10th Anniversary concert Landau Forte College Theatre October 2002
Derwent's Trombone section joined Chris for a rendition of the Trombone Quartet The Irish Washerwoman.The last part of the concert, for which Chris Jeans joined the trombone section, included Peter Graham's arrangement of Crimond , and Howard Snell's arrangement of You'll Never Walk Alone - included as a tribute to composer Richard Rodgers' centenary
"What a great evening" ....................... "Splendid concert" .................... "Probably one of the best Derwent concert's I've been to" ...................... "We've travelled a long way but it's been well worth it"
These are just some of the comments that were flying around the bar of the Landau Forte College at the conclusion of the Derwent Brass 10th Anniversary concert. Thanks in no small way to the efforts of the band publicity officer, Adrian Drewitt, there was a capacity audience who had enjoyed the evening's entertainment, and the band certainly seem to revel in the occasion.
The evening was graced with the presence of the Mayor & Mayoress, and also guests Roy Poole from the Nightingale Macmillan and Dr Guy of the Derby Hospitals Choir, and the front row was taken by the Band
President Eric Johnson and his family. As the band came onto stage, the cornets and trombone all took their place standing around the back of the band for a rousing Fanfare For A New Age which certainly set the evening off on the right track.
In welcoming the audience to this 10th "birthday party" (as he put it) Musical Director Keith Leonard informed us that alongside new items, the band would be playing one or two items that had played a significant part in the past ten years - those included the Fanfare - first performed at the 5th Anniversary; Spiritual Sounds - a popular concert item for several years; excerpt from Philip Sparkes Celtic Suite - the band's first ever contest 1st prize; and of course the whole evening rounded off with the encore March Montreal Citadel - as have so many concerts over the years..
.A new arrangement of Tubby the Tuba featured tuba player Colin Sidney and was superbly narrated by Peter Sergeant, and was appreciated by the audience, (as was the comedy duo of Colin and soprano player Dai Roberts).
The band changed the stage setting (and uniforms) to put on the ever popular 'big band' set, and then after the interval reverted back to traditional brass band for the finale.
Of course the icing on the cake was the appearance of special guest soloist Chris Jeans, who came on in the first section to play Concert Etude - a demanding technical piece for trumpet; and a real tour-de-force when performed on trombone !!!! A nice touch to close the first section was when MD Keith invited Chris (who conducted the band 10 yars ago) to lead the band through the march Punchinello.
Chris also joined the band in the big band set to play his own arrangment of Stardustt - a performance that included wandering around the audience and serenading the ladies in the audience, at times playing the trombone on bended knee! He then came on in the 3rd section of the programme to play Feelings, arranged for him by Bill Geldard. and the rest of
