Bay Bones - Henry Brant's Orbits premiere, St. Mary's - Feb 11, 1979

It was a unique day, even for San Francisco, when over 100 trombonists gathered at St. Mary's Cathedral to perform Henry Brant's amazing spatial composition Orbits, A Spatial Symphonic Ritual for 80 Trombones, organ and Sopranino voice for the first time. The public premiere performance that evening by all accounts was stunning, even warranting an article in Time magazine.
"The scene at St. Mary's Cathedral in San Francisco was vaguely surreal. In the pews was an audience of 1,500, sedate as any churchgoers. Ranged about them in a huge semicircle was a gleaming array of 80 trombonists, as if a parade had lost its way and sought sanctuary."

A recording was made of the performance, but unfortunately the CD is unavailable. Needless to say, the recording could not capture the full experience felt by the audience sitting within the giant circle of riotous trombonists. For more about this eclectic composer, see Henry Brant's bio.

A few black and white photographs were taken, and are presented here without any editing. No one seems to recall who took these pictures. If you know, please pass the information along to Billy Robinson so we may give proper credit here.

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