Reviewed by Matthew Cordle

The Fountain City Brass Band comprises 30 players from the Greater Kansas City area and their calibre is demonstrated in that they have won the North American Brass Band Championships for 2007-2010, the US Open Brass Band Championships for 2007-2009, and the 2009 Scottish Open Brass Band Championships. Conducted by Dr Joseph Parisi, the repertoire they present here is diverse, ranging from Gershwin to Tchaikovsky, from film music to variations on a hymn tune. Most of the music has obviously had to be arranged for brass band, and the quality of the arrangements is such that you'd think the music was originally written this way if you didn't know better. The band's and soloists' performances are absolutely flawless throughout, covering the whole gamut of styles and emotions with equal poise, precision and passion. From the beautiful, warm and tender rendition of the Wizard Of Oz classic "Over The Rainbow" with its emotive flugelhorn solo, to the panache and showmanship of "Malaguena" by Ernesto Lecuona or Gershwin's "A Foggy Day (In London Town)" the classy brass band sound oozes quality and musicianship of the highest level. As well as the above, another highlight is Edward Gregson's "Variations On Laudate Dominum," the hymn usually sung with "O Worship The King," and this conveys well the majesty and grandeur of the words of that hymn. Bearing in mind this is a performance CD, not a Spiritual music selection, if you like brass band music you won't find better!

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The line from the classic Harold Arlen tune, Over the Rainbow, has indeed proven to be true for the Fountain City Brass Band. After winning both the North American Brass Band Association Championships and the U.S. Open Brass Band Championships three years in a row, the FCBB was fortunate enough to launch a tour that would go down in banding history.

As winners of the 2008 U.S. Open, the band was invited to compete in the following year's Brass in Concert Championship, as well as to give numerous concerts and youth workshops throughout the United Kingdom, record its second album and be the first American band to compete in the Scottish Open Championship. It was a lengthy trip that saw the band overseas during the American holiday of Thanksgiving which, being away from their homes and families, was spent as comfortably as possible in a castle-turned resort.

A few days after this, the band's dreams really did come true when the FCBB became the first American band to win a top level brass band competition in the UK with its victory at the Scottish Open. Aptly enough, their choice for this performance was Bertrand Moren's thrilling composition Dreams that also garnered the best soloist prize on the day for one of the founding members of the band, trombonist William Hess.

Given this remarkable success, that the future seems brighter than ever and that the band itself hails from Kansas, the Fountain City Brass Band has titled this recording Over the Rainbow.