Stamp Brass Band Toccata TOCC0745

Jack Stamp (b.1954)
Music for Brass Band
Contents listed below review
Steve Ecklund (horn)
Bill Chouinard, (organ)
Lake Wobegon Brass Band/Michael Halstenson
rec. 2018-24, University of Wisconsin-River Falls and Edina High School, Minnesota, USA
Toccata Classics TOCC0745 [70]

The brass band is not particularly popular in the USA, where on college campuses the wind band reigns supreme. It is therefore wonderful to have available these works for brass band by an American composer Jack Stamp. Dr Stamp was born in Maryland in 1954, as John Stamp, but is apparently universally known as ‘Jack’. A well-known figure, both as conductor and composer, in the symphonic wind-band movement, he has held positions at many American universities. As this disc shows, he has a longstanding interest in the brass band sound and has a long association with the Minneapolis-based Lake Wobegon Brass Band, which takes its name from Garrison Keillor’s fictional Minnesota town. This is rather an unfortunate choice of name, as Mr Keillor’s brand has become rather tarnished in recent years.

The brass band is quite tricky to score for, and even distinguished British composers who wrote works for the ensemble entrusted the scoring to specialists. Dr Stamp has however, brilliantly captured the sound world in his imagination and translated it to the page. His very readable liner notes give a lively history of his involvement with the genre. Anyone familiar with the recent releases of brass band works by George Lloyd or Sir Malcolm Arnold will feel comfortable with these works; there is nothing to frighten the horses.

The disc opens with Mill City Flourish, originally for brass quintet and here seamlessly transcribed for band. Dr Stamp in his notes says that in he has been inspired by the music of Edward Gregson and in this work seems to pay homage to that doyenne of the brass band world. It is tuneful and approachable, acknowledging the past but very much of the present. 

The longest work of the disc is the suite From Concrete to Cobblestones: 5 Impressions of England, very much an American’s impression of England. The opening fanfare like movement is in homage to the demolished Royal Military School of Music in Twickenham and seems to pay tribute to Sir Malcolm Arnold’s classic Little Suite No 1 and I have no problem with that. Movement two is a glorious fantasy on the folk tune ‘The water is Wide’. He shows his skill in writing for the ensemble with a clever counter melody for the E flat cornet, which is not the easiest of instruments to write for. The fantasy, on the ever-popular Scarborough Fair, makes a Percy-Grainger-like use of the tuned percussion and has some idiomatic solos for section principals.

The funkier, more American sounding works appealed to me less, but I know they will have their market.  Bare-Ass Funk with its funky rhythms and drum kit and hand clapping will probably have an exceptional life on bandstands around the world. 

Because of its history, there is much church inspired music in the brass band repertoire and Dr Stamp’s arrangements of some familiar and unfamiliar hymns sound just right.  Particularly affecting is his Memories on Crimmond which was written in memory of Queen Elizabeth ll who died when he was in England. The organ makes a welcome appearance in Psalm 150 in what is an arrangement of a wind band work. The disc ends with a festive arrangement of a 17th century French carol here given a thoroughly modern setting being in a foot stamping 7/8.

It is, for me, fascinating to hear an American’s take on what is so indigenous to Britain. Dr Stamp clearly has such a vivid inner ear and has made such a detailed study of the repertoire that all of the works sound idiomatically perfect. Michael Halstenson is clearly a great band director, and I was sorry to read he has now retired. The American engineers have done a great job in capturing the sound world and the whole production is up to Toccata Classics’ usual high standards.

Paul R W Jackson

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Contents
Mill City Flourish (2019, arr. 2021)
From Concrete to Cobblestones: 5 Impressions of England (1996)
Fanfare for the Rock
The County of Dorset
Mind the Gap
Hymn to Dunblane*
The City*
San Luis Snapshots (2016, arr. 2020)
Scarborough Fair (2022)
From a Distant Hill (2023)
Bare-Ass Funk (2024)
Cuban Stingers (2017)
Six Hymn Tune Settings (2012-2024)
Psalm 150 *
Fast Falls the Eventide 
For the Beauty of the Earth 
Infamy*
Memories on Crimmond
Grace and Glory 
Two Christmas Settings (2017-2022)
Infant Holy, Infant Lowly
Bring a Torch
All Except * are First Recordings