This thread also reminds me that when I lived in England there were quite
a few albums and broadcast snippets of British brass bands, that colliery
tradition still surviving even in places where the coal mines had closed.
And British composers were not shy about composing for them.  More than
once I heard very modern stuff beautifully played by a bunch of inspired
amateurs on the radio.  Early in the 20th century there was still a
tradition of colliery bands in the Pennsylvania coal-mining country
where Tommy and Jimmy Dorsey came from, as well as arranger Bill Challis,
trombonist Spiegel Wilcox (who was still playing well into his 90s), and
many more.

Donald Clarke

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