- Black Dyke Band
The Black Dyke Band, formerly the Black Dyke Mills Band, is one of the oldest and best known
brass band s in the world. It was formerly the band of the Black Dyke Mills in Queensbury, WestYorkshire ,England , a company owned by John Foster. Foster, aFrench horn player, joined with others in a small band in Queensbury in 1816. This band faltered but finally, in 1855, Foster and other musicians established the new mill band and outfitted it with uniforms made from the mill's own cloth. The band has remained active since that time, and still rehearses in its original rooms.The band has won many prizes and competitions over the years. In September 1968, it released a single on the
The Beatles ’Apple Records label. The a-side was an instrumental composed byPaul McCartney called "Thingumybob" (the theme to aYorkshire Television sitcom of the same name starringStanley Holloway ). The flipside was a brass band instrumental version of theLennon/McCartney song "Yellow Submarine". The single was released under the name John Foster & Sons Ltd Black Dyke Mills Band, produced by McCartney, and was one of the first four singles issued on the Apple label.The Black Dyke Band has made many recordings including classical music. It has recorded with classical bass trombonist
Douglas Yeo , and pop actsTori Amos ,Peter Gabriel andThe Beautiful South . The band also worked with Gabriel on the highly acclaimed Millennium Show, featured in theMillennium Dome , as well as recording the music for the BBC programmeGround Force .Black Dyke was the first band to achieve the "Grand Slam" in 1985 by winning the Yorkshire regional, European, British Open and National Championship contests. They were also voted BBC band of the year.
Notable members of the current line up include Principal Trombonist Brett Baker, and Principal Cornetist Richard Marshall (who previously was Principal Cornet at
Grimethorpe Colliery Band for 10 years), the seat commonly referred to as 'the hottest seat in banding'.External links
* [http://www.blackdykeband.co.uk Black Dyke Band]
* [http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/bradford/4516832.stm GNER train named after band in December 2005]Audio clips
* [http://sveioskulekorps.no/musikk/Black%20Dyke%20-%20Variations%20on%20'Laudate%20Dominum'.mp3 Variations on "Laudate Dominum"] by
Edward Gregson .
* [http://www.jinglemad.com/audio/gftheme.mp3 Theme] to "Ground Force "
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