Program No. 91 - 16th February 2014

Hour 1 (Jazz and Contemporary Brass)
Wycliffe Gordon

In my opinion Wycliffe Gordon is one of the most versatile and influential jazz trombone (as well as trumpet, tuba, piano, didgeridoo, strings) players (he also sings) around in the USA at the moment. He is no stranger to our shores, having been a guest of the Melbourne International Festival of Brass on at least two occasions.

1.    It's All Right With Me (with John Allred)
2.    The Preacher (with John Allred)
     - Head to Head (2002)

3.    The Battle Hymn Of The Republic
     - The Gospel Truth (2000)

4.    When The Saints Go Marching In
     - In The Cross (2004)

5.    Great Big Wall (Emily Asher)
     - Dreams May Take You (2012)

6.    Sweet Georgia Brown
     - The Search (2000)

7.    Georgie On My Mind
     - Standards Only(2006)

8.    Undecided (with Marty Erickson)
     - You and I (2008)

9.    Brass Glory (Kenny Carr)
     - Sound The Alarm (2004)

Next week, we stay with trombones as we feature Swedish funk and jazz player, Nils Landgren.


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Hour 2 (Movie Scores)
John Williams and Steven Spielberg in the 1980s

John Williams has been working with Steven Spielberg since The Sugarland Express in 1974.  There has been so much great music composed as part of this collaboration, that I have chosen to start off with looking at their joint projects in the 1980's. During this time there were 6 movies that Williams scored for Spielberg, including the one of the best action trilogies of all time, a score featuring in the top 10 scores of all time, as well as a relatively unknown one.

1.    Bicycle Chase
     - E.T. The Extra Terrestrial (1982)

2.    Follow Me/ Dorinda's Sol Flight
     - Always (1989)

3.    Toy Planes, Home and Hearth
4.    Exsultate Justi
     - Empire of The Sun (1987)

5.    Desert Chase
6.    The Miracle of the Ark
     - Raiders of The Lost Ark (1981)

7.    Anything Goes
8.    Slave Children's Crusade
     - Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom (1984)

9.    Finale & End Credits 
     - Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade (1989)

Next week we play music from French composer Alexandre Desplat.

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Hour 3 (Brass Bands and Ensembles)
Goff Richards

There wouldn't be many brass bands in the world that don't have a work or two by British composer Goff Richards in their repertoire. Although he passed away in 2011 his original compositions and arrangements of well known tunes will endure.

1.    Fanfare for a New Age (Brighouse & Rastrick Band)

2.    Pops For Brass (Brighouse & Rastrick Band)

     - The Best of Goff Richards (2005)

3.    Barnard Castle ( Lyngby-Taarbæk Brass Band)

     - Decade of Brass (1999)

4.    James Bond Medley (Grimethorpe Colliery (UK Coal) Band)

     -  Movie Brass (2001)

5.    Doyen (Halifax Concert Band)

     - Halifax Concert Band (2008)

6.    Oceans (Desford Colliery Band)

7.    Russky Percussky (Desford Colliery Band)

    - Making Tracks (1990)

8.    Zorba's Dance (Buy As You View Cory Band)

     - The Glory of Cory (2002)

Next week, we are going to look at some well known orchestral overtures, arranged from brass bands.

Program No. 90 - 9th February 2014

Hour 1 (Jazz and Contemporary Brass)
Oxo Cubans

It's a little bit difficult to pigeon hole this five piece group that originated from Melbourne. i-Tunes has categorised them as Jazz, but that's not right. I like this quote from Drum Media:

"Are they acappella? A brass quartet? Jazz? Cabaret? Pop? All of the above, and more..."

Their line up has changed a couple of times over the years, but features trombone, tuba, saxophone and percussion. They can all sing as well. I won;t embarrass myself to try and name all the players, and I am unable to find a definitive line up online. I'm featuring music from three of their CDs tonight:

1.    Doona Hog
2.    Future Generations
3.    Letter L
4.    Tim Tam Slam
5.    Tom
     - More (2005)

6.    Grey Matter
7.    Town Takes Cover
8.    One For Me  
     - Just Like This (2005)

9.    Take The Time
10.   Top O My Toungue
11.   Ship Comes In
12.   It's Falling Out
13.   Truth Comes Out
14.   Roofrack
15.   2 and a Dog
    - Take The Time (2007)

 * Note the year of lease information comes from i-Tunes. I am pretty sure these are not actually correct.

Next week we play music from American Jazz Trombonist Wycliffe Gordon.

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Hour 2 (Movie Scores)
2014 Oscar Contenders

You may notice as we play through tonight's music that none of the nominated scores in this year's Academy Awards featured on my earlier show, where I played movie scores I thought highly of.  It appears as though the music nominated is generally low key and laid back, rather than the large bombastic movie scores normally associated with Hans Zimmer, (mostly) John Williams et al.

In researching for the show tonight I was unable to find a release of the soundtrack for the movie Her. I did, however, find one song.

For your consideration:

1.    Above Earth
2.    The Void
     - Gravity (Steven Price)

3.    Philomena
4.    Confession
     - Philomena (Alexandre Desplat)

5.   The Moon Song
     - Her

6.    Travers Goff
7.    A Foul Fowl
8.    To My Mother
9.    End Titles
     - Saving Mr Banks (Thomas Newman)

10.   The Book Thief
11.    Revealing The Secret
     - The Book thief (John Williams)

Next week, we are going to look at the collaboration between Steven Spielberg and John Williams and specifically during the 1980s.

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Hour 3 (Brass Bands and Ensembles)
Black Saturday

Last Friday marked the firth Anniversary of the Black Saturday bushfires in Victoria. As someone who lives and works in one the areas most devastated by the fires, this date is particularly significant to me.

Back in 2012, in only my third show, I presented a 2 hour special program on the third Anniversary of Black Saturday.  Tonight's show will be a slightly cut down version of that show.

We begin with a piece composed by John Pickard called Wildfire, that now forms part of a much larger work entitled Gaia Symphony. It is being performed by The Cory Band, from their 2002 album Wildfire.

The recordings for the rest of the program tonight were provided to me from the composer of the pieces, Mr Barry McKimm. Barry is a trumpet player formerly with the Melbourne Symphony Orchestra who has also produced a number of works for brass band.

The first piece was actually commissioned by Footscray-Yarraville City Band in 1983, after the Ash Wednesday fires, and was performed by the band at, what is now know as, The Hamer Hall in 1984. Barry was kind enough to provide me with a number of recordings of this work. I have chosen for tonight the Wanganui City Silver Band performance.

The final piece is titled Lamentations and was commissioned by National Australia Brass in 2011. The piece massive in scale, running at a bit under an hour. It is based on this written work, Kinglake Undone, by Jordie Albiston.

For the 2012 show I played the piece in its entirety. For tonight's show I will play only the second and fourth movements of this five movement piece. This recording was from the performance by National Australia Brass in New South Wales in 2011.

Next week, we feature the music of composer Goff Richards.

UPDATE:
The fire activity today in Victoria has been described as the worse since Black Saturday. As I type this now, there are Emergency alerts right throughout the State, including many areas close to home.

Out of respect for thoseaffected by today's fire activity this part of the show will now be postponed until a later date. I am busy trying to put together a new program. Tune in at 9:00 to hear what it will be.

Program No. 89 - 2nd February 2014

Hour 1 (Jazz and Contemporary Brass)
Vince Jones

Photo courtesy of Fairfax

I first became a fan of Vince Jones in the late 1980's thanks to a couple of friends of mine. This Australian singer, trumpet/flugel player, composer was probably at the height of his career at that stage. With a number of great CDs having been released, he and James Morrison would have been the two highest profile Australian brass players (of any genre) at that time.

Jones still performs regularly, as his website indicates, and also teaches part time at the Australian National University, according to Wikipedia.

1.   Watch What Happens
2.   When I Fall In Love
     - Watch What Happens (1982)

3.   On The Brink Of It
4.   Boys On The Corner
     - On The Brink Of It (1985)

5.   If You're Goin To The City
6.   Jettison
     - It All Ends Up In Tears (1987)

7.   You Go To My Head
8.   Mood Indigo
     - Come In Spinner (1990)

9.   Big City
10. Trustworthy Little Sweethearts
11.  My Only Friend  
     - Trustworthy Little Sweethearts (1988)

Next week we stay local, but change genres, as we feature the 5 man combo Oxo Cubans.

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Hour 2 (Movie Scores)
Ramin Djawadi

Djawadi is an Iranian born, German composer who was brought to the attention of acclaimed score composer Hans Zimmer shortly after Djawadi graduated from Berklee College of Music in 1998.  Since that time Djawadi has composed music for movies, TV series and video games. We'll be sampling music from each of these sub genres tonight.


1.    Driving With The Top Down
2.    Iron Man
3.    Arc Reaktor
     - Iron Man (2008)

4.    Main Title
5.    The King's Arrival
6.    Finale
     - Game of Thrones - First Season (2011)

7.    Heroes Abroad
     - Medal of Honor - EA Games (2010)

8.    You Can't Hide From Hades
9.    Release The Kraken
10.  Scorpiox
     - Clash Of The Titans (2010)

11.  2500 Tons Of Awesome
12.  Cancelling the Apocalypse
13.  Pacific Rim (featuring Tom Morello)
     - Pacific Rim (2013)

Next week we be looking at all the film scores that have been nominated for an Academy Award at this year's event.

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Hour 3 (Brass Bands and Ensembles)
Brett Baker

Brett Baker is a world renowned trombone player known mainly, but not exclusively for his work in and around the brass band world. Whilst based in England, Brett has been to Australia often, and has been known to play with local bands during national contests.

Baker has released, or been featured as a soloist, in dozens of CDs since the mid 1990's. Tonight's program list barely scratches the surface .

1.   Brasilia
2.   Cavatine, Op. 144
3.   Wind Beneath My Wings
     - Bone Idyll (1996)

4.   Atlantic Zephyrs
     - Soloist Showcase (2012)

5.   Sarah
     - Boscombe & Foden's LIVE (2008)

6.   Tango
     - Rathamataz (2009)

7.   Something
     - Black Dyke Plays Beatles (2012)

8.   Radio City       
      I. City Noir
      II. Cafe Rouge
      III. Two Minute Mile
     - Electra (2013)
  
Next week we will revisit a topic I featured back in 2011. The 5th Anniversary of the Black Saturday Bushfires is the Friday 7th February, and we will feature 3 works written about bushfires. This will include Barry McKimm's Ash Wednesday as well as parts of Lamentations, written about Black Saturday.

Program No. 88 - 26th January 2014

Happy Australia Day everyone.

Tonight's show will be a celebration of Australian music, in brass, in cinema and on radio.

Hour 1 (Jazz and Contemporary Brass)

1.    Beds are Burning (Midnight Oil)
      - Scream In Blue (1992)

2.    Forgotten Years (Midnight Oil)
      - Blue Sky Mining (1989)

3.    ABC News Theme
      - Remixed by Pendulum (2010)

4.    Back In Black (Trombone Shorty)
      - Trombone Shorty - Live At Jazz Fest (2007)

5.    Holy Grail (Hunters & Collectors)
      -  Living In Large Rooms and Lounges (1995)

6.    Do You See What I See (Hunters & Collectors)
      - Collected Works (1986)

7.    Eagle Rock 1908 (Ross Wilson)
      - Tributary (2008)

8.    Land Down Under (Ophil)
      - Ophil Live (2005)

9.    Still Young  (The Cat Empire)
10.  Go (The Cat Empire)      -  Steal The Light (2013)

11.  Sydney By Night (James Morrison)
      -  Postcards from Down Under (1988)

Next week, we play music from Australian trumpeter and singer, Vince Jones.

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Hour 2 (Movie Scores)

We are featuring music from two iconic Australian movies. The first was released back in 1982 with music composed by Bruce Rowland - The Man From Snowy River. The second movie was released in 2008 with music composed largely by David Hirschfelder - Australia.

1.    Main Titles
2.    Mountain Theme
3.    Jessica's Theme
4.    The Chase
5.    Jim's Ride
6.    Jim Brings In The Brumbies
7.    Closing Titles
     - The Man from Snowy River

8.    Welcome to Australia (Overture)
9.    No Man Hires Me, No Man Fires Me
10.  The Rush
11.  Across the Room / Begin the Beguine
12.  Faraway Downs
13.  Fire from the Sky
14.  Nimrod (From the Enigma Variations)
15.  Waltzing Matilda
     - Australia

Next week we play music from Ramon Djawadi.
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Hour 3 (Brass Bands and Ensembles)

 1.   The Australasian (Grimethorpe Colliery Band)
     - Grimethorpe in Concert (2002)

2.    An Australian Fantasy (Sellers Engineering Band)
     - The World of Brass (1992)

3.    Endeavour (Yorkshire Imperial Band)
     - Endeavour (2002)

4.    At The Going Down Of The Sun (Kew Band Melbourne)
     - 'Neath Austral Skies

5.    Terra Australis (Brighouse & Rastrick Band)
     - The Nationals 2010

6.     Waltzing Matilda (Melbourne Staff Band)
     - Celebration Of Faithfulness (2007)

7.    Advance Australia Fair (Australian National Band & David Stanhope)
    - Advance Australia Fair: The Australian National Anthem (2005)

On next week's show, we feature trombone player Brett Baker.

Program No. 87 - 12th January 2014

Hour 1 (Jazz and Contemporary Brass)
James Morrison - Live Albums

Of the 26 albums Wikipedia show that James Morrison has released, the live albums are only a small minority. This show will feature those albums that I have managed to track down on that list (plus another one not on that list).

1.   The Flintstones Theme
    - James Morrison At The Winery (1984)

2.   The Opener
3.   Mack The Knife
    - Live At The Sydney Opera House (1996)

4.   Light Walk (with Melbourne Staff Band)
    - Fiesta (2007)

5.   Holy Holy Holy (with Edge Church International)
6.   Were You There / How Great Thou Art (with Edge Church International)
    - James Morrison Live At Edge (2012)

7.   Blues For Judy
    -  Swiss Encounter: Live at the Montreaux Jazz Festival (1989)

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Hour 2 (Movie Scores)
The Best of 2013

I thought 2013 was a good year for movie soundtracks. Given my leaning towards blockbuster and action movies I thought that in pretty much all cases the music scored did the movies justice. All the top composers had been busy during the year with Zimmer, Elfman, Shore, Newton Howard, Djawadi, Giaccino and Tyler featuring high on the list of my best scores for 2013.

I have limited my choice to movies I actually saw in 2013 (Unfortunately John Williams doesn't get a look in this year, because of this restriction).

1.   Marvel Studios Fanfare (Brian Taylor)
2.   Thor: The Dark World (Brian Taylor)
    - Thor: Dark World

3.   Un Monumneto (Ennio Morricone)
    - Django Unchained

4.   Star Trek Main Theme (Michael Giacchino)
    - Star Trek Into Darkness

5.   Pacific Rim (Ramin Djawadi and Tom Morello)
    - Pacific Rim

6.   Horn of Plenty (James Newton Howard)
    -  The Hunger Games: Catching Fire

7.   Love Is The Drug (Bryan Ferry & The Bryan Ferry Orchestra)
    - The Great Gatsby

8.   Look To The Stars (Hans Zimmer)
    - Man Of Steel

9.   The Main Titles (Danny Elfman)
10.  The Munchkin Welcome Song (Danny Elfman)
    - Oz the Great and Powerful

11.  Epic Final Confrontation (Danny Elfman)
    - Epic

12.  The Forest River (Howard Shore)
    - The Hobbit - The Desolation of Smaug

13.  Can You Dig It (Brian Tyler)
    - Iron Man 3

14.  Finale (Hans Zimmer)
    - The Lone Ranger

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Hour 3 (Brass Bands and Ensembles)
Cory Band

2013 saw Cory Band again dominate the contesting scene, winning,National Championships of Great Britain, Brass In Concert Championships and European Championships. They also toured Australia, as well as released Words and Music (judged by Brass Band World as the best brass band CD of 2013). Here is a selection of their performances during the year.

1.   Fanfare and Celebration 
     - Perihelion: Closer to the Sun - The Brass Band Music of Philip Sparke

2.   King's Messenger
    - Words and Music

3.   Los Hermanos de Bop
4.   La Fiesta
5.   My Way (with Dave Mitchell)
    - The Nationals 2013

6.   Perihelion
    - European Brass Band Championships


The show will be having a sort break next week, so join us back on 26th January for a special Australia Day edition of Brass Monkeys

Program No. 86 - 5th January 2014

Welcome to the first show in the new format.

Hour 1 (Jazz and Contemporary Brass)
The Cat Empire

They spent a lot of 2013 touring the world, after the release of their latest CD, Steal The Light.  This Australian group has a unique sound, full of brass, and is one of my favourite groups at the moment. The show tonight borrows from a show I programmed back in May last year, in celebration of the release of Steal The Light.

1.   Jungle
2.   Anymore
3.   Side to Side
4.   Know Your Name
    - Cities (2006)

5.   Sunny Moon
6.   No Mountain
7.   Radio Song
8.   No Longer There
    - So Many Nights (2007)

9.   Brighter Than Gold
10.  Wild Animals
11.  Prophets In The Sky
12.  Don't Throw Your Hands Up
13.  All Night Loud
    - Steal The Light (2013)

Next week - music from some of the live albums of Australian Jazz Legend, James Morrison

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Hour 2 (Movie Scores)
Michael Giacchino

Michael Giacchino has a vast body of work for a variety of screen media, including television (best known for Alias and Lost), movies (including the latest 2 Star Trek movies) as well as for computer games (such as Medal of Honour and Call of Duty.  Tonight's show will feature his movies scores, and specifically the four movie scores that he has composed for Pixar Animation.

1.   End Creditouilles 
    - Ratatouille (2008)

2.   Seizing the Spirit of Adventure
3.   Up With End Credits
    - Up (2009)

4.   It's Finn McMissile!
5.   Porto Corsa
6.   Mater's The Bomb
    - Cars 2 (2011)

7.   Kronos Unveiled
8.  The Incredits
    - The Incredibles (2004)

Next week - a review of the best movie scores of 2013.


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Hour 3 (Brass Bands and Ensembles)
Paul Lovatt-Cooper

We featured works from acclaimed composer Paul Lovatt-Cooper in 2013. Tonight's show is a reworking of last year's program with a couple of extra added.

1.   When Thunder Calls
    - Black Dyke Band (European Brass Band Championships 2013)

2.   Where Eagles Sing
    - Black Dyke Band (Essential Dyke, Volume 7 - 2007)

3.   Within Blue Empires
    - Brass Band Oberosterreich (European Brass Band Championships 2012)

4.   Donegal Bay (with baritone soloist Gareth Brindle)
    - Fairey FP (Music) Band (Virtuosi! - 2003)

5.   Song for the Skies (with tuba soloist Joseph Cook)
6.   Rondo alla Turca (with xylophone soloist Paul Lovatt-Cooper)
7.   Enchanted Kingdom
    - Black Dyke Band (Only For You - The Music of Paul Lovatt-Cooper Volume II - 2011)

Next week - music from the top brass band of 2013, The Cory Band.

2014 - New Look Brass Monkeys

Happy New Year to all my loyal listeners. I hope 2014 is all that you want it to be.

After 85 shows, over two years, I thought it time to review the format of the show, and to see if we can make it better for you.

We have also been approved by Station Management to extend our show to 3 hours.

So, with the extra hour, I have revamped the structure.

In the first hour (from 7:00pm - 8:00pm) we will feature Jazz and Contemporary Brass.

In the second hour (from 8:00pm - 9:00pm) we will move on to Movie Scores.

In the third and final hour (from 9:00pm - 10:00pm) we will focus on Brass Bands and Brass Ensembles.

Each hour will still be themed, though the theme will (mostly) be different in each hour.

So I invite you to listen tonight for our first show in the new format.

In Melbourne go to 94.5 KRR FM.

Everywhere else, the show streams online. Just go to the radio website http://kinglakerangesradio.org/ and follow the link.

The show can also be picked up on your favourite radio App, such as TuneIn Radio.

Thanks