IN THE PARK

The traditional summer Bands In The Park seasons are covered, both within London and in places which are easily reached. These include -

Bands In The Park – St James’s Park, London
Bands In The Park – Leighton Buzzard
Bands In The Park – Eastbourne
Bands In The Park – Leamington Spa
Bands In The Park – Northampton
Bands In The Park – Kettering
Bands In The Park – St Neots
Bands In The Park – Hunstanton
Bands In The Park – Stratford Upon Avon

Also covered are The Military Sound weeks in Eastbourne, featuring the Central Band of the Royal British Legion and The Band Of The Guards Association.

JAZZ

The major jazz seasons in London are featured, including the Bay Club in Enfield, the Globe In Morning Lane, Hackney and the Wenlock Arms. Also featured are the Sunday Lunchtime jazz sessions which can be easily reached, such as Roade Jazz Club in Northamptonshire and The Lansdowne Club in Luton.

VINTAGE MUSIC

Any major vintage music events are covered here. Recently, we have covered the Royal British Legion VE65 Celebrations on Whitehall and Horse Guards Parade. We cover all appearances of quality acts who are keeping vintage music alive, such as The Glenn Miller Orchestra, Duggie Chapman’s “We’ll Meet Again” tour, the Polka Dot Dolls, Andy Eastwood, and Andy Collier.

THE SEASON 2010

We are now into the 2010 summer band season.

If you are interested in the Bands In The Park seasons, there are links on the right to all of the major ones in the area between London and Birmingham, and some outside. Follow the links and you will get a fixture list for any season which has produced one.

If you want to know where I will be this year, I will list my planned programme below. This is subject to change at very short notice, although it is unlikely to change now that Northampton Bummer Clowncil have announced their (pitiful) programme, and all of the dates for the whole season are known.

I keep this constantly updated, so it will always be real time. Dates which have passed will be actual events I have attended.

If you read this blog, please feel free to come and have a chat if you see me at any of these events.

MAY

Sat 1st – Gretton Silver Band (Northampton Market Square)
Sun 2nd – Eastbourne Silver Band (Eastbourne)
Mon 3rd – Bradwell Silver Band (Bradwell Mill)

Sat 8th (VE Day) – Royal British Legion VE65 Celebrations (Whitehall and Horse Guards Parade)
Sun 9th – We’ll Meet Again (Hunstanton Princess Theatre)

Sat 15th – Andy Collier (Clapham, Bedfordshire)
Sun 16th – Cleobury Mortimer Concert Brass (Stratford-Upon-Avon)

Sat 22nd – Bradwell Silver Band (St James Church, New Bradwell)
Sun 23rd – Watford Band (Bushey)

Sat 29th – Jazz Brothers (Bletchley) and Frog Island Jazz Band (Wenlock Arms, Shoreditch)
Sun 30th – University of Warwick Brass Band (Leamington Spa)

JUNE

Sat 5th – Daventry Brass (Courteenhall Village Fete)
Sun 6th (D Day) – Gretton Silver Band (Northampton)

Sat 12th – Moulton 77 Brass Band (St Matthew’s Church Fete)
Sun 13th – Milton Keynes Brass (Northampton)

Sat 19th – Stackyard Stompers (Bletchley) – Bradwell Silver Band (Dobbies Garden Centre, Fenny Stratford) – JP Jazz (Bletchley)
Sun 20th – Shirley Band (Warwick)

Sat 26th – Toddington Town Band (Toddington)
Sun 27th – Ilkeston Brass (Nottingham)

JULY

Sat 3rd – Moulton 77 Brass Band (Great Billing Church Fete)
Sun 4th – Great Horwood Silver Band (Cheddington)

Sat 10th – Staines Brass (St James’s Park)
Sun 11th – Tilbury Brass Band (St James’s Park)

Sat 17th – Bradwell Silver Band (Bradwell Carnival)
Sun 18th – Bilton Silver (Rugby) Band (Leamington Spa) [Venue change due to potential inclement weather]

Sat 24th – Ipswich and Norwich Co-op Brass Band (St James’s Park)
Sun 25th – Band Of The Guards Association (Eastbourne)

Sat 31st – Mid-Sussex Brass Band (Eastbourne)

AUGUST

Sun 1st – Central Band Of The Royal British Legion (Eastbourne)

Sat 7th – Fulham Brass Band (St James’s Park)[FIXTURE CHANGED BY THE ROYAL PARKS FROM BRACKLEY AND DISTRICT BRASS BAND]
Sun 8th – Bedworth Brass (Northampton)

Sat 14th – East London Brass (St James’s Park)
Sun 15th (VJ Day) – Hitchin Band (Dunstable)

Sat 21st – Sandhurst Silver Band (St James’s Park)
Sun 22nd – Moulton 77 Brass Band (Northampton)

Sat 28th – Bourne Concert Band (St James’s Park)
Sun 29th – Jaguar Coventry Band (Leamington Spa)
Mon 30th – Daventry Brass (Everdon)

SEPTEMBER

Sat 4th – Corby Silver Band (St John’s Home, Northampton)
Sun 5th – St Albans City Band (Leighton Buzzard)

Sat 11th – ?
Sun 12th – March Brass 2000 (Hunstanton)

Sat 18th – ?
Sun 19th – Wadhurst Brass Band (Eastbourne)

Sat 25th – ?
Sun 26th – ? (Bandstand Marathon, so I’ll definitely be somewhere)

BULLETIN BOARD

Details of forthcoming music events. To advertise your own music event here, please use the LONDON AND PROVINCIAL MUSIC HELPDESK. MUSIC EVENTS ONLY PLEASE. Thank you.

ANDY COLLIER, singer and performer of nine different acts featuring music from different eras, will be performing music from his award-winning show ‘Once The Cut’ at the Linslade Canal Festival on Saturday July 31st. He will be performing from 11:30am to 12:10pm, and there will be plenty of other entertainments and pieces of interest throughout the day.

The railway station which is known as ‘Leighton Buzzard’ is actually in Linslade, so this event is easy to get to (Euston – Birmingham line)

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Ipswich And Norwich Coop Brass Band

Saturday, July 24, 2010

We are now right in the heart of the summer season. The next two weeks will not only be the highlight of this band season, they will probably be the highlight of any band season. The bandstand in Eastbourne is 75 years old this year, and the next two weeks will feature daily performances from the Band Of The Guards Association and the Central Band Of The Royal British Legion. The 16 day extravaganza of music starts, though, in the park just across the road from the Guards Museum itself, St. James’s Park.

The Ipswich And Norwich Coop Brass Band were here two years ago, and produced the first real quality performance in a year which was beginning to become irksome with its total lack of quality. For now, in 2010, we have a totally different story. The band season has been of the highest quality, and the weather has been incredibly kind to us. It is kind again today, and we can look forward to three hours of quality brass band music from a known quantity.

Today’s Ipswich And Norwich Coop Brass Band performance was quickly into top gear, as only the second piece brought us “A Nightingale Sang In Berkeley Square”. We are close enough to that landmark to have heard it if it did. From Berkeley Square to Bizet, no less, with his “L’Arlessaine” The solo was an unusual trombone version of “All I Ask Of You”, which is nearly always heard as a cornet and euphonium duo. The unquestioned highlight of the whole event was a rousing “Zampa Overture” to finish off part one.

I shall charitably overlook the fact that the band chose to play “Snorin’ In The Rain” on a perfect summer day with the sun shining brilliantly over the southern trees which we are facing, and concentrate on more interesting matters. Rodrigo’s “Concierto de Aranjuez” has become a regular part of the brass band repertoire, and despite being written for guitar it seems to fit right in. My spell checker may not like it, but most of the audience seems to.

Ipswich And Norwich Coop Brass Band deliver again in a season which has brought so many highlights and hardly a single disappointment. Not even the malevolent rogues in Northampton Bummer Clowncil who have reduced my local season to a stinking pile of rubble can stop the tide of optimism and quality which we are riding. Despite my own local season being the worst ever, I have had my own best ever year, and don’t forget the greatest highlight is yet to come.

We are not yet done with Saturday 24th July, either. The evening event in St Martin-In-The-Fields features the last composition in the all too short life of the greatest name in the entire history of music, Mozart’s “Requiem”. When you consider that the programme also features “Ave Verum Corpus” and Handel’s “Zadok The Priest”, you can see why this is one of the best £6 investments you could ever make.

At the end of the St Martin events, I am usually either headed for Euston of Victoria Coach Station for a long ride north to Northampton. Not this time. The destination is south, right to the coast and to the place which will be the centre of the music world for the next two weeks. By the time I reach a moonlit seafront, the calendar has already crossed over to 25th July. The sixteen day highlight has begun, with a varied programme of quality brass band music from Ipswich And Norwich Coop Brass Band.

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