If you couldn't tell by my last post, I've been on a major jazz kick lately and would like to address it. The jazz band that has captivated my attention for a while now is called the Youngblood Brass Band. It consists of two trumpets, two trombones and, albeit they are actually woodwind instruments, two saxophones. Their percussion section is actually three people with the various parts of a drum set, but not arranged into an actual set (in fact the bass drum is a marching bass drum worn on the chest). And no one who listens to them could ever forget their legendary sousaphone player Nat McIntosh who is renowned for his use of polyphonics* in a sort of beatboxing almost. They all combine in a glorious amalgamation to form one of the top New Orleans-style jazz groups. However do not be fooled as they are no jazz group.
Youngblood Brass Band incorporates several other genres of music into their style, most notably hip hop. This shows in a lot of their music, but one that exemplifies this the best is in the song "Brooklyn." As with all their songs, it has layers of sounds done by the various instruments, the musical lines erratically lining up, especially in the intro. During the verse and chorus, they use call and repeat lines and repetition between instrumental parts to drive home melodies with a constant bass line running though the sousaphone, although the trombone is the featured and most prominent voice among the band in this piece. Then comes the bridge with all instruments playing everything in unison, blasting out a virtual barrier of sound before turning the volume down for the trombone and sax solos, ending with some antics from Nat and a repeat of previous elements.
No comments:
Post a Comment