HIGH BRASS
Since their formation in the summer of 2000, High Brass have earned quite a reputation and found themselves in high demand on the NW jazz circuit. Playing host to some of the finest musicians hailing from across the North West of England, the band was created under the initiative of Chris Jones (management & concept) and Chris Billington (music and performance).
High Brass is made up of twenty musicians with wide experience and acknowledgement in the field of jazz and Latin music, and are fortunate enough to find themselves with all the right ingredients to make a formidable big band. However, this is not a typical big band!
The look of the band, albeit impressive, is completely "off the wall". Gone are the traditional reed and trombone sections usually associated with this genre of music and in their place sit mellophonium and baritone horn sections respectively. All of the 18 silver-plated horns making up the brass ensemble face forward, even the shoulder mounted tuba!
Clever use of under-used instruments such as Mellophoniums and Baritone horns, and the depth of the bespoke arrangements mean that the band is able to tackle wonderful ballads such as "Dream of the Return" (Pat Metheny), "Pegasus" (Stan Kenton) and "Land of Make Believe" (Chuck Mangione) with ease.
Capitalising on the wonderful talents of high note screamers Tez Smith and John Flannery, High Brass breath new life into tunes such as "MacArthur Park" (Maynard Ferguson), "Channel One Suite" (Buddy Rich) and "Malaga" (Stan Kenton). The group also makes effective use of their multi-talented percussion section to make light work of the fluctuating time signatures and syncopated rhythms in tunes such as "Strawberry Soup" (Don Ellis) and "First Circle" (Pat Metheny).
Thanks to the Latin percussion, High Brass are also able to give jazz standards such as "Autumn Leaves" a unique high energy, samba-driven groove which is always a huge crowd-pleaser at any venue and on many occasions repeat performances have been demanded by enthusiastic audiences. High Brass are a unique act on today's live jazz circuit. The instrumentation, performance levels, attention to detail and musicianship bring a refreshing vibrancy and freshness to the genre of big band jazz.