Two Sisters Arts Centre in Trimley St Mary first opened its doors as a performing and visual arts venue in 2019 – and apart from the time during the pandemic – this beautiful historic building (it was previously St Mary’s church) has been a thriving hub for quality local artistes and exhibitions which is open to all.
One of the acts on that opening night in April 2019 was Stacks of Sax – an eight piece ensemble who all play the saxophone (varying from soprano through to baritone) and last night, I was fortunate enough to catch them with their latest offerings which included pop tunes from the last few decades, along with some which were a little less recent and more traditional.
The venue was sold out – Stacks of Sax clearly have a keen following – and we were warmly welcomed by band leader (and founding member) Adrian Budgen to the start of what was to be an evening of great music and different arrangements of popular songs, such as ‘California Dreaming’, ‘Eleanor Rigby’ and ‘Bennie and the Jets’.
The setlist also included tunes written by Adrian himself, and other band member, Tony Radford – and the band’s tribute to Burt Bacharach (a combination of ‘Casino Royale’ and ‘The Look of Love’) was simply joyous.
Lucy Ball – another founder member and who plays the soprano sax – told me after the show, that Stacks of Sax originally formed in 1997 and have been playing street fayres, weddings, charity events and formal concerts ever since. Their interpretation and musical arrangements of songs are engaging, uplifting, original and enchanting.
They certainly know how to entertain and closed their show with a rousing rendition of the wonderful ‘Bring Me Sunshine’ – most widely known as the closing tune for the magnificent Morcambe & Wise – and I’ve no doubt they’ll be bringing more sunshine to a venue nearby very soon!
