Lead trombone of the BBC Big Band, Gordon Campbell, is featured soloist alongside jazz trumpet player Mike Lovatt in an unusual pairing with brass band in Cambridge next month.

The City of Cambridge Brass Band, conducted by former Philharmonia trombonist Peter Bassano, is presenting a major concert of substantial brass band music, including Chris Batchelor’s Weasel Words & Winning Ways for Jazz Trumpet and Jazz Trombone.

Other rarely heard pieces on the programme include Tim Souster’s Echoes for Band and Live Electronics with electronics controlled by Gareth Stuart and Julio d’Escrivan, Robin Holloway’s Men Marching, John Ireland’s ever popular Elegy and Holst’s classic Moorside Suite.

Saturday 17th November 2007 at 7.30pm
Little St Mary’s Church, Cambridge, CB2 8AE

City of Cambridge Brass Band
Gordon Campbell jazz trombone
Mike Lovatt jazz trumpet
Peter Bassano conductor

Full details at the CCBB website

The University of Manchester Brass Ensemble will give a rousing first concert in their academic year, performing a lunchtime recital this Friday. The centre-piece of the programme is Tomasi’s Fanfares Liturgiques which includes solo trombone cadenzas.

Friday 26th October 2007, 1pm
Cosmo Rodewell Concert Hall

Copland Fanfare for the Common Man
Woollen Triptych for Brass
Tomasi Liturgical Fanfares

Adam Cooke, Thomas Brewster conductors
Free admission

American trombonist Howard Hedges, was only 21 when he was appointed bass trombone in the famous Stan Kenton band in 1978. He went on to tour with several major musicals and in backing bands for the likes of Aretha Franklin and Mel Torme.

But aged 37 he suffered a massive stroke and was left severely disabled, paralysed on his left side. Last Spring, aged 45 his heart problems worsened, was diagnosed as terminal and finally passed away last week.

The Anchorage Daily News has a large article about Hedges’ playing heyday, the on-stage pranks he was well loved for, and the support he has now from his community in a small town called Homer, Alaska.

Touring with the show “Pippin,” he doubled his pay by barking on cue for an unreliable dog.

Read the full article here.

The Clifton Trombone Choir, based in West Yorkshire, invites trombonists to join them for a Sunday afternoon of blowing, directed by their MD, LSO legend Frank Mathison. Starting at 2pm on Sunday 25th of November 2007, the event takes place at the Clifton and Lightcliffe Bandroom at Bailiff Bridge near Brighouse.

Fuller details appear on Steve Ford’s post on the BTS Forum. For directions, contact Steve Ford on 01422 369847 or email tromford@hotmail.com

Following the retirement of Roger Harvey from the teaching faculty of Trinity College of Music at the start of the summer, Roger Argente (Head of Brass) has announced two new appointments.

Mark Templeton, Principal Trombone of the London Philharmonic will join the professorial staff. And Carol Jarvis, formerly of Bones Apart, will be providing coaching and looking to enhance their trombone quartet and trombone choir potential.

Mark and Carol will join the existing trombone teaching department comprising Graham Lee, Roger Argente, Mark Bassey (jazz trombone), Malcolm Earl Smith (jazz trombone) and Sue Addison (sackbut).

The Helsinki Brass Quintet will be in London next month to perform a programme including lots of Finnish music. The visit is part of the Sibelius and Beyond festival of Finnish music.

Friday 30 November 2007, 7.30pm
St. George’s Hanover Square, London

Jean Sibelius Andante Festivo
Jukka Linkola Psalm
Tomi Räisänen Praeambulum Durum WORLD PREMIERE
Timo Forsström Majakkasaari
Malcolm Arnold Quintet
Miika Jämsä Plagio
Tommi Hyytinen Bounce
Leonard Bernstein West Side Story

Tickets are only £5. Full details at the festival website of Sibelius and Beyond

Global Bones is a radio programme going out worldwide on 9 December 2007 on the Internet, live from a cowshed in the heart of Norfolk, the home of Wayland Radio. There’ll be three hours of chat, interviews and live performance broadcast across the world. Contributors include Denis Wick, Ian Bousfield, Dennis Rollins, Andy Berryman, Simon Wills, Chris Houlding, Tony Parsons, and many others who are yet to be press-ganged into revealing all!

Global Bones is the brainchild of Norfolk-based bass trombonist Dave Scragg, who is also a presenter and producer for the Wayland Community Station, who writes:

By advertising Global Bones through trombone societies across the world, I thought it would be great to unite trombonists worldwide.

We’ll have coverage of the BTS October event at Oundle, and Diss-Located Bones will be playing live in the Wayland studio. Topics for studio discussion include Focal Dystonia (a condition which has troubled and in some cases ended the careers of many great players), the use of the alto trombone as a teaching aid to younger players and reflections on the standard of today’s students. There will also be a few surprises!

You will be able to hear the programme live through the Wayland Radio website and there will be links and up-to-date information on the Diss-Located Bones website.

Listeners will be encouraged to call the programme on the day with any comments or e-mail through the website: Studio@waylandradio.com/Tel. 01760 441161.

If you would like any other information, contact Dave Scragg in advance: scragg@sackbutt.fsnet.co.uk.

Global Bones will go out twice on Sunday 9 December at 12:00 GMT and again at 19:00 hrs to accommodate various world time zones. After the event, the programme will be available for download from the Diss-Located Bones website.

Trombonists aged 16 and under are encouraged to join the community of trombonists in Britain with a new special BTS membership price of £10, less than half the standard rate. Along with the regular BTS magazine The Trombonist, members gain free entry to most BTS events, such as the Oundle event this Sunday, and benefit from special offers announced in the magazine and here on-line.

Joining is quick and easy to do on-line or by post. Full details are here: BTS membership