Brasscapades 7

FROM Neil Diamond to The Beatles, the Beach Boys to Percy Grainger, Billie Eilish and a major work by Peter Meechan - such was a varied program of music from Townsville Brass.

Continuing its mission to promote the breadth of musical styles and talent in our community with a series of Sunday afternoon performances, Townsville Music Centre presented the 33-piece band which is the flagship of the Townsville Citizens Band Association.

The band has historically performed well in national championships, winning ten years ago, and regularly performs at functions in and around the city.

For this performance, the band extended its percussion section and was so large that it did not fit on the stage but instead spilled out on the dance floor space, effectively increasing the intimacy (and volume) of the performance.

Highlighting the playing of individual musicians, the programme began with an impressive medley from The Jazz Singer (1980) with a pair of Neil Diamond classics, America and Love on the Rocks.

A great favourite with brass bands, Harold L. Walters’ light-hearted and fast-paced piece Trumpets Wild featured cornet players Claire Dickson, Roy Hosking and Jen Grant, which was followed by Percy Grainger’s The Immovable Do, a work inspired by a broken pedal organ in which the “C” note (“do”) drones on throughout.

Arthur Florence was impressive on the soprano cornet with the band’s version of the James Bond theme No Time to Die by Billie Eilish, and national low tuba champion Alec Pastega featured in Bass in the Ballroom.

After a sustained version of Londonderry Air, the band delivered the centrepiece of the program – Peter Meechan’s Fire in the Sky. Written in 2011, this 14-minute piece was commissioned by a Norwegian brass band and inspired by Montreux in Switzerland, which historically has had strong connections with Russian composer Igor Stravinsky, jazz trumpeter Miles Davis and performer Freddy Mercury. The influences of all three are eclectically felt in this complex piece with a title inspired from a lyric from Deep Purple’s song Smoke on the Water.

The mixed second half of the program began with the old sea shanty Bound for South Australia, and was followed by some fine and inspiring solo cornet work from Mark Smith in William Himes’ Jubilance.

The rest of the second half included a version of The Prayer, written for the 1998 film Quest for Camelot and made popular by Celine Dion and Andrea Bocelli ; the extremely familiar Spanish paso doble Espana cani, first recorded in 1926; the novelty nursery rhyme Grandfather’s Clock featuring Alyssa Curtis; an evocative version of the Beatles’ Ticket to Ride, suggesting a ride on a steam train; the Beach Boys’ anthem God Only Knows; and the Andrea Bocelli love song Vivo per lei (I Live for Her).

It was the turn of the musical for the final song on the programme, with a stirring rendition of Ebb and Kander’s New York New York, originally written for Liza Minnelli in the 1977 film musical of the same name, and now indivisibly linked with Frank Sinatra.

Townsville Brass encored with Louis Prima’s infectious 1936 song Sing, Sing, Sing (with a Swing), ending the concert on a fitting high with impressive drum work by Noel Price.

A welcome diversion for a Sunday afternoon and great to see the diverse range from the ensemble.

Trevor Keeling