Swiftsure Big Band
The Swiftsure Big Band from Victoria, under the direction of Robin Bannister, came to the School to work with our jazz band students and to do some promotional recording in our music studio. This band has gained quite a reputation on the West Coast and a number of its members contribute to our pit orchestra and other musical endeavours throughout the year. Our students had a very enjoyable evening sitting next some pretty powerful players.
One of the tenors, now residing in Victoria, soloed with the Stan Kenton Big Band during the 70s and was very willing to share his expertise and experiences playing at such an accomplished level. They played with us on some numbers that we have been working on and then the students got the opportunity to tackle some of the charts that the Swiftsure Band had been working on. It definitely set the bar a little higher than normal. A big thank you to Mr. Bannister and we look forward to another opportunity to work with this very accomplished group in the future.
– Ralph Fraser, Band