Big Bands come to town

First up on Thursday was Chris Dean (pictured) with the Syd Lawrence outfit, not the usual fare that we have come to expect, playing well known Big Band numbers from the books of Glenn Miller, Benny Goodman, Count Basie and other famous orchestras of the “Swing era”.

On this visit it was a new venture which centred on the works of John Barry and music from the Bond Movies.

I bought my ticket with some apprehension of what to expect and as the band filed onto the stage of the Winding Wheel I saw a different line-up which included a guitarist who played both acoustic as well as electric guitars.

Trevor Brown who had done most of the arranging was sat at a bank of keyboards and did a lot of directing from his position. There were fewer members in the wind sections with Tony Dixon leading the trumpets, Colin Skinner and Jay Criag being immediately recognisable on xaxophones, in front of the three trombonists, electric bass and drums completing the rhythm section.

The concert got underway and opened with the famous introductory guitar riffs of the main Bond theme from Dr. No. From then on throughout both halves it was continuous, hit after hit from each of the Bond movies.

Vocals of course were interspersed between instrumentals, the hits which were made famous by the likes of Shirley Bassey, Carly Simon, Tom Jones, Matt Munro, Louis Armstrong. Lulu and Sheena Easton to mention a few. These were undertaken and delivered in realistic fashion by Angie Mills, Chris Dean and guest Miranda Wilford who appears in the West End. They all brought their individual performances to the stage to convincingly recreate the atmosphere which preceded each film score not to mention the glamour.

The assembled audience was soon lulled into the nostalgia of the cinematical experience which brought us all to remember the storylines but moreover the talents of the arranger Trevor Brown with leadership from Chris Dean and not forgetting the man who conjured up the original scores, John Barry.

It was a new venture in the town for the band and I have to say refreshing. I, for one, thoroughly enjoyed it.

The second outfit to pull into the town was that of the Colin Yates Big Band appearing at the Chester Street Club for an arranged gig and Sunday Brunch, organised by Wendy Kirkland for the Chesterfield Jazz Club.

The atmosphere was relaxed, the weather was perfect outside but the assembled audience was more intent on soaking up the music than the sunshine in the garden.

We were all treated to an excellent programme with many numbers from the Stan Kenton book as well as Bob Florence, Neil Hefti, Freddie Hubbard and Dizzy Gillespie. Colin Yates, who conducted operations, also doubled on trumpet and flugelhorn. The band consisting of three more trumpets, four trombones, five saxes and the necessary rhythm section was ably complemented by two vocalists, Graham Beechell and Wendy Kirkland.

The opening number was “This Could Be The Start Of Something Big” and continued throughout the midday with a composition simply called “Fred”, this was a piece arranged as a tribute to Freddie Hubbard.

The afternoon’s entertainment ended with a vocal from Wendy Kirkland as she sang a special arrangement of “Fields of Gold”.

The band were to my mind a tightly knit unit with some good soloists in all departments, Colin Yates’ stratospheric notes on the trumpet to my mind were accomplished with some effort which belied his ageing years.

To summarise, it was good to be able to relax and listen to some live music played by very accomplished and enthusiastic musicians whose love of swing brought about plenty of foot tapping within the gathering.

Clearly there is a need in Chesterfield for this type of event.

JOHN CUTTRISS