London and Provincial Music

The summer we were promised has not materialised. While there were some welcome sunny days in June, the peak of the summer has been cold but mercifully for the most part dry. Now, it looks as though the inevitable wet spell is upon us. Fulham Brass battled the weather bravely last Saturday, and it now appears as though East London Brass will have to do the same today. The canopy in St. James’s Park is wide, and there is plenty of room underneath it, but it is high and offers no protection against wind driving the water in.

East London Brass is a band which takes its performances in the Royal Parks very seriously indeed. Last year, we had a display board and a trophy as well as the printed programme which adds so much to these afternoons, and today we have the printed programme again, along with a banner tied to the temporary canopy which forms the bandstand here. It takes relatively little effort to provide these printed programmes, yet they add so much to the enjoyment of the event. This really is something which all bands should get round to.

The first half is rock solid with both familiar and less usual pieces, including the cornet solo “A Time For Peace”, the common “Mack And Mabel” and “Macarthur Park”, and an Eb horn solo, “The Lark In The Clear Air”. All were played well by a band which is clearly at the top its powers. The real highlights, though, came from Italia. The Eb cornet solo “On With The Motley”, which is really Leoncavallo’s “Recitar! Vesti La Giubba”, was featured by Kidlington Concert Brass in 2008 on a day which made this one seem positively tropical and dry. It was the solo of the season then, and it is well played again today. As if that is not enough, we are then treated to Rossini’s mischievous “Duet For Two Cats”. Not only is today’s programme played well, it is also performed with personality and expression. These are musicians who clearly want to be here despite the conditions, and their enthusiasm is very obvious to the grateful public.

Part two carries on where part one left off, in fact it may even take the standard even higher. We have a flugel solo, “Crazy”, and the familiar “Frolic For Trombones”, thankfully at a time when the exposed trombone section can actually stand up in dry weather, and a repeat of last week’s “Somewhere Out There”, which heavily features the Eb Horn. The first half’s Italian theme was expanded on even further with a magnificent collection of operatic arias, one piece which justified the travel expenses and the journey all by itself. There was one last outstanding highlight to come, as the percussion section came to the front and performed Leroy Anderson’s famous “Sandpaper Ballet”, in full view of an enthralled and appreciative public.

It is a very famous and oft played piece, which has been on the programme of some of the most distinguished musical directors in history. It has been recorded by some of the greatest of all brass and military bands, yet this is the first time in my nineteen years of unbroken attendance at Bands In The Park events that I have seen it so featured. It didn’t quite finish the event, as we still had “Manhattan Skyline” to come, but it certainly put the icing on the very rich cake we had been treated to all afternoon. This was a magnificent effort from East London Brass, in programme selection, in performance, in expression, and in presentation. This one ticked all of the boxes, and goes down as the performance of the season so far. A huge thank you to everyone involved in the preparation and execution of this wonderful performance from East London Brass.

Today is the day that my great run comes to an end. I have now heard at least one band playing on a bandstand every day for the last sixteen days, which for me is an all-time record. The run will end with a visit to my own local season of one of my absolute favourite bands.

Abington Park has been a desolate and squalid sight for most of this year, not that I have often been here to witness it. The structure in the centre of the park which we look at is known as a BANDstand. That is because it is supposed to have BANDS playing on it. It is not a “jazzgroupstand”, or a “popgroupstand”, or a “malevoicechoirstand”, it IS a BANDstand. It is the responsibility of Northampton Bummer Clowncil to book a season of BANDS for their “BANDS In The Park” season. For some reason, they have chosen to renege almost totally on that responsibility.

We are now into August, and this is only my third trip to my own home season. I will leave the matter there to concentrate on more positive things, but you know where the Clowncil is should you wish to add your voice to the many complainants who have already made their views amply known.

Bedworth Brass is one of my favourite bands. I make no bones about that. They would rate in my top three over the last ten years, and there is no sign that they are going to let the standard slip any time soon. Last year, ironically on the very day that Councillor John Gardner passed into the next world, Bedworth produced a performance which would rank among the best ever in this park. Remember, I have heard a brass band play in a park somewhere every Sunday in the summer for the last nineteen years. Never missed a single one, and the vast majority of them have been here in Abington Park. I have a database of knowledge from which to form a judgment.

Today, the weather is thankfully different from yesterday’s heavy rain, and even different from the biting cold and very strong wind which blighted most of the Legion week in Eastbourne. For the first time in a long time, it actually feels like summer again. I have to say that, for all the joys that the seaside can bring, if I was organizing a “super band season” with the intention of making it the best in the country, I would locate it inland in a still gardens.

Historians will note the mixed portents for this event. Last year, this second weekend in August was the best of the year, with a brilliant sun shining in a clear blue sky over the bandstand in Hunstanton as the Rushden Mission Band played. It was unusually still for a coastal region, and I still think Hunstanton is the best location of all for band music when the weather is perfect.

This date, though, will bring an ominous chill to anyone with a memory, as August 8th 1999 was the very worst weather day we have ever endured in Abington Park. The Gresley Old Hall Band, as it was then, sat in a coach for three hours while the torrential rain brought visions of a tropical monsoon. I spent those three hours praying for a miracle which was never going to happen, in the wonderfully uplifting environment of the dilapidated public conveniences. By 6pm, when the event was finally abandoned, the rain had flooded the area in front of the conveniences to such an extent that it was virtually impossible to escape and begin the long trek home, soaked to the skin and as miserable as sin after a totally wasted day with not a note heard. Why the hell didn’t they book a pop group for that day? Then we would all have been bloody relieved to bugger off drowned having heard nothing.

I should make a mention here of the importance of having a back up wet weather venue, something which was offered to the Clowncil at the start of this season, but of which nothing came. The political arguments will have to wait for another day, but let no-one believe that the dry summers of 2009 and 2010 mean that we will never face another 2002 or 2000. We will, as sure as night follows day.

The programme selected by Bedworth Brass is probably not quite in the same ultra high category as that of last year. There is no “Poet And Peasant” or “Slavonic Rhapsody No. 2”. This is a lighter programme, but by no means superficial or unsatisfying. The band itself is a full one, with no holes or gaps, which is sadly not that common any more. Sit back, concentrate and relax, and expect to hear one of the best performances of the season.

I wish I could stop bringing up negative subjects, but there is something else which needs to be said here. Northampton Bummer Clowncil promised two years ago to reinstate the signs saying “No Ball Games”, and this has not happened. Remember, when the Rushden Windmill Band played here in 2008 three people were hit on the head by flying footballs in separate incidents, and a rock hard frisbee went flying into the bandstand at high speed, where it could have caused serious damage.

Today, there was a gang of cretins playing a very dangerous ball game right next to the bandstand, and a disaster was just waiting to happen. Miraculously, it didn’t, although the oxygen wasters inevitably created enough noise to disturb those trying to listen to the band which the Clowncil has spent public money on. I do sympathise with the lack of money and the lack of park rangers and every other problem they are facing, but I don’t sympathise with the old signs not being replaced, nor with the bands not being given any contacts where a serious nuisance can be reported and dealt with. There is a very serious incident just waiting to happen in this park if someone doesn’t wake up.

The biggest miracle we could be grateful for is that the vermin did at least crawl back into their sewer before too much of the event had elapsed. For most of the day, we were able to concentrate on Bedworth Brass and the highly satisfying programme of music they had brought to Abington Park. I normally try to get to hear the best bands twice in a season, and I had intended to hear Bedworth Brass in Kenilworth. I had to divert to Leamington Spa at the last minute on July 18th because of weather risk, so I never got to hear Bedworth perform. (For those who don’t know, Leamington has weather protection, Kenilworth does not.)

I have been informed that the band did indeed get away with the weather on July 18th, but there was no way I could predict that at 12pm when the sky in Coventry was pitch black and the rain was falling hard. Diverting to Leamington was the only sensible option, and it gave me the chance to hear another different band for the season, Bilton Silver from Rugby. Anyway, back to August 8th. Bedworth Brass sets a very high standard to maintain every year, and somehow they always do manage to maintain it.

There was plenty of variety in this programme, and some interesting solos and features. The excellent Mr. Lilly on Principal Cornet performed once again with no music sheet in front of him. I never did get the chance to ask him if he comes from a jazz background, as there are very few brass soloists who don’t read from the sheet. It has been a great weekend for Eb bass solos, with “Bass In The Ballroom” yesterday in St. James’s Park and “Nellie The Elephant” here today. Don’t be fooled into thinking that this is a children’s solo – there are plenty of difficult bars for the soloist to negotiate.

The cornet feature was a year and forty nine days late. Leroy Anderson’s “Bugler’s Holiday” had been on the programme for June 21st 2009, but had been omitted to save time. Some of us did actually hear it last year in a rain soaked Nuneaton, but the Northampton faithful got it at last today! Very good it was too. For some extraordinary reason, two of the pieces on the intended programme were omitted, yet there was time for one of the extra pieces listed to be played! “Hootenanny” was heard yesterday courtesy of Fulham Brass Band, and now again today from Bedworth. It does create an interesting finish to the programme.

Bedworth Brass are as close as you can get to a banker bet for a Bands In The Park event. They would have been the first name I would have added to the sheet this year following last year’s imperious performance, and I would not have been let down or disappointed. I would rotate most of the good bands, but there are some exceptional ones which I would engage every year. This is definitely one of them. Only time will tell what next year brings, but I’m sure I will make an effort to get somewhere to hear Bedworth Brass.