Mike Lovatt's Brass Pack
Mike Lovatt - Music Director
Colin Skinner - Composer / Arranger / Conductor
Vocalists
Matt Ford
Louise Clare Marshall
Trumpets
Tom Walsh
James Davison
Danny Marsden
James Copus
Chris Storr
Derek Lawton
Trombones
Gordon Campbell
Andy Wood
Tom Dunnett
Pete North
Horns
Annemarie Federle
Diana Sheach
Matt Gunner
Kira Doherty
Tubas
Dave Kendall
Sasha Koushk-Jalali
Piano
Graham Harvey
Guitar
Tommy Emmerton
Harp
Geraldine O’Doherty
Percussion
Jez Cornes
Corrina Sylvester
James Bower
Double Bass
Lawrence Ungless
Drums
Tom Gordon
Mike Smith
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Concerts Manager
Rachel Whibley
Step back in time to 1958, when Billy May arranged and composed music for the iconic album, Big Fat Brass. Recorded at Capitol Studios Los Angeles, this album featured Hollywood's top studio musicians, including those who worked with legends like Frank Sinatra, Nelson Riddle, Nat King Cole, and Ella Fitzgerald. The sound of this album has inspired many over the years, including Mike Lovatt, who decided to form a new group called Mike Lovatt's Brass Pack.
The goal of this group is to not only recreate the sound of Big Fat Brass but also to bring new arrangements and compositions to this style of brass ensemble. The group is essentially a big band with French horns taking the place of saxophones. In addition to the horns, the group features piano, guitar, bass, drums, tuned percussion, harp, and two tubas.
One of the highlights of Mike Lovatt's Brass Pack is their performance of the 'Suite from Carmen,' arranged by the multi-talented composer, arranger, and instrumentalist Colin Skinner. Originally performed by the Royal College of Music Brass Ensemble, this suite is now heard for the first time in a special virtually recorded performance by London's finest musicians. Click on the link below to hear the sizzling lockdown recording.
If you're a fan of the classic sound of Big Fat Brass or just love the sound of a brass ensemble, you won't want to miss Mike Lovatt's Brass Pack. With their unique blend of classic and contemporary arrangements, this group is sure to delight audiences of all ages.
How it all began
Creating Opportunities for Young Musicians
A Schools Crowd Funding Project in Perth by Perth Festival of The Arts
REVIEW from 4barsrest
The golden age of classic big band swing may have passed but echoes of its sumptuous brilliance will never fade. Mike Lovatt’s Brass Pack will see to that.
For one night only, the Harrogate Theatre was Studio A at 1750 Vine Street, Hollywood in peak 1950s early 1960s all over again – the freshness of the playing on the hits of Billy May, Gordon Jenkins, Elmer Bernstein, Alec Wilder and the like, a tribute in itself to the superb reimagining skills of Colin Skinner’s orchestrations.
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This though was no pastiche tribute act. The scope and originality of his arrangements, the sheer pizzazz of the performers (a fantastic 25-piece band complete with French Horns, piano, tuba and harps to supplement the main brass, drums and percussion) and the supple, leonine leads of both Mike Lovatt and Matt Ford marked with an authenticity all of their own.
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The scope and originality of his arrangements, the sheer pizzazz of the performers and the supple, leonine leads of both Mike Lovatt and Matt Ford marked with an authenticity all of their own.
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It was bullseye playing from the outset; the ‘Sinatra Overture’ a taster menu of greatest hits from ‘New York, New York’ to ‘Chicago’ via ‘In the wee small hours’ and ‘Stranger in the Night’ that left you hungry for more.
And it came in Michelin star portions thereafter – from the ensemble instrumentals of ‘The Tender Trap’ and ‘Dindi’ to ‘You Make Me Feel so Young’ and ‘All the Way’ to a brilliant ‘May’s Way’ Billy May homage to the greatest Sinatra hit of all.
Peak Sinatra
Matt Ford’s languid styling recalled peak Sinatra (who sang alongside the orchestra rather than in a booth for the Capitol recordings) – the classiest of takes on ‘In the Still of the Night’ taking you back in time.
And the hits just kept coming; ‘Young at Heart’ followed by Lovatt’s sumptuous take on ‘Look to your Heart’ and the Frankie ‘Dealer Machine’ lead on ‘The Man with the Golden Arm’. Ford’s triptych spotlight starting with ‘The Best is Yet to Come’ flowed with easy listening swagger.
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There was also a lovely direct link made with the trumpet duet ‘The Moon was Yellow’ that saw Mike Lovatt team up with Tom Walsh, whose grandfather was its Canadian orchestrator, Robert Farnon.
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A memorable evening of entertainment came to an epic climax with Colin Skinner’s ‘Sinatra in Hollywood’ medley that wove ‘Hooray for Hollywood’ to ‘My Kind of Town’ to ‘Three Coins on a Fountain’, ‘Luck be a Lady’,‘Who wants to be a Millionaire’ and more into a musical tapestry Nelson Riddle would have been proud of – and so would have ol’ blue eyes too.
Harry Blackledge
James Morrison features Brass Pack!
James Morrison featured Mike Lovatt's Brass Pack on his BBC Radio 2 show Top Brass on Sunday 23rd January 2022.
