Sweet sound of success

Landing a place at the prestigious Royal Academy of Music,17-year-old Downs School pupil James Copus, from Lilley, near Brightwalton, will take up his place on the Bachelor of Music programme for Jazz in September.
For those who have seen him play, the good news came as no surprise; having taken up the trumpet aged eight, the teenager switched to jazz five years later and won a place on the junior jazz course at the academy two years following that.
“It was a CD of Wynton Marsalis playing Hot House; it triggered something inside me. I had never heard anything like it before. Never really heard anyone play the trumpet like that; I’d only ever really heard it played classically. It was just so different and I was really intrigued.”
His parents, Tara and Antony, are both professional musicians, who met as students at the Royal Academy, and their influence on him is clear to see as in somewhat revered tones he tells how Tara is a pianist and Antony once played French horn with the London Symphony Orchestra but is now a professional composer.
Showing proficiency well beyond his years, James soon began playing with the National Youth Jazz Orchestra (NYJO); a sparkling collection of the finest young musical stars the country currently has to offer.
For him, not the prestige – the best thing about the band was the chance to meet other people.
“It is a different style of playing big band, it helps me get my joined reading together, and it also helped me mix with other musicians like myself, it was a really good experience. It was very inspiring but a lot of pressure.”
A marked contrast to many talented musicians his age toiling away at spit and sawdust pubs up and down the land, the NYJO has given James the opportunity to cut his performing teeth in venues such as Ronnie Scott’s; the legendary Soho jazz haunt which has the honour of being the last place Jimi Hendrix performed.
“It was an amazing experience. Very surreal.”
Not that James believes he is anywhere near the finished article just yet. Talk to him about what he might achieve at the Royal Academy and the modest young man tells you where he is going wrong.
“I’ve been having lessons with Freddie Gavita, a jazz trumpeter, composer, arranger and teacher at the Royal Academy. I had a few problems with ‘technicalities’ which he helped iron out; I was struggling with a higher register. It’s just something I need to adjust.”
He frequently mentions Gerard Presencer and Wynton Marsalis as his idols in music, and says that he hopes to appear on the same stage as his heroes in the years to come.
The head of sixth form at The Downs School, Andrew Hartley, says that with the level of dedication which has brought James this far no-one would bet against him achieving his dreams.
“I’m delighted for him. He is clearly talented but he has applied that talent in a very focused manner and his dedication is paying off. It is clearly a lesson for all young people that dreams can come true if you are prepared to push yourself, practise and give up many hours of your life.
“James is a very quiet unassuming young man who deals with talent in a very humble way. However everyone who has heard him on the trumpet knows what a special gift he has. Everyone at the The Downs will be looking out for his name in the next 10 years.”