Very Impressive
Christmas music from the
Brass Band of Battle Creek -
recommended by
KEITH BRAMICH'... bewitchingly subtle touches of colour ...'
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The city of Battle Creek in Michigan, USA, also known as 'Cereal City' due to the presence of the Kellogg Company's headquarters, is the unlikely home of a brass band which, if the CD booklet and website can be believed, enjoys 'cult status', its two annual concerts in the city (the next being on 1 June 2013) being sold out weeks in advance. The group also claims to have forged for itself a new 'hybrid' style, mixing the British brass band tradition with American elements such as jazz improvisation, pops and swing. Founded in 1989 by two brothers and amateur brass players, Jim and Bill Gray, this thirty-one member band, according to trumpeter Doc Severinsen, is poised at the beginning of a new music movement in America.
The Brass Band of Battle Creek, which receives sponsorship from the W K Kellogg Foundation, is certainly not your average small town band, and seems to consist entirely of top professionals and academics from the USA and England, with a rotating membership...
Copyright © 22 December 2012
Keith Bramich,
London UK
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