The trombones slid into home plate time after time at the spring concert of the Brass Band of Battle Creek.

Yes, it was clearly trombone night with Quebecois virtuoso Alain Trudel as the featured soloist. Trudel started out with a kind of Paganini-for-the-trombone rendition of Bluebells of Scotland with the band. A theme and variations arrangement in the classical mode, this selection gave Trudel a chance to show his incredible note range as well as an amazing range of techniques, dynamics, and moods.

Trudel had a chance to show his sulkier side with Hoagie Carmichael’s all-time crowd pleaser, Stardust. Can a trombone really croon and sigh like a saxophone? You bet it can, and Trudel obviously loves this end of the spectrum as much as the virtuoso end.

What’s a trombone evening without Meredith Willson’s Seventy-Six Trombones?

For its first half finale, the band had everyone smiling and tapping their feet to a whole medley from Music Man. The cornets gossiped away just like the clikity clackity matrons of River City. As a special treat, the band was joined by Marshall native Allisa Walters and the first-rate barbershop quartet, Upstage Sound from Kalamazoo for two numbers within the medley. Especially impressive, the entire barbershop rendition of Lida Rose was done a cappella, and then, when the band came in softly as back-up to Ms. Walters, the pitches matched perfectly.

As though that weren’t enough sliding, Trudel soloed again, along with the band’s three trombonists on another mellow Favorite I’m Getting sentimental Over You by band tubist, Sam Pilafian. As a first encore, Trudel and the section chose still another trombonist;s favorite Fillmore’s Lassus Trombone.

The rest of the program provided what has come to be “the usual” infinite variety and world-class quality.

The flugelhorn of Ken Bauman sounded particularly fateful in Verdi’s La Forza Del Destino principal melody. Each player in the band got to solo in a delightful arrangement of Fugue for Tinhorns from Guys and Dolls. All train bells and whistles blew for Sparke’s Orient Express.

And this reviewer’s favorite, English euphonium player Steve Mead, made us feel as if we were in an old English stone castle when he soloed in Richard’s haunting ballad, A Sweet Shepherdess.

Conductor Howard Snell returned from England for his third performance with the BBBC. His unconventional and at times almost fiery style of conducting provided that level of precision one has come to expect from the group. Michigan State’s John Madden also joined the BBBC as a guest conductor, featured in the rousing Music Man medley.

How could you possibly top Seventy-Six Trombones as a brass-band crown pleaser? There’s only one way and the BBBC found it, through their final rendition of Ravel’s Bolero, as arranged by conductor Howard Snell.

From the barely audible single snare to the fullest possible sound from all the percussion and brass, Ravel brought the crowd to their feet voting the whole concert a perfect 10.