Given the number of ensembles and chamber groups that come and go over the years, it’s very much to the credit of Bones Apart that the pioneering all girl champions of the trombone quartet are still going strong in this, the group’s tenth anniversary year.

Changes

True, there have been one or two personnel changes over that first decade, but the objectives of the ensemble remain the same; to develop the trombone as an instrument in a chamber music environment, to further grow the now expanding repertoire for trombone quartet and to educate via a range of projects and school workshops that have always remained central to the quartet’s activities.

Successful

Comprising Becky Smith, Jayne Murrill (familiar to brass band enthusiasts as the Principal Trombone player with Redbridge Brass and conductor of East London Brass), Helen Vollam and Lorna Mc Donald, the members of the group all enjoy successful freelance careers but still find time to devote to touring and recording with the group, the release of this new CD being timed to coincide with a tenth anniversary tour that takes Bones Apart to various parts of the country including the RNCM and RSAMD during October 2009.

Classics

Unlike the group’s last CD of a couple of years ago Enigma, which predominantly featured arrangements of well know classics, Four 4 Four concentrates on four original and largely light hearted works, three of which are by British trombonist/composers and the fourth, Myths and Legends, by respected American composer Eric Ewazen.

Title track

The piece that lends its title to the disc, Brian Lynn’s 'Four 4 Four', is one of a substantial handful of original pieces and arrangements that the bass trombonist wrote during his period of involvement with John Kenny’s Taverner’s Trombones.
 
It comprises four short, contrasting movements, the first of which is constructed around syncopated rhythmic patterns, followed by a more darkly honed blues, jazzy waltz and a final movement that after an initial fanfare, concludes with a series of somewhat tongue in cheek exercises in slurring - the result of Lynn having spent many hours engaged in “incessant slur practising” with Dudley Bright. 

The fact that Bones Apart can entertain with lip slurs to the degree that they do here has got to say something for the talents of the players involved!

Deprecating

Simon Wills’ rather self deprecating description of his 'Sonata' as a “little jeu d’esprit that hardly merits the attention the dismal musicologists” belies what is actually a substantial piece, the weight of which rests on a darkly sonorous, funereal slow movement (echoes of the austerity of the central movement of Heaton’s 'Contest Music' here) that is thrown out of kilter part way through by a somewhat grotesque waltz. 

With outer movements that are by turns witty and quirky in equal measure, Bones Apart capture the changing moods of the music with consummate skill, by turns rich and atmospheric in the central movement whilst demonstrating impressive rhythmic agility and technical control in the deceptively demanding third movement.

Myths and Legends

Eric Ewazen’s 'Myths and Legends' might initially point towards a more overtly American language, but the piece is surprisingly romantic in the gentle and affecting chorale that forms the second movement, once again sensitively captured and coloured by the gloriously balanced sounds of the ensemble. 

The high spirits of the final movement allow each member of the ensemble ample opportunity to demonstrate individual ability, with Bones Apart taking full advantage in a display of impressive virtuosic prowess.                     

Odd work out

Dan Jenkins’ 'Cold Tea, Toast and Marmalade' is in some ways the odd work out, being a single movement five minute piece constructed around the sleazy bass trombone riff heard immediately in the opening bar. 

Lorna McDonald is the star here in what amounts to a bass trombone feature, her darkly hued tones being eminently (but perhaps alarmingly!) suited to Jenkins portrait of his apparently dingy student digs whilst studying at the Guildhall School of Music in the 1980’s. 

It’s squalid stuff, as reminiscent of smoky, possibly rather suspect jazz bars as it is of the uniquely stale aroma of student lodgings, although it’s a scene the girls of Bones Apart can clearly associate with, given the atmosphere of the performance captured here.

Top form

All in all, this is Bones Apart on top form in a programme of original music that engages and entertains in equal measure. 

The playing is never less than slick, polished and technically assured, whilst the quality of the recording is every bit as slick as the playing.

Christopher Thomas