Last week the New York Staff Band completed its most recent recording project which will be used for our upcoming tour of the UK Territory and the Boundless Congress. We were privileged to be able to use the chapel at the College for Officer Training in Suffern, NY and this provided a wonderful space for the recording.
This recording will have a wide variety of pieces including six pieces that are being recorded for the first time. Highlighting this set of new pieces is “Americana” by Martin Cordner which was specifically written for our upcoming tour. Also included in this list of new works is “Fortress” by Harold Burgmayer and “Whatever it may cost” and “Gabriels Oboe” both by Dorothy Gates.
Another new piece that we recorded is a wonderful arrangement by Peter Graham of Bruce Broughton’s, “Alone Yet Not Alone”. Special mention to Adam Fyn for some fabulous playing on this very exposed baritone part. You will be sure to enjoy this piece.
On this album we will be featuring two solo items. Our principal cornet player, Gordon Ward, gave a fine performance of Erik Leidzen’s classic cornet solo, “Tucker”. Joining Gordon as soloists on this album are his two sons, Chris and Tim Ward who will be featured on Dorothy Gates new arrangement of “Gabriels Oboe” for Eb Soprano and Eb Alto Horn.
In addition to featuring several new pieces we were also able to feature several old classics that are very welcome on this album. First we have a set of pieces from Eric Ball in “Kingdom Triumphant” and “Songs of the Valiant”. Joining this set of pieces is the title track of this album, “Fighting for the Lord” by Emil Soderstrom.
Special thanks to Ted Marshall who once again joined us as our engineer. Ted started doing recording with the NYSB 33 years ago and it was very special to have him along for this recording. Joining Ted in the booth was Dr. Ronald Holz. Ron has a long relationship with the band in writing and capturing the bands history and guided us along through this recoding quite well.
We look forward to launching this new album in June and hope that you will find a place for it in your library. See below for a complete track listing.
Alone Yet Not Alone – Bruce Broughton
Americana – Martin Cordner
Crown of Conquest – R S-A
Evening Hymn – RS-A
Fighting for the Lord – Emil Soderstrom
Fortress – Harold Burgmayer
Gabriels Oboe – arr. Dorothy Gates
Phoenix – Peter Graham
Songs of the Valiant – Eric Ball
Stars & Stripes – Dorothy Gates
Tucker – Erik Leidzen
Whatever It May Cost – Dorothy Gates
The Kingdom Triumphant – Eric Ball
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