Philip Jones Brass Ensemble

Although its founding occurred in 1951, the Philip Jones Brass Ensemble waited until the 1962 Aldeburgh Festival for its inaugural full-length concert and delayed its debut recording until 1970. As the earliest ensemble of its kind, it appeared in the leading concert halls worldwide and worked with the foremost recording companies. Philip Jones, born in 1928, established the group after serving as principal trumpet at Covent Garden from 1948 to 1951; the ensemble began as a quintet of two trumpets, horn, trombone, and tuba.

Throughout its thirty-five-year history the players most consistently linked to the Philip Jones Brass Ensemble were Elgar Howarth, also recognized as a composer and conductor, on trumpet; Ifor James on horn; John Iveson on trombone; John Fletcher on tuba; and Jones himself. Additional musicians engaged for larger scorings included hornist Alan Civil together with James Watson, John Wilbraham, Rod Franks, John Miller, Denis Wick, Dave Stewart, Chris Mowat, and Frank Lloyd.

Jones spent four seasons with the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra beginning in 1956 and an equal period with the Philharmonia starting in 1960. From 1962 onward the ensemble gradually expanded its reputation and repertory, particularly through works by Giovanni Gabrieli and Johann Pezel, while Jones held shorter posts with the London Philharmonic Orchestra in 1964–1965, the New Philharmonic Orchestra in 1965–1967, and the BBC Symphony Orchestra from 1968 to 1972. Once Jones departed the BBC, the group had already issued its first recordings and was sought after across Britain, Europe, and the United States. Commissions followed, among them Raymond Premru’s Divertimento of 1976, alongside further contemporary scores by Richard Rodney Bennett, Hans Werner Henze, and Toru Takemitsu. The ensemble also collaborated with choirs, notably the London Bach Choir, and frequently performed transcriptions; Elgar Howarth’s 1979 arrangement of Mussorgsky’s Pictures at an Exhibition received both its premiere and recording by the group.

After leaving the BBC Symphony Orchestra in 1972, Jones devoted increasing time to teaching and stepped down from the ensemble in 1986 to concentrate on that activity. A singular mishap—driving over his trumpet case—prompted the retirement. The ensemble disbanded but later reassembled as London Brass. Its pioneering work paved the way for comparable ensembles, including the Canadian Brass and the Empire Brass.