USA (Part 1: Chicago) by Helen Vollam
On reflection our journey to Chicago went fairly smoothly; not counting the large brood of (9) restless children sat in front of us on the plane. I empathised with the overburdened parents, despite Screaming Baby no.1 often being draped over my entertainment screen, while parents and various older children attempted to soothe Screaming Baby no.2 (with varying degrees of success) by some intense rocking and swaying which made the entire row in front of me very turbulent. I must admit it made for rather blurry viewing of Blackadder the Third! But laughter was the best medicine and I soon zoned out from the screaming… (no, not really).
A welcome mid-flight respite arrived in the form of a tray of champagne being delivered from the posh bit at the front – all courtesy of a pilot friend of Thomas Fountain’s who had liaised with our very helpful crew to organise the celebratory drink. Happy Birthday Tom!
After collecting our cabin luggage, there was a slight hiccup which could have derailed the entire tour before it had even begun: the henceforth unnamed guardian of the group’s suitcase containing all the music, mute holders and Aunt Dina the car horn*, neglected to take this vital piece of luggage off the plane! Luckily our occasionally quick-thinking bass trombonist grabbed it just in time. Upon checking the all-too-crucial car horn was intact, we disembarked into Chicago O’Hare Airport.
We had been warned that the immigration queues might be more arduous than usual due to the current government lockdown but we dutifully and swiftly traipsed through, clutching all the paperwork we could think of to justify our arrival/existence. We were, on this occasion, allowed into the United States of America with very little fuss.
Through customs we were very happy to be greeted by a beaming and annoyingly fresh-looking Peter Moore who had slightly deviated from the group travel and seemingly had a more peaceful journey. All gathered, we waited for our ride to the hotel. After a while a slick black minibus rolled up and we all piled in, frantically activating e-Sims and googling local places to eat.
We arrived at our hotel, checked in, and then attempted to walk to the nearby Westfield which had a bar and food court with our name on it. After a couple of confusing minutes (we ran out of sidewalk) we realised the entire area was under construction & virtually impassible for pedestrians. Mere moments later we were tucking into Chicago delicacies like ‘Italian beef’ sandwiches, hot dogs, ribs, onion rings and ice cold beer at Portillo’s, a short cab ride away. And relax.
After a relaxed morning we headed off to the Northeastern Illinois University to our rehearsal in the cosy (and acoustically quite dry) auditorium. We topped and tailed the programme and were then treated to a glorious spread of hot food riddled with vegetables! It was exactly the morale-booster (and nutritional content) we needed.
Our programme on this tour is a Septura favourite, An American in Paris, which starts with Artistic Director Matthew Knight’s arrangement of Ravel’s Mother Goose. This suite works so well for septet, with clever use of various mutes adding more colour. A real musical treat. Peter Moore welcomed the audience and spoke about our next suite, made up of six Debussy preludes, skilfully arranged by the group’s founder and former Artistic Director Simon Cox. A real highlight of the first half is the 2nd movement of our suite, The Girl with the Flaxen Hair, which was sumptuously played by James Fountain.
After the concert we met up with Jeremy Smith from Conn-Selmer (the company that make lots of our instruments) and an old college friend of mine, local trombonist Andy Baker, and we headed to Meier’s Tavern where we enjoyed a couple of refreshing drinks and some deep-fried snacks.
A very positive start to my first tour as a member of Septura. Looking forward to the rest of it!
*Aunt Dina is the affectionate name we have given the car horn (used in our arrangement of Gershwin’s An American in Paris), after a movement from Scott Joplin’s Treemonisha Suite, ‘Aunt Dina Has Blowed the Horn’.
