I woke up with the birds early next morning with this on my mind and went to my study to see if I could conjure something up. I’m useless at making up words, especially sentimental ones. Anyway, while I was thinking, I was absent mindedly doodling with a couple of chords on the piano. I gave up on my word composition and started developing my chord sequence instead. Eventually, a theme started building on the changes and I realised that what was materializing had to be a bass trombone feature. It then hit me that my new tune said everything that I was unable to put into words. The laid back style describes George and his life long devotion to promoting the bass trombone as a solo instrument, and the title “Mr. Nice Guy” just about sums up how I feel about him as a musician and friend. The tune is subtitled “Song for Bass Trombone” and is dedicated to George.

“It was premiered at George’s celebratory night in Hollywood by Phil Teele with Bones West, the ctrombone choir that George himself had created back in 1980 and is still going strong.”

This solo can be purchased from the online store with arrangements written for big band, brass band, wind band and trombone choir.

Since then Adrian has spent all his life excelling in the field of arranging and composing for a wide variety of ensembles and different styles of music.

Adrian was born in London during the height of the blitz. This was his first encounter with loud, explosive things made of brass. The second was the cornet. In his early childhood, he received instruction on this instrument from his father, a long-serving soldier-musician in the Grenadier Guards.

During his years at military boarding school, Adrian could not find a music instructor that was willing to teach him much else other than elementary basics, so he took it upon himself to study harmony in his spare time and taught himself orchestration and arranging. He wrote his first composition, a march for the school wind band, at the age of 14. After leaving school, not wishing to compete with his father and brother, both trumpet players, he taught himself to play saxes and woodwinds.

On quickly realizing that he had no talent for day jobs, he took up music as a full time profession and learned trombone as a double in the ’60s, again self taught. After a few years of seasonal touring work in circus, theatre and ballrooms, and a six-month winter season in the Bahamas, he moved back to London and quickly found freelance work in many roles as a multi-instrumental session player, writer, director and contractor in the numerous recording, broadcasting and movie studios of that period.

Bass trombone became his primary instrument in 1970 when he joined the Maynard Ferguson Orchestra and his arrangements became a hit for Maynard and the band. In 1974, he joined the BBC Scottish Radio Orchestra as bass trombonist and arranger.

BBC redundancies took their toll in 1981, but after a long vacation in Southern California, Adrian returned to Scotland as a freelance broadcaster with his own orchestra, big band and trombone band (inspired by George Roberts’ Californian ‘Bones West choir). Special guests with Adrian’s Slide Rule band (10 trombones and rhythm) were Kai Winding, Jiggs Whigham, Urbie Green, Phil Wilson, Don Lusher and Roy Williams. Adrian composed a new piece for solo bass trombone as a tribute to George Roberts, famed for his solo work with Stan Kenton, Nelson Riddle and Frank Sinatra, to be performed by Bones West at a special 70th birthday celebration for George in Hollywood. A year later Adrian was invited back to California to attend a special Bones West day in his own honour.

Through the years Adrian has also worked with such stars as Tony Bennett, Ella Fitzgerald, Benny Carter, Gladys Knight, Shirley Bassey, Marion Montgomery, Georgie Fame and many more. In 1985 he won the Marty Paich trophy for best arrangement in the BBC Radio 2 big band competition.

Adrian now has his own publishing business, specializing in brass band, big band and trombone music. In recent years he has worked as arranger and director with the BBC Radio Orchestra, BBC Radio Big Band, Carol Kidd, Royal Scottish National Orchestra, Scottish Opera Orchestra and Glasgow Philharmonic Orchestra, and his scores have been performed by radio and TV orchestras in most major Western European cities. Among his other activities over the last few years, he has been hired as a freelance instructor of arranging and composition and director at the Royal Scottish Academy of Music and Drama, Napier and Strathclyde Universities and the National Jazz Institute.

Adrian
then……………………………… & Now

Now a freelance arranger-composer he still enjoys playing and has recently been a member of about five different Scottish big bands including the Scottish National Jazz Orchestra, as well as the Glasgow chapter of the British Trombone Society Trombone Ensemble.

Adrian currently guests with the BBC Radio Big Band as composer/director and directs his own string orchestra to accompany top jazz singer, Carol Kidd. He is also a specialist instructor at the Royal Scottish Academy of Music & Drama for Big Band Arranging and is co-director of the recently formed Adrian Drover/Dave Hankin Big Band a 23 piece ensemble which includes French Horn section and Tuba.

Please contact us directly if you wish any further information or would like to place an order on any titles not currently appearing in our online store.

The majority our our prices have remained at 09/10 levels with only a few modest price increases on some charts in line with the UK retail price index.

You can order from our catalogue by contacting us.

Adrian Drover Bass Trombone Warmup (PDF)

Adrian Drover is a world renowned arranger/composer and shot to fame when he joined the Maynard Ferguson Orchestra in 1974 and his arrangements of MacArthur Park, Spinning Wheel, Eli’s Coming and Hey Jude became hits on Maynard’s M.F Horn series of albums.

Since then Adrian has spent all his life excelling in the field of arranging and composing for a wide variety of ensembles and different styles of music.

ADIOS was established in 1986 primarily to sell the arrangements which Adrian Drover had written for the successful Tartan Brass record album of Scottish traditional music. The titles from this album are still very much in demand today. Music from the ADIOS brass band catalogue has been performed, recorded and broadcast by many top name bands throughout the United Kingdom and purchased by customers throughout the world.
Apart from its brass band catalogue ADIOS has arrangements for a smaller 10-piece Brass line-up which has a flexible instrumentation. The brass arrangements are also being expanded to suit Symphonic Wind Band instrumentation. In addition there are lists of big band, military/concert band, 10-piece brass ensemble and trombone band arrangements.

The scores were originally hand written, but are gradually being reset using the latest computer equipment and the world leading music setting software from Sibelius.

ADIOS also provides a service to supply specially made arrangements to order.

Don’t delay, contact us today!

Whether you are a function band, or looking for a position in a ships orchestra, get in touch with Marco Kasel at http://www.oceanbound.ca/

ADIOS Music is proud to have supplied many charts to Royal Caribbean Cruise Lines.

Adrian Drover visited his trombonist and other friends at a BonesWest rehearsal Mar. 27, 1999. More than 40 trombonists were present along with about 25 fans in the audience.

Adrian and Louise Drover, and their son, Kenton, were accompanied by their California hosts, John  and Beverly Leys.

The day’s highlights included George Roberts performing Adrian’s chart on “Mr. Nice Guy,” written for and dedicated to Roberts.

Adrian led the ensemble in the reading of four of his latest arrangements: “Mood Indigo,” “Chelsea Bridge,” “MacArthur Park,” and “Air on a G String.” Helping on the solos were Greg Solomon and Len Wicks, BonesWest regulars.

Among those present for the occasion were George Roberts, Bobby Byrne, Lloyd Ulyate, Harry Betts, John Leys,  Billy Robinson (San Francisco Bay Bones), Matt Litwaitis (San Diego Bay Bones), Bob Knapp (SF Bay Bones), Mike Suter (Slidewerke), Robb Dalton (a BW fan from Scottsdale, AZ), Bruce and Susan Sumner, and “Howdy” and Mary Jane Milller (long-time BW fans).

Billy Robinson conducted the choir during the first set on the Song from the Flor Peeters Suite. The second set was devoted to Adrian’s new charts (after warming up on “Rainy Day” [George Roberts on the solo] and “Insensitive” [John Leys, soloist]), and the third set included Adrian’s charts on “Lover” (Bob Olson and Greg Solomon sharing the jazz), “Mr. Nice Guy,” and several charts from the BW resident arrangers, Frank Cheever, Dave Borkenhagen, and John Campanella. (John Leys did a super job on  the solo part of   Campanella’s transcription of “Saturday Night.”)