Grimethorpe Colliery UK Coal Band

Musical Director: Garry Cutt
Compare: Mike Meadmore

Morley Town Hall, Leeds
Saturday 18th January 2003

This latest concert in their Best of Brass Series promoted by Leeds City Council brought to the stage the Grimethorpe Colliery UK Coal Band in an evening of musical entertainment at its best.

Opening up with an amusing version of the "Lucerne Song", featuring bass player Dean Morley, the band then gave an exciting performance of Bernstein's Overture "Candide". The horn section and euphoniums were particularly outstanding in this piece. Richard Marshall, the bands principal cornet was the first soloist of the evening and he chose the solo "Zelda" by Percy Code. To describe his performance as awesome would be and understatement; his excellent technique and lovely sound plus excellent phrasing made it a performance to cherish and as an encore Richard played "The Sun Whose Rays" from the Mikado, again in excellent style.

Garry Cutt took "New Colonial" by Hall at a nice steady tempo, where all the detail was heard with some excellent soprano playing by Nigel Fielding. Brodsky's "I'll Walk With God", arranged by Goff Richards showed the bands rich warm sound and this song which was made famous by Mario Lanza made pleasant listening. "Pineapple Poll" arranged by Geoffrey Brand was the bands next choice and all three movements were played in a relaxed style with lovely bass sounds a feature.

Philip Sparke has written some outstanding music for bands and it was one of his compositions that the bands horn section chose to play in "Serenade for Horns". Sandy Smith, James Fletcher and Steven Peacock gave a well-balanced performance with good lyrical playing. Eb Bass player Shawn Crowther - after trying to grab the limelight after every piece only to be sent back by Garry Cutt - finally got his chance with a piece called "The Cuckoo", but Shawn in an amusing show was then outdone by the rest of the bass section who came and stood in front of him leaving him to jump up and down making the aforesaid cuckoo sounds - a nice light hearted piece which had the audience in stitches. The first half ended with "Psalms of Praise" by the American composer James Curnow. This was played with great feeling and excellent dynamics.

The band are the current Brass in Concert Champions and one of the pieces the band played in their winning performance opened up the second half of the concert. "Valero", an up-tempo number showed of the cornet section to good effect and was a cracking start. Puccini's "Nessun Dorma" has been played by many a soloist and it was the band's soprano player Nigel Fielding who gave a most powerful rendering of this classic piece, showing why his is one of the top soprano players in the band movement today. Goff Richard's arrangement of the "James Bond Collection" is exciting music and just up Grimethorpe's street with no over blowing - a lesson to some bands when they play this kind of music. The bands connection with Elgar Howarth is well known and his arrangement of the Scottish Air "The Bonny Briar Bush" gave the band a chance to relax with some lovely warm sounds.

Flugel horn player Ian Shires was then featured in a piece entitled "Body and Soul" arranged Cooke. This was written for saxophone and soloist gave a nice relaxed performance of this most enjoyable piece. The Beatles song "Eleanor Rigby" continued the concert before the bands euphonium players Michael Dodd and Shaun Hudson gave a most amusing performance of "Another Fine Mess" arranged by Sandy Smith. Their Laurel and Hardy routine brought the house down and showed what a multi talented band this is.

The finale to the concert was the "Orgiastic Dance" from Belkis "Queen of Sheba". Composed by Resphigi and arranged by Sandy Smith, it featured the bands solo cornet player Richard Marshall playing a haunting part (off stage). Like all the playing this evening it had control and excellent dynamics. As an encore the band finished the concert as they had started with "The Lucerne Song", leaving Dean Morley alone on stage as the band left to a standing ovation before all returning to end the piece.

This was for me one of the best concerts I have heard, with Grimethorpe showing why they are the kings of Brass Entertainment. The bands musical director Garry Cutt conducted the band with a minimum of fuss and always in control. The audience, which was a sell out, left totally satisfied with the evening's entertainment.

David Tinker

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