The Cawston Band raises the roof off the Corn Hall

Posted on 21st January 2024

If you’ve never heard a brass band play live – and these days that sadly places you with the majority – it might be hard to appreciate why those of us who have simply love them. The sheer volume of unamplified brass instruments plays its part, as does the evident joy and commitment with which the music is played, but most of all it’s the extraordinarily euphoric sound of brass that genuinely lifts the spirits.

The evening with the Cawston Band started with a classic of the genre, the theme from the Great Escape, and throughout the night we were treated to a selection of movie and stage highlights. Aladdin, Singing in the Rain, Chess, as well as teasingly brief snatches of Favourite Things, Anything Goes and Tonight rubbed shoulders with a proper London Celebration. What impressed me most, however, is when the band moved on to more adventurous territory. Steve Kemp’s solo work in First Light was a delight, as was (despite the gentle ribbing from musical director Leigh Sharpe,) Alan Smith’s trombone in Sweet Nightingale. But best of all was the jaunty brilliance of Peter Graham’s Gaelforce. Described by Sharpe as a piece played more for the band than the audience, I can only say that I beg to differ.

I first became a convert to brass bands after seeing The Black Dyke Band at Glastonbury, of all places, an outfit that Sharpe explained was literally in a different league to them. Brass bands, it turns out, are a peculiarly competitive bunch, and – no doubt tongue in cheek – his abiding concern was being promoted from the 1st section to Championship where the Cawston Band would have to do battle with the likes of the aforementioned. Based on the evidence of the superb performance at the Corn Hall, he has very little to worry about.