The HSU Concert Band, under the direction of Dr. Wayne Dorothy, delivered another fine concert Monday night.

From the opening Ron Nelson Aspen Jubilee to the closing Jacques Offenbach La belle Hélène Overture, there was something for everyone and a most delightful variety. Two enjoyable debuts were those of Dr. Melody Rich and Chris Coltman. Dr. Rich’s untexted vocalise in Aspen Jubilee conjured up images of the great Sousa Band’s touring concerts of the 1920s, replete with an outstanding soprano soloist (as was the case here at HSU in Oct. of 1929!). Dr. Rich’s velvety voice, integrated into the wind band color, now soaring above, now blended into the ensemble, graced the middle section of Nelson’s piece (Night Song), which began and ended with a bustling Gershwinian city-traffic section.

Dr. Rich happily reappeared in the coda, developing the three-note motive underpinning the whole work. Steve Bryant’s Suite Dreams stretched both the band’s and the audience’s ears (Charles Ives would be proud) with fantasia-like paraphrases of the famous Gustav Holst First Suite for Band. The sometimes random, sometimes strict, rhythms and harmonies did conjure up an almost hallucinatory version of the suite, using fragments of the well-known melodies and harmonies in a new and fresh way.

The band, which played with great sensitivity, was even asked to sing (a la Crumb’s Time and the River) sustained notes. All in all, Suite Dreams was the outstanding work of the concert. By contrast, Mark Camphouse’s Dakota Rhapsody, while well-crafted and expertly performed by the band, seemed a rehash of familiar Western screen classic soundtracks. Star percussionist Chris Coltman’s conducting debut was striking for its sensitivity and musicianly rubatos in the Elgar Theme and [Nimrod] Variation. What is more, the Concert Band responded to Mr. Coltman’s conducting. The Cavez Tamboo was an often-heard Latin-American samba, the “bandistration” of which was quite effective, and certainly more often heard nowadays than the original accordion, guitar, piano, bass, and singer-cum-maracas version from the early 1950s, considering the band version dates from 1955, the year of the Les Baxter “hit” version. [Reviewer’s note: I quite clearly saw audience members dancing in their seats to this one!]

Last, but not least, the traditional “warhorse” was a treat. The La belle Hélène Overture (or should that be Ouverture?) offered one of Offenbach’s finest curtain-raisers, with its semi-serious introduction, its sensuous French slow valse, and its comically interrupting galop (showing more than a hint of can-can bloomers), driving to its uproarious conclusion.

The band’s next public offering will be a 3 p.m. Sunday matinee on Nov. 23. If great band music is your cup of tea, you won’t want to miss the next appearance of Abilene’s finest wind ensemble.

(Dr. Murl Sickbert is the music librarian and a professor at Hardin-Simmons University.)