MUSICIAN and conductor Frank Renton returned to his Yorkshire roots with the Hepworth Band for the annual Aireborough Rotary concert in Yeadon town Hall.

A week earlier the band had taken part in the National Brass Band Championships of Great Britain at the Royal Albert Hall.

Guest soloist Jonathan Bates also appeared as Principal Horn of Foden’s Brass Band who had taken the title for the 15th time.

Aireborough Rotary spokesman Robert Mirfield said: "Sub-titled the American Songbook, conductor Frank knew what he wanted to include selecting a wide ranging variety of items, changing the mood number by number but with the band ready to take on the challenge bringing the best out of its members.

"As ever the introduction of each piece produced interesting detail from the knowledgeable compere with praise for composers and arrangers epitomised in the inclusion of the strikingly different ‘Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom’ and ‘Hymn to the Fallen’ the moving closing music with the camera panning over countless white crosses on war graves in France from ‘Saving Private Ryan’ both composed by John Williams for Steven Spielberg films.

"Jonathan Bates excelled in playing several solos including Slavische Fantasy by Hohne and music from another film ‘the Children of Sanchez’. Here on drums Peter also took centre stage after listening to rehearsal room advice to ‘go for it’. The smiles from soloist Jonathan showed success in the partnership had been achieved. The Carpenters ‘Rainy Days and Sundays’ was his final emotional solo, with Frank confessing to the one day error in the title overlooked by several reliable proof readers.

"As ever band members showed their appreciation in applauding soloists which included their own George Newbould for his gifted rendition of Hoagy Carmichael’s ‘Georgia on my mind’.

"The two musicals included both had story lines of different tensions in Rogers and Hammerstein’s ‘South Pacific’ and Leonard Bernstein’s ‘West Side Story’. Seen by Frank when it first appeared in the West End it earned his praise as ‘a great work of art’.A musically knowledgeable Aireborough member on leaving declared this the best concert ever ‘both for the programme and musicianship of the highest order’."

Mr Renton has hosted the Aireborough Rotary concerts since 1998 with three different bands, and has raised more than £65,000 for the Aireborough club’s diverse charitable efforts.

The conductor has been a household name among music lovers for many years, presenting the weekly Listen to the Band programme on BBC Radio 2 for more than two decades. Born in Bradford in 1939, he became a professional trumpet-player, and in 1967 he won a Competition for Young Conductors at the Edinburgh Festival. In 1985 he became Principal Conductor of the Royal Artillery Orchestra. In 1988 he was appointed Principal Conductor of the British Concert Orchestra.