Humboldt Bay Brass Band Concert Notes

Concert Notes by Dr. Gil Cline, director and conductor

Kicking off the concert is the powerhouse overture Force of Destiny by Giuseppe Verdi.

 Following is Raymond Burkhart’s tone poem “Ozark Point,” and then a selection of Rodgers and Hammerstein melodies from Oklahoma.

 Ending the concert's first half is the tour-de-force Call of the Cossacks by Peter Graham. This 5-movement work tests all sections of the band, and highlights five soloists (one brandishing our so-called “Cossack Horn”) from within the band.

 The second half of the concert begins with Knight Templar, a roller-coaster major-minor masterpiece in counterpoint by George Allan.  John Rutter's “What Sweeter Music,” anticipates the December holidays.

HBBB’s stellar trombone section is featured in Blades of Toledo -- shredding notes at a furiously fast tempo, as if brandishing the famous swords and sabres of Toledo, Spain.


 Closing is HBBB’s observance of Veterans Day, this year with an echo version of Taps, then our custom arrangement of songs of six of the US military service branches. Encores are typical!

 Humboldt Bay Brass Band is directed and conducted by HSU professor Dr. Gil Cline, with assistant conductor Audrey McCombs. HBBB is the only true U.K.-style Brass Band in the North of California with 25 brass and four percussion. Far from some old “summer-park-concert-brass-band,” HBBB plays a very wide variety of music: very old to very new; marches to movies; and Gabrieli to grooves.

HBBB has recorded a full-length CD, performed often locally and on tour in Oregon while on the way to a festival in Seattle, re-introduced local historic music, and contributed newly-written works to current literature for “world band.”