Compositions

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Introduction

It has been over fifteen years since the Royal Australian Navy Band has produced a dedicated big band recording. Our last recording was titled ‘Generations in Swing’ and featured one of Australia's finest jazz musicians, Mr Don Burrows. If you are like me and enjoy the big band genre, you will agree that it has been too long between recordings.

The concept for this (compact disc) commenced when I was adjudicating skill grade ‘musician three’ assessments. These are a solo performance based assessment and require the candidate to perform a fifty minute recital. Not only was I listening to the wonderful performances of the Royal Australian Navy’s finest musicians, I was also listening to some incredible compositions which were written by our very own musicians.

On investigation, I found that these charts were written so that the band had new material to perform. On speaking to the musicians, it was agreed that this music was too good not to be recorded and enjoyed by all, and so commenced the process of recording this album. I would like to thank all of my musicians who submitted over twenty charts for recording consideration. Unfortunately, they all could not fit onto this recording. The good news is that this means there will be more recordings to come.

The jazz genre has played an important role in the history of the Royal Australian Navy Band. As you listen to this recording, I am sure you will agree with me that the standard of musicianship, solo and sectional performance on this recording is world class. It gives me much pleasure to present to you ‘Compositions’ recorded by the Royal Australian Navy’s ‘Admiral's Own Big Band’. I hope you enjoy this recording.

Lieutenant Commander Paul Cottier, RAN, Director of Music - Navy, August 2014