In the early 2000s I played cornet with a small group of brass players featuring a few members of the original City band including
- Charlie Easton – Cornet
- Jimmy Easton – Euphonium
- Jimmy Flockart – Trombone
Also present on the weekly rehearsal were
- Arnold Myres – E Flat Bass/Sousaphone
- Dick Shepherd – Cornet/Flugel
- Malcolm Hobson – Cornet
We did not hold back on what we played even though we had so few members. Charlie – far right second row – used to conduct and play solo cornet!
Lord of the Isles, Tantalasqualen, Scheherazade etc …
To download the high quality audio mp3 version of City of Edinburgh Band Volume 1 click “here”
In it’s hey-day the City of Edinburgh band were one of the top bands in Scotland. Fortunately the band’s radio broadcasts were recorded on magnetic reel-to-reel tapes by Gordon Thomson Senior and Charlie Easton. In 2006 I was able to transcribe and digitally process these and generated eight volumes of audio CDs with sets made for each band member. These were live broadcasts and not studio recordings. Although not perfect they remain important and significant historical moments in time. The present day “City” band have the original band’s sheet music library, albeit not wonderfully stored, but when I was briefly a member there did not appear to be a great interest in tackling any of it.
CITY OF EDINBURGH BAND Compilation (Volume 1)
Recorded by Gordon Thomson Senior on magnetic Reel to Reel
1.March: Processional Composer:Thomas Wilson
2.Overture:Jodrell Bank Composer:Peter York
3.Second Suite in F Major Composer/Arr:Holst/Sydney Herbert
4.Scheherazade Composer: Nikolay Rimsky-Korsakov
5.Solemn Melody Composer: Sir Henry Walford Davies
6.Padstow Lifeboat (incomplete) Composer: Malcolm Arnold
7.Rhapsody: Lord of the Isles Composer: William Rimmer
8.March: The Swashbuckler Composer: Morton
9.Overture: Tancredi Composer: Rossini
10.Overture for an Epic Occasion Composer: Denis Wright
11.Song of the North Composer: Schumann/Sydney Herbert
12.Variations for Brass Band Composer: Vaughn Williams
Kenneth Alford March “Old Panama”
Solo Euphonium player James Easton gives us a beautiful rendition of Edward MacDowell’s “To a Wild Rose”
John Hoggans conducts Franz von Suppe’s “Tantalasqualen”
City of Edinburgh Band : The Exhibition is a link to the Reid Concert Hall Museum of Instruments, Bistro Square, Edinburgh
The City of Edinburgh Band is now the Edinburgh Brass band – see https://www.edinburghbrassband.org.uk/