This evening in the surrounds of Salford University's newest theatre venue, The New Adelphi, the university's own Big Band, conducted by their tutor and band leader, gave their final concert of 2019.
Sadly without a programme or any foreknowledge of the artistes names etc I am struggling somewhat; however I shall do what I can can. If there is an error in the spelling of names or tunes, then please do advise me, I can easily alter even after publishing.
The band started with an arrangement of The Perry Mason theme, and the items and guests were introduced by the conductor.
In between the band-only items, three singers were asked to come along and sing two songs each. All three were themselves students at the unversity, and if I were to understand correctly, it was the first time that all three had sung with the band publicly. The first of these was a young man called Nathaniel Shufflebottom singing renditions of 'Love Is Here To Stay' and 'Sunny'. In the second half, a young lady called Camilla sang 'Oh High The Moon' and gave a very creditable rendition of the Brazilian 'Desifinado' singing in (perhaps her native) Portuguese. However, for me at least, the third student to take the stage certainly had the edge. Her name was Katrina Kaefer, and her understanding of the music and her vocal dexterity and sound quality was superior and she had an air of prefessionalism. Her two songs were, 'Orange Coloured Sky' and 'Teach Me Tonight'.
A fourth guest artist appeared this evening too, Richard Isles, playing the flugelhorn. In the first half he gave us renditions of 'All The Things You Are' and 'Maiden Voyage' and came back at the end to play with the band for their final piece, one which he had arranged himself, 'All The Things'.
The Big Band themselves - comprising of 13 brass players plus a rhythm section which kept alternating players - were highly competent giving us a whole evening full of Big Band standards and curios, all though neither too "old" (ie.. in the style of Glenn Miller etc) nor too modern, thus keeping the musical middle ground so to speak. I especially applaud the two drummers who both knew their way around a kit. - one was an exchange student from (I think) Ohio.
Of all the pieces played this evening, my favourite though simply had to be the piece they played to close the first half of the concert, I believe this was called, 'There's The Rub' , and we were advised that this was by far the most difficult piece on the programme - but that didn't seem to matter, they all rose to the challenge superbly.
Well done all, a lovely concert, and so good that you didn't give in to temptation and play seasonal / festive numbers. I think we all needed a break from hearing carols on repeat!
Reviewer - Matthew Dougall
on - 9/12/19
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