This week’s #MusicMonday release features Kenneth Alford’s march “H.M. Jollies” and Gordon Jacob’s Music for a Festival, conducted by Lt. Col. John Ware, H. M. Royal Marines. From “Bicentennial Collection Disc 10: Guest Conductors,” the works were recorded in January 1989 at the John Philip Sousa Band Hall in Washington, D.C.
Alford and Jacob on YouTube
From the recording program booklet:
The U.S. Marine Band’s warm relationship with H. M. Royal Marines has been mentioned earlier [in the program booklet]. This continued in a more formal way when Lt. Col. John Ware, incoming Principal Director of Music of H.M. Royal Marines, asked to spend a sabbatical with the U.S. Marine Band prior to taking command of the Royal Marines. Lt. Col. Ware spent a month in Washington observing rehearsals and working with the band. Among the fruits of his work with the band are these rehearsal recordings of Alford’s “H.M. Jollies” the title of which is a nickname for the Royal Marines (and therefore one of their special marches), and five movements of Gordon Jacob’s “Music for a Festival.” Before his death, Gordon Jacob related to the Marine Band that we had been one of the first American ensembles to perform “Music for a Festival” and expressed his gratitude for helping to introduce it to America.