Sequim City, Band, Five Star Brass kick off new season

The Sequim City Band will host Five Star Brass, a brass quintet of the Navy Band Northwest, at its first indoor concert of the 2017-18 season, at 3 p.m. Sunday, Nov. 5, at the Port Angles High School auditorium, 304 E. Park Ave., Port Angeles.

The free public concert will feature symphonic concert band pieces that are dances of all forms.

Composed of two trumpets, French horn, trombone and tuba, Five Star Brass performs a variety of musical styles and for this concert will present “Mississippi Rag” by William Krell — the first rag, two-step ever published (1897). The success of this piece started the ragtime craze, a dance form that contributed to the development of jazz.

The brass quintet will switch to “Killer Tango,” an energetic piece composed for The Canadian Brass. “Dance” by Wilke Renwick will complete the offerings by the Five Star Brass band.

Under the direction of Tyler Benedict, the Sequim City Band will provide accompaniment to Five Star Brass playing the jazz standard “That’s a Plenty” by Henry Creamer and Bert Williams. The naval musicians will join the band for “Selections from Chicago” (John Kander), music composed for the satire on corruption in the administration of criminal justice.

In addition, music based on folk dances by two different composers will be presented, from Percy Grainger’s “Handel in the Strand” to “Armenian Dances (Part I)” by Alfred Reed, to “Slavonic Dances No. 8.”

Other compositions include “Amparito Roca a paso doble,” a dance form invoking Spanish bullfights. Several well-known waltzes will be easily recognized in “Waltz Time” with Johann Strauss.

The Navy Band Northwest is the official Navy band serving 13 states in the western United States. Five Star Brass performs for official military ceremonies and receptions as well as public concerts and patriotic events. Like other small ensembles, these musicians perform clinics for school music programs and children’s concerts in the Pacific Northwest.

Looking ahead

The Sequim City Band will also be playing the afternoon of Saturday, Nov. 25, as musical entertainment to greet Santa Claus as he arrives in downtown Sequim as a kickoff of the Christmas season.

Also mark your calendars for the band’s annual holiday concert, set for Sunday, Dec. 17, and its late winter concert on Sunday, March 11. Both concerts start at 3 p.m. at the Sequim High School auditorium, 533 N. Sequim Ave.

For more information about the Sequim City Band, find the group on Facebook or visit www.sequimcityband.org.