Newbury’s Apollo Big Band guest goes full Sassy Bassey

Apollo Big Band with Steph Richardson
at The Corn Exchange
on Saturday, September 30

Review by KENDALL GORDON

FOR their 20th annual Corn Exchange appearance, the Apollo Big Band served up a veritable smorgasbord of Big Band music from across the past 100 years or so.

The scene was set with the aptly titled, familiar Gershwin standard Strike Up.

The band, featuring Andy Richardson on tenor, and it got the audience’s feet tapping along from the outset, anticipating a great evening.

Appropriate, as this was followed by a lively rendition of Happy Feet. It featured banjo playing from George Wicks and the arrival on stage of the evening’s singer Steph Richardson, who treated the audience to some impressive 1920s dance moves in her opening number.

In keeping with the hue of Steph’s lovely orange dress, the next tune was Orange Coloured Sky, the arrangement matching the band’s tight playing perfectly with Steph’s delivery of this lively number perhaps best known from a 1950s Nat King Cole recording.

There then followed a further 20 numbers, too many to comment on each here in the space available, but all well received by the enthusiastic audience.

The arrangements were interesting and varied and that the band is well drilled under the musical direction of Les Bruce was evident all evening with great ensemble interplay among each other and with Steph.

Plus there were excellent solos from a whole range of the musicians across the evening, including from Les himself.

To mention just some, Ms Garvey, Ms Garvey, an original piece written/arranged by Jason Marshall just last yea,r had excellent interchanging solos between Diane Prince on trombone and Lorna Mountford on baritone sax.

On Lennon and McCartney’s Fool On The Hill (arranged by Mark Taylor), James Hearn’s melodious slightly haunting tone on flugelhorn was perfect for this song.

Levitating, arranged by the bands own Jed Roylance featured well received solos from Diane Prince on trombone, trumpeter Brian Yule, Trevor Heyward on tenorsSax and Cliff Rowley on piano.

Steph’s vocal delivery and stage presence was much in evidence when she went full ‘Sassy Bassey’ in her rendition of the classic Big Spender, as it was in the final piece of the evening Feelin Good, played as the encore in a pulsating funky rhythm.

The audience were surely feeling good themselves as they left the auditorium after a great night’s entertainment provided by our very own local big band.