Lastman, and convinced him to intervene and call the then Presidentof Imperial Tobacco, Don Brown. So there we were at the Bistro. Geoffwas just getting ready to leave in order to file his review and in camea jubilant Sean Gadon with the news that the festival, which we hadjust cancelled had its funding for another year. Johnny-on-the-spotChapman made some hasty notes before rushing off to file his storywhich scooped everybody else in town.But what made him much more than just a competent writer wasthat along with his language skills, an inbuilt natural ability to conveywith words, he also had a broad knowledge of what he was talkingabout and a desire to communicate with his audience.It starts to sound like the qualities of a good jazz musician,doesn’t it?I remember one evening we had dinner together and in casual conversationI discovered we had shared an unusual childhood activity.As kids we had both chewed tar and to this day I love the aroma of hottar! I initially thought that it might in some odd way have had somethingto do with the fact that we were both Brits until quite recently.I found a Canadian, albeit with the Irish name of O’Reilly, who, whenhe heard about our tar traits, exclaimed, “I used to do that!”A good English beer, a cigar and listening to jazz was his recipe for agood time. Oh, and looking forward to seeing a good football — soccer,not rugby — match on TV.When I think of Geoff, there is a line from a novel by CharlesDickens, “Our Mutual Friend” which seems a propos — “Have aheart that never hardens, a temper that never tires, a touch thatnever hurts.”TO THE LETTERAnd now I will digress. My real introduction to acronyms was listeningas a child to BBC — an acronym in itself — radio, and to a weeklycomedy show starring Tommy Handley called ITMA which was madeup from the first letters of the phrase “It’s That Man Again.” Theshow also introduced a classic, still widely in use today: TTFN — Ta TaFor Now.Coming up with acronyms is a linguistic process that hasexisted throughout history. For example it was used in Romebefore the Christian era, the official name for the Roman Empire,and the Republic before it, being abbreviated to SPQR (SenatusPopulusque Romanus).But acronyms became much more common in the 20th centurywith AT&T, Nabisco (National Biscuit Company), TV, Radar (shortfor for radio detection and ranging) and on and on. Back in the dayswhen people actually wrote letters, some of you may have receivedor sent correspondence of a personal nature which had the lettersSWALK on the back of the envelope meaning that it was Sealed With ALoving Kiss. Try that with a text message (lol).Jazz has had its share of acronyms. Some of the most widely knownwere NORK (New Orleans Rhythm Kings), JATP — Jazz At The Phil, atravelling jazz extravaganza produced by Norman Grantz and the MJQ(Modern Jazz Quartet).All of which is a preamble to KPMT, the Ken Page MemorialTrust which will hold its 14th annual jazz gala at The Old Mill onOctober18 with a star-studded line-up including, from the UnitedStates, Harry Allan and Ken Peplowski on reeds, Warren Vache, cornet,Russ Phillips, trombone, and on piano Italian virtuoso RossanoSportiello. The home team will consist of Terry Clarke, Alastair Kay,Reg Schwager, Neil Swainson, Don Thompson, Kevin Turcotte andyour faithful scribe. Prior to the main event and in keeping with thegoals of the Trust there will be a performance by the Ben HognestadTrio featuring Matt Woroshyl from the University of Toronto Facultyof Music. You can enjoy them along with a complimentary cocktail. Ifyou have never attended the gala this is a great year to get involved insupport of jazz and the musicians who make the music. You’ll not seea line-up like this any place else in Toronto. For details see the ad inthis issue of The WholeNote.Meanwhile, now that the days are turning chilly it’s a good time tomove inside and trade the hot sun for some hot choruses. As always,The WholeNote club listings, on page 55, are the town’s best guide towhat’s on.Happy live listening!Jim Galloway is a saxophonist, band leader and formerartistic director of Toronto Downtown Jazz.He can be contacted at jazznotes@thewholenote.com.Aldeburgh Connection 31, 47All Saints Kingsway 18Amadeus Choir 49Aradia Ensemble 30ATMA 5Brampton Youth Concert Band 61Canadian Opera Company 34Cathedral Bluffs SymphonyOrchestra 19, 49Chamber Music Society ofMississauga 51Christ Church Deer Park JazzVespers 35Classical 96.3fm 73Cliff Ojala 62Continuum Contemporary Music 47Cosmo Music 37Denise Williams 62Elmer Iseler Singers 23, 47Esprit Orchestra 16, 45Essential Opera 53Exultate Chamber Singers 22, 49Flato Markham Theatre 42, 44Future of Cage: Credo 14Gallery 345 39Glenn Gould Foundation 75Grace Church on-the-Hill 46Group of 27 20Hannaford Street Silver BandB28, 51Heliconian Hall 60I Furiosi 46Jazz at Royal York 52Ken Page Memorial Trust Gala 38Kindred Spirits Orchestra 17, 49Liz Parker 61LIZPR 58Mississauga Symphony 43Mooredale Concerts 50Music at Metropolitan 20, 40, 48Music Gallery 13Music Toronto 9, 42, 50Musicians in Ordinary 41New Music Concerts 4Nine Sparrows Arts Foundation 52Nocturnes in the City 52INDEX OF ADVERTISERSNorm Pulker 62NYCO 19, 52Off Centre Salon 44Ontario Philharmonic 21Opera Bel Canto ofSouth Simcoe 46Opera-IS 59Orchestra Toronto 21Orpheus Choir 25Pasquale Bros 60Pattie Kelly 62Peter Mahon 22Remenyi House of Music 19Rose Theatre 53Roy Thomson Hall 13, 26, 50Royal Conservatory 11, 27Scarborough Philharmonia 43Sheila McCoy 62Silverthorn Symphonic Winds 45Sinfonia Toronto 17, 40, 49Soundstreams 15, 42Southern Ontario Chapter,Hymn Society 23St. Anne’s Church 7, 47St. James’ Cathedral 74St. Philip’s Anglican Church 35Steinway Piano Gallery 29Steve Jackson Pianos 26Sue Crowe Connolly 62Tafelmusik 2, 3Talisker Players 50Tallis Choir 43The Sound Post 36Toronto Centre for the Arts 41Toronto Chamber Choir 50Toronto Concert Orchestra 52Toronto Consort 33, 46Toronto Mendelssohn Choir 24Toronto School for Strings 61Toronto Sinfonietta 59Toronto Symphony Orchestra 76University of Toronto 20Via Salzburg 18, 43Windermere Quartet 29, 44Yamaha Music School 62You and Media 6236 thewholenote.com October 1 – November 7, 2012
Although the weather man may tell us that fall has officiallyjust begun, for most community ensembles the fall season iswell under way. If the fall concert isn’t scheduled for October,it will be in early November at the latest. Before we know it theChristmas concert will be on the horizon. It may even be time to planand select the repertoire for the spring.Ah, the repertoire, what is it? That very academic sounding wordconjures up many different images for many of us. Is it the next concertprogram, the music that’s in the rehearsal folder, what’s in theband’s library or ...? TheOxford dictionary definesrepertoire as a stock ofworks that a performerknows or is preparedto perform. Websterdefines it similarly. Inother words, it isn’tall of that material inthe band library thathasn’t seen the light ofday for years. It’s themusic that the bandwould be capableof performing withsome reasonablerehearsal time.For most bands,the die is cast forany performancesbwetween nowand the newyear. What aboutmusic for 2013?Will it be the same oldreliable chestnutsthat are rotatedregularly betweenthe library and therehearsal folder, orBeat by Beat | BandstandAh, RepertoireJACK MACQUARRIETell us what you would like to have in yourband’s library. Please send your suggestions tobandstand@thewholenote.com.will there be some new material? For me, this triggers two potentiallycontroversial questions. Who decides what should be in the library,what should be in the rehearsal folder and who plans the programs?My experience is that band members rarely have much say in concertprogramming. More about that later. Let’s start with the library andthen the rehearsal folder.What should be in a band library? Just about every band has itsstock of hackneyed or over performed works, the names of whichdon’t warrant repeating here; we all know which ones fall into thatcategory. Give them a rest. Put them in retirement for a year or more.So, here’s where we are asking for reader participation. We areasking you to tell us what you would like to have in your band’slibrary. We hope to put on The WholeNote website a suggestedpossible basic library. As a starter, I have come up with 16 categories,with one or two examples of what I consider to be worthwhilerepertoire in each category. (Feel free to disagree!) In any case, I inviteyou to send me your suggestions for what (else) you think should beincluded in a basic band library. If you have any new categories tosuggest, please do so.Here’s my “Better Band Library” starter kit:!!Suites for concert band: Holst Suite in E-Flat, Vaughan WilliamsFolk Song Suite.!!Concert overtures: Egmont Overture.!!Overtures to operas and operettas: Poet and Peasant,Light Cavalry.!!Broadway and London musicals: Oliver, Annie.!!Parade marches: The Middy, Invercargill.!!Concert marches: Pentland Hills, Colonel Bogey on Parade.!!Big band era arrangements: Big Band Favorites, Swinging Songsof Yesterday.!!Canadian: Calvert’s Suite on Canadian Folk Songs.!!Traditional: Grundman’s An Irish Rhapsody, Nestico’s AllThrough the Night.!!Arrangements of operatic solos: Nessun Dorma.!!Latin: Cha Cha for Band, Blue Tango.!!Gentle calming: Ashokan Farewell, Frank Ericson’s Air for Band.!!Arrangements associated with particular performers: AsPerformed by Sinatra or Eubie.!!Film scores: Titanic.!!TV scores: Mission Impossible.!!Novelty numbers: Lassus Trombone, Bugler’s Holiday.While many bands perform concerts with choirs and/or vocal soloists,there really is no significant recognized repertoire for suchcombinations. For now we will not include such categories inour basic library.The rehearsal folder: So, now that we have our basic library,what should be in our rehearsal folder? Should the rehearsalfolder only contain music that is being prepared for performance,or should there be some good rigorous material for the solepurpose of challenging the band members? Each such numbercould remain in the folder for a few weeks and then be replacedwith something new. For some years, I have been playing regularlyin a smaller group with a very extensive library. The contents ofthe rehearsal folder are constantly changing. At any time it containsabout half old material and half new. Not a rehearsal goes by withoutat least one number never seen before and others that haven’t beenOctober 1 – November 7, 2012 thewholenote.com 37
