The Big Band sound takes centre stage at Fort St Elmo

The Royal Northern College of Music Big Band, directed by Mike Hall, entertained the crowds at the Malta International Arts Festival over the weekend. As it took centre stage at the newly-restored Fort St Elmo in Valletta, the band played Darryl Brenzel’s arrangement of Stravinsky’s Rite of Spring. The concert also included other Big Band numbers, such as Heated Think Tank by Colin Towns, Gordon Goodwin’s Hunting Wabbits, samba with a Claudio Roditi long-time favourite The Monster and The Flower, an experimental Country Roads by Maria Schneider called The Pretty Road and Bob Mintzer’s Elvin’s Mambo. The RNCM Big Band has been in existence for some 30 years. It is open to all students at the college and provides opportunities to those who wish to develop their skills in jazz, commercial music and improvisation. A major college ensemble, they perform at least five different programmes every year, usually each with a different guest soloist who brings their own musical flavour, repertoire and compositions. Recent guests have included Clark Tracey, introducing the music of his father Stan Tracey; Matt Ford, celebrating the birth of Frank Sinatra; virtuoso trombonist Mark...