Brother James's Air (Marosa) arr. Gordon Jacob Music inscribed to William Hendry
James Leith Macbeth Bain (1860-1925) was a minister, hymn writer and poet known to his peers as Brother James. He was born in Pitlochry where he was a pupil teacher before going to Edinburgh Free Church College and the Edinburgh Established Church College. His ministry took him to Liverpool and then to London as a spiritualist minister. He is best known for Brother James's Air which is usually set to The Lord's My Shepherd. This air is perhaps the most beautiful of the many that came to him spontaneously.
Gordon Jacob (1895-1984) is best known as a composer for wind band and instructional texts. He was a prisoner of war in 1917 and was one of only 60 survivors of the 800 in his battalion. On his release he initially studied journalism, but changed to composition, theory and conducting at the Royal College of Music. Because of a cleft palate and a childhood hand injury he was very limited as a performing musician, but found his forte as a composer especially for wind instruments. He was considered to be conservative in style, but famously said "the day that melody is discarded altogether, you may as well pack up music...".
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