Conductor: Jim Crebbin
Soloists: Martin Norbury, Jennifer Cook, Rebekah Collings
Music House Productions: CD
Total Playing Time: 70.23
If you have something to celebrate then it is a good idea to make sure you do it style.
And a little bit more
With this 60th anniversary celebration release, Rushen Silver Band from the Isle of Man has certainly done that – and a little bit more too.
The band was formed in 1949, and have been a vibrant community ensemble on the island ever since.
In fact, it is quite an achievement given the small population of the Island that it supports more than a single brass band, and although Rushen joined forces with Castletown Metropolitan Silver in 1999, they have continued to ensure that future generations will enjoy brass playing by building their own bandroom, as well as providing instrumental tuition to young players and a host of varied initiatives that keep them at the centre of local musical culture.
Well chosen tracks
This Diamond Celebration sees the band provide 18 well chosen tracks, picked once suspects, with a little bit of help from Musical Advisor Richard Evans: there is a lot of breezy, up tempo playing, played with real gusto.
There are the occasional problems with the basics at times – but so what. This isn’t a release meant to be in competition with Black Dyke’s latest blockbuster, and what the band perform, they perform well: from the classic of all classic marches, ‘Sons of the Brave’ to a touch of James Bond, through swing and Sally Army to Rimsky-Korsakov and Shostakovich.
And hats off to Joyce Corlett for sticking at the fund-raising for most of the 60 years!
