Louis Dowdeswell: ‘Out of Print’

The legendary trumpeter Louis Dowdeswell has brought his playing and bandleading to a new high with ‘Out of Print’.

Even if you don’t know the originals - and I suspect that everyone would recognise at least half of these classic works - then you are going to love the big band/brass orchestra combination of arrangements that stand alone as modern approaches to classical music. Throughout the album, Dowdeswell’s own trumpet shines through, often taking the lead before sharing it elsewhere.

Out of Print begins with Mars, a blistering big band tune that takes Holst into a whole new sphere. The huge sound of the big band includes, of course, trumpets soaring above the depth of the full sound of the whole ensemble. Everything gets stripped back for a tenor sax solo from Martin Williams, building with intense backing riffs from the sections until the whole is united with complex rhythms enhanced by a tight rhythm section, with a sweet trumpet solo thrown in to once more bring the intensity down before a powerful ending.

Bringing Danse Macabre right up to date includes great sectional writing and playing, and a brilliant guitar solo from Tommy Emmerton. Everything (nearly) gets taken down a notch for Au Claire de La Lune which retains the intensity of the ensemble with more and Graeme Blevins’s sax solo gently emerging from a sectional section.

With a touch of comedy, there’s a playful Slide of the Valkyries that features (of course) the whole trombone section and solos from Andy Wood and Callum Au.

Less of the humour comes from the beautiful Nessun Dorma before the immediately recognisable Carmen and a simply stunning rendition of Nimrod. I suspect that Elgar would have loved the approach of using everything the 20th and 21st centuries have added to the musical vocabulary. This is where Callum Au's writing for the symphonic brass orchestra is extraordinary.

The centre point of Out of Print is the updated Pictures at an Exhibition that starts where Mussorgsky left off 150 years ago. It includes all 40 musicians from the big band and orchestra, as well as solos from Callum Au (trombone) and Nigel Hitchcock (alto sax).

The final two pieces are wonderful arrangements of Jerusalem and the William Tell Orchestra. Both are instantly recognisable yet convey their own colour.

Louis says of the concept behind creating Out of Print: “Take ten pieces everyone knows and give them arrangements that have never existed before, played by the finest musicians in Britain. Swing where nobody has dared to swing. Pure brass where the original deserves it.”

And that’s what you get with Out of Print - brilliant, inventive arrangements of classical tunes you will know.

Get your own copy of ‘Out of Print’