«InSlide Out» at Christ Church

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InSlide Out, a trombone quartet, made a brief but memorable visit to Christ Church earlier today. This musical group is made up of Ben Copsey, Emily Nicolas, Joe Heartfield and Adam Warburton, and together they claim that they are «pushing the boundaries of traditional brass music» and «challenging the conventional norms of the trombone quartet». Their first piece was by John Williams. Furthermore, if you are wondering what the conventional norms of the trombone quartet are, you are out of luck, as the first rule of trombone quartets is not to talk about trombone quartets.

While their «Tokyo Triptych» by Philip Sparke had me pondering about how the connection trombone/city started, there is an undeniable urban/brass link captured by both jazz and city-building games that, in this trio of tunes, definitely captured the more metropolitan aspects of Tokyo with its first and third movements.

«A Song for Japan» was their next piece, a moving composition that was made by trombone players both inside and outside of Japan and has been arranged by Steven Verhelst for anything trombone, from solo to octet. This I felt was the highlight of the day— and I know I'm not alone in this appreciation.

David Faleris «City of Arts and Sciences», a tribute to Valencia's architectural complex, is a piece made à propos, and has a beautiful segment where the voices chase after each other and find themselves together in a crescendo that does speak to the innovative cohesion of Calatrava's work.

With a very sui generis take on «Libertango» by Piazzolla, InSlide Out waved goodbye to a crowd of nearly one hundred, and finished what was the shortest midweek concert I have attended yet.