“A great man who leads a great band” - “We’ve sung with most of the big bands, including Glenn Miller himself and singing with Opus One Big Band is always great fun” - “Wonderful to have Ted as a friend - thoughtful, caring and loyal, ...... conscientious, calm and hard working in spite of it being notoriously difficult to keep a big band together” - “He looks super in his uniform” - “The reception is always unbelievable”  

JOY, TEDDY & BABS ~ THE BEVERLEY SISTERS

  “The excitement and drive blow away the competition” “We’ve had some phenomenal nights - audience jumping, band jumping..... fabulous!” The charts make you pull your finger out and practice”  

ALAN BOYNTON - DRUMMER

  “Very impressed with the band” “A sweet man - very enthusiastic, and a nice bunch of guys” “My sort of music”  

DENIS LOTIS - TED HEATH BIG BAND VOCALIST

  “Delighted to work with the band, a real pleasure to work with” “Highly professional from the first contact to the last note of their performance”  

ROBIN & COLLETTE WEATHERSBEE

SWING DANCERS - MAINE EVENTS LTD.

  "We have followed all the Big Bands and seen them all many times ..... the Opus One Big Band with Gary Willaims and the Satin Dolls has to be one of the best nights entertainment we have seen .... I do sincerely hope you will be re-booking this band. We will be the first on the phone to book if you do"  

MR COLIN HOLMES  - CAMBRIDGESHIRE

  "All delivered with conidence and style ..... a memorable evening of stylish singing to please not only the fans of Frank Sinatra but also the Big Band enthusiasts. Oh yes, one important thing, all the performers looked like they were enjoying themselves. We were too!!"  

MR TED NUNN - SINATRA MUSIC SOCIETY

  "There are moments in ones life which you do not want to end .... The Millenium Concert with Gary Williams and the Opus One Orchestra - the finest orchestra we have heard since the hey-day of the Ted Heath orchestra was superb .... out of this world .... I found myself wondering if we were experiencing the same SHEER MAGIC as the audience who first heard the singing of Sinatra when he sang with the Harry James Orchestra".  

JOAN & LES SHAW - BIRMINGHAM

(Letter to 'Perfectly Frank' magazine - Readers Views)

  "Well, all I can say is that I have not had such a good time, and been so gobsmacked, as I was at our annual conference and the fabulous , and superb Gary Williams, and Opus One Big Band - unbelieveable, for a long time. Superb renderings of our Frank's classics, real mastery of the musicians, and the added bonus of The Satin Dolls was the icing on the cake. A standing ovation voiced all our admiration at the polished perfomance .... This one topped them all: a Number One ... "  

KAY PRICE - LONDON

(Letter to 'Perfectly Frank' magazine - Readers Views)

  ".... this concert will be strong in our memories for a long time to come - for what a concert!!. What a great guy Gary Williams is, and what about the band Opus One? and then to add the icing to the already wonderful cake we were given The Satin Dolls, really we could not have taken any more delights in one evening .... Beat this next year, IF YOU CAN!! "  

FRED BRITTON - BIRMINGHAM

(Letter to 'Perfectly Frank' magazine - Readers Views)

Review By The Sinatra Music Society

www.sinatra-ms.com

Concert held at Clarendon Suites, Hagley Road BIRMINGHAM England Sunday 8th October 2000

Concert by GARY WILLIAMS accompanied by THE OPUS ONE BIG BAND (29-piece band including string section).- Special Guests: The Satin Dolls Starting promptly at 3.30. p.m. and introduced by Honorary President of The Sinatra Music Society, Malcolm Laycock, the 27 piece Opus One Big Band (conducted by Founder Ted Higgins) including strings, struck up with their introductory medley overture, followed by the entrance of Gary Williams who opened with "Lady Is A Tramp" one of the many Sinatra favourites to which the capacity audience was to be treated over the course of the next three hours. Gary followed with "Come Fly With Me", chatted awhile and then sang "Nice And Easy".

The Satin Dolls, a trio of girl singers, (Heather Carmel, Babette Wright {Billy Wright's daughter} and Lyn Hart are a highly competent group and complemented both Gary's singing and the band's music, making for a seamless performance throughout.

All the performers were aware that the arrangements, songs and lyrics would be well known to the audience, which made them, as was admitted later, very apprehensive of their reception. In the event there need have been no concern. The band, most of whose members have been performing together for several years, some for the duration of the seventeen years that The Opus One Big Band has been in existence, were in great form, soloists from all sections performing to a very high degree. The warmth of the reception by this very knowledgeable audience must have been totally satisfying.

Gary Williams' tour de force (no less) was a revelation. His dress was immaculate, his manner, confidence personified, his style, approach to and treatment of his audience, impeccable. His mastery of the stage, his gestures, his supreme confidence in his approach to the work in hand could not be faulted. Every song he sang was word and note perfect and confirmed the belief of many in his audience, now surely his "fans", that he is the best young singer of the Sinatra era of melodies in the country, if not the world, to be heard and seen for many years. His interpretation of songs such as "One More For The Road" a Mercer/Arlen classic and the contrasting "Bad, Bad, Leroy Brown" had to be heard and seen to be believed. Not that Gary even tried to imitate Frank Sinatra, no 'sound alike' he, but his presentation of all of these well-loved classics was performed with a panache which would have pleased "The Guv'nor" himself.

Tribute must be paid to the band's soloists. On drums, Alan Boynton, saxophone and clarinet, Ronnie Findon, trombone, Phill Hyde and the leader of the string section, Donna Chapman.

The whole concert consisted of a well balanced programme of solos by Gary and each of the girls in turn, duets between each of the girls and Gary; the Satin Dolls as a group interspersed with instrumentals from the band. All in all, as many of the audience were heard to remark, "the best Convention Concert yet" and "how do we follow that next year?"

Gary's solos:
That's Why The Lady Is A Tramp
Nice And Easy
Nancy (With The Laughing Face)
More
Strangers In The Night
I've Got The World On A String
Fly Me To the Moon
Bad, Bad, Leroy Brown
Mack The Knife
Young At Heart
Witchcraft
I've Got You Under My Skin
All The Way
One For My Baby
My Kind Of Town
My Way
New York, New York
Ol' Man River


Satin Dolls
Group & Gary: Marie
Babette: Someone To Watch Over Me
Group: Boogie Woogie Bugle Boy
Heather & Gary: I've got A Crush On You
Lyn & Gary: Somethin' Stupid
Heather: Orange Coloured Sky
Group: Sunny Side Of The Street
Babette & Gary: They Can't Take That Away
Lyn: These Boots Are Made For Walking
Heather & Gary: Who Wants To Be A Millionaire?
Group: That's Life

Opus One Big Band
Overture
Trumpet Blues & Cantabile
Sing, Sing, Sing .

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