This unusual album shows the contemporary trombone in a rich variety of guises – dramatic, lyrical, flirtatious, solemn, capricious and many more –  in four recent concertante pieces for trombone and symphonic wind band, demonstrating the striking versatility of the instrument. It's an international undertaking, too: the soloist is English, the band and conductor American, and the composers American, Danish, Dutch and English, all four writing in a language that is direct and immediate.

Jan Van der Roost, born in Duffel, Belgium, on 1 March 1956, currently teaches at the Lemmensinstituut in Leuven. Besides being a prolific composer, he is also very much in demand as an adjudicator, lecturer, holder of clinics and guest conductor. His musical activities have taken place in more than 45 countries in four continents, and his compositions have been performed and recorded around the world.

Søren Hyldgaard was born in Fredriksberg, Denmark, on 6 August 1962 and died in Copenhagen on 9 May 2018, from complications from diabetes. An autodidact composer, he became widely respected both in his native Denmark and across Europe after winning his first official music award at the tender age of fourteen.

The Chicago-based James M. Stephenson (born in Joliet, Illinois, on 4 February 1969) came late to his full-time composing career, having performed seventeen seasons as a trumpeter in the Naples Philharmonic in Florida. As a composer, he is largely self-taught, making his voice truly individual and his life’s work all the more remarkable. Recent and future premieres have been given by the St Louis and Chicago Symphony Orchestras, the Minnesota Orchestra and at the Cabrillo Festival, as well as the US ‘President’s Own’ Marine Band.

Nigel Clarke is currently Composer to the Middle Tennessee State University Bands and International Composer in Association to the world-famous Grimethorpe Colliery Band in the UK.

Brett Baker (born in Gloucester in 1973) is viewed internationally as a leading brass performer and educator. One of the most often recorded brass soloists, he is passionate about encouraging composers to write pioneering new repertoire. Brett is Programme Leader for Musical Arts (previously band musicianship) at the University of Salford (Manchester). He continues to be an ambassador for Michael Rath Brass Instruments and is Principal Trombone of the Black Dyke Band. He is Festival Director of both the Singapore and Thailand Low Brass Festivals and is a Past-President of the British Trombone Society (BTS).

Natalie Grady trained at Drama Centre London. Alongside her work as an actor, she is also a professional dialect coach. She has won a number of distinctions in the Manchester Theatre Awards.

Dr Reed Thomas is the Director of Bands and a full Professor of Music and Conducting at Middle Tennessee State University. The Middle Tennessee State University Wind Ensemble is the premiere performing ensemble for wind, brass, and percussion students at the University; its members are selected through audition each semester and comprise the best musicians at MTSU.