Utsunomiya is the capital of Japan's Tochigi Prefecture and is about 100 km north of Tokyo, about an hour on the bullet train. When the Utsunomiya Brass Society, a talented and versatile group of brass players formed in 1978, asked Philip Sparke to compose a signature march to celebrate their 30th anniversary, they asked for a bright and breezy march which they could use to open concerts. Jubiloso is written in the same style as Sparke's Slipstream and The Bandwagon, with heavily syncopated melodies and a conventional cantabile trio section, but also contains sudden bars of unusual meter that trip up the march rhythm.