Territorial Band Records New Album, ‘War and Peace’
May 2016 will be an eventful time for the Southern Territorial Band. The band will release its first recorded collection since 2013's "A Beautiful Savior" before embarking for the Western Territory and the North American Brass Celebration.
The new CD, titled "War and Peace," will reflect both the martial spirit and meditative side of life in The Salvation Army. It will be comprised of 10 compositions, with five of those written by territorial band members Nick Simmons-Smith, Steve Kellner, Jim Curnow and Andy Barrington, who has two selections. The content will be wide-ranging with classic marches, a new take on an old beloved hymn and a cornet quartet featuring Jeff Barrington, David Delaney, Lars-Otto Ljungholm and Manny Munoz. Also, Jason Hathorn, Clarence White, Tom Hanton and Matt Broome will be the featured players on a trombone swing arrangement authored by Simmons-Smith, the bandmaster.
"I like variety," said Simmons-Smith, who is also the territory's music secretary. So we tried to have something for everyone, old and new, classics and blues."
The tracks for the new release were recorded in mid-February in Atlanta. Phil Bulla, a Grammy Award winner, is mixing, mastering and engineering the recording. Dr. Ron Holz will write the program notes and perform quality control work on the recording. The website will include devotional thoughts on each song.
Upon its release in May, "War and Peace" will be available through iTunes and the Supplies and Purchasing Department.
The North American Brass Celebration, meanwhile, will take place May 21 at the Terrace Theater in Long Beach, California. Along with the Southern Territorial Band, the festival will feature the Canadian Staff Band, the Chicago Staff Band and the Southern Territorial Band. The event will celebrate the 10th anniversary of the Western Territory Staff Band.
Each band will perform in concert on that Saturday afternoon, and those performances will be followed by an evening concert program featuring the massed bands. On Sunday, each band will play at corps in the Los Angeles area.
Photo courtesy of Laura Dake