Centre Band: Black Dyke and New York Staff

This month's BBW 'Centre Band' sees two giants together. Black Dyke and the New York Staff Band (NYSB) joined forces for the second time in nine months, for a high-profile concert on 19 March in the Centennial Memorial Temple, New York, to mark the NYSB’s 129th Annual Festival.

Following the success of their June 2015 RNCM Manchester concert, the two world- famous bands provided yet another historic evening. The NYSB, which holds the distinction of being the first staff band in Salvation Army’s music history, formed in 1887 under Commander Ballington Booth and, when the NYSB released its first 33-rpm LP back in 1957 under Staff Bandmaster Richard Holz, it was heralded as ‘America’s foremost brass band.’ The band continues to be a trailblazer in SA and brass band music making under the direction of Staff Bandmaster, Ron Waiksnoris.

In a Festival concert featuring the two bands, the programme performed was substantial and extensive, and included six items by the composer, Peter Graham, who appeared as guest conductor. Black Dyke performed the composer’s The Holy Well (baritone soloist - Katrina Marzella) and Metropolis 1927, together with James Kayes’s Queensbury, Terry Camsey’s Life’s Pageant (cornet soloist - Richard Marshall) and two items by Paul Lovatt-Cooper - Enter the Galaxies and Fire in the Blood.

The New York Staff Band opened the concert with Ray Steadman-Allen’s The High Council, continuing with Bramwell Coles’s Under Two Flags, Prelude on the Hymn Tune Lavenham (Geoffrey Nobes) and My Strength, My Tower (Dean Goffin), before delivering two Peter Graham items - Brillante (euphonium soloists - Ryan McCrudden and Aaron Vanderweele) and New York Snapshots - Wonderful Town. The two bands then massed for another Peter Graham number - Phoenix, plus Breezin’ Down Broadway and I’ll Walk with God - both by Goff Richards. The two flagship bands ended the concert with Peter Graham’s The Last Amen.

The day after the historic concert saw…

To read this feature in full, including more about Black Dyke, New York Staff Band, their line-ups, and much more from April's edition of BBW, subscribe to BBW Digital here.

Photograph: Courtesy Susan Magnano Photography