In a way I love brass bands, the slow marching bands, the funeral brass bands, the simple and powerful tunes of the village bands, music without pretence apart from reflecting the mood of the audience, either festive or sad, and in the best of cases making sad people happy again or making happy people reflect on the deep melancholy that pervades life.
Without pretence, so is Avantbrass, a band from Spain, or Catalonia to be more precise (one has to be careful these days) consisting of Pol Padrós on trumpet, Iván González on French horn, Josep Tutusaus on trombone, David Parras on tuba, Aleix Forts on double bass, and Guillem Arnedo on drums.
Why are they reviewed here? Because as their name suggests, they color outside the lines, playing nice themes in full harmony and equally nicely arranged, only for the whole edifice to collapse on itself once in a while, with musicians and instruments going their own way, only to regroup and recreate and get back to the main theme, with wild soloing on top. Ferocious at times, melancholy at other moments. Nothing extraordinary, nothing exceptional, but good and clever fun.
If anyone's interested in more of this, I can easily recommend The Dirty Dozen Brass Band and the Youngblood Brass Band from the US, the Florina Brass Band from Greece, the Jaipur Kawa Brass Band from Rajastan in India, Kočani Orkestar from Macedonia, or Boban Marković Orchestra from Serbia. Check them out on Youtube or elsewhere on the web, and enjoy!
Listen and download from Bandcamp.
2 comments:
amd also BANDA RUVO DI PUGLIA on Enja
As well as the download at Bandcamp, you can buy the physical CD at www.clamshellrecords.com
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