Review

Kenneth Pearce
Barumba:
Five trombones

Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada
Publisher: Cherry Classics Music
Date of Publication: 2016
URL: http://www.cherryclassics.com

Score and parts

Primary Genre: Trombone Ensembles - 5 trombones

With Latin origins in medium bossa nova style, Barumba was written for and recorded by the Canadian trombone group iTromboni on their recent CD There Goes the Neighborhood. The melody is stated in the lower octave with a simple accompaniment that includes a fun and active bass trombone part, then played an octave higher with added second harmony part. The top three parts share the melodic duties throughout the piece along with most of the high register playing. These statements are then followed by an open improvisation section. The changes are in the first trombone part but this section could obviously be opened up for more soloists. Finally, there is a big, fully voiced version of the melody in the tenor parts over the bass line and a final coda. Barumba is fun, light and should be easy to put together. I have rated it as grade 4 only because three of the trombone parts reach up to d2. Bass trombone range is pretty reasonable and could be played on tenor. It is best as a quintet given the range but could be performed as a trombone choir with soloists.