There are so many occasions to show gratitude. And yet, there are millions of times when I do not express it enough. Thank you! Thank you all for a great year!
2011 Rocked!
Thanks again to Jim Allchin Ron Abel Michael Amante Ruslan Agababayev Yitzy Bald Andreas Bärtels Amir Ben-Haim Johnny Berman Brenda Balasz-Beylek Amir Benhaim Dori Ben Ze’ev Ron Bertolet Yerachmiel Bigun Justin “Just Blaze” Smith Tal B.R. Yanki Briskman Yochi Briskman Suri Brody Walter & Blue tha Engineer at Brown Sugar Studios Jean Carter Teddy Charles Shlomi Cohen Shloime Saul Stern Dachs Dad Barry Dallman Nydia Davila Def Jam Phil DeGorter Don Downs David Eastman Yoni Eliav Nir Erez Marissa Famiglietti Mike Ficco & the Long Island Jazz Orchestra Freilach Orchestra Ian Freitor Avremi G. Jacob Garchik Linda Garrity Charlie Gordon Mark A. Gatz Brian Gelfand Gal Gershovsky Moshe Ginsberg Tony Gorruso Zino Groenewegen Cliff Haywood Mendy Hershkowitz Zuben Mehta & the Israel Philharmonic Orchestra Brian J. of the Pimps of Joytime Laura Jeanne Joseph Kaminski Kris Kasanova Terry Keevil Karen Kelly Charles Kiger Ron Ben-Haim Ray Kilday Israel Lamm Eli Laufer Moshe Laufer Gideon Levine Gabriella Lewis Ken Lewis Lex à Her Majesty’s Sound Kjetil Linnes Shahar Livne Steve Lynch The Maccabeats Maybach Music Bonnie McAlvin Stone McEwan Jeremy Miloszewicz Marco Meister Miami Boys Choir Mom Tony Eli Lishinsky Tony Montalbo Gershy Moskowitz Danielle Morandini Bizu Riki Mullu Avi Newmark Shai Nissenboim OdessMama Marco Panascia Yehoshua Pasternak Yehuda Piamente Michael Pruzansky Kenny Rampton Leib Reigler Mathias Roska Mona Rosenblum Rick Ross Dalit Segal Yosef Chaim Shwekey Lipa Schmeltzer Naftali Schnitzler Jerry Sokolov Soulfarm StadiumRed Studios Stewart Taylor Yosi Teaberg Dave Trigg Vignir Vigfusson Murry R.Kahn and the West Islip Symphony Wily Bo Walker Kanye West and Avrum Zamist!
New Year’s a time to contemplate the past, But this one meant more to me than an average passing event. I came to the United States in 1986 as a fledgling brass-man. I had a summer scholarship to Interlochen Arts Academy in Traverse City Michigan.
You’ve heard it a million times already, but it really does take just a short time to make that all-important first impression. As you can probably tell by this group photo, I was completely in awe. There were hundreds of young people whose brains were wired the same as mine – who liked to do what I liked to do. Before I came to Interlochen, the enterprise of making music had all the legitimacy of video-gaming or professional poker.
By week three, composition and performance had become a tangible and authentic endeavor. I played every day at Interlochen as I had been doing since kindergarten, but here I wasn’t the guy with the trombone; I was a musician. There’s a big difference. I don’t believe I would have had this experience at a place like Interlochen in a country other than the United States. There’s something weird and fantastic that happens to the brain just being here. Americans use the word “can” more than “can’t” and rarely do you hear Americans ask one another “why?” in a challenging manner. The attitude here is “Why not?” It took a while, but we finally made the US our permanent home in 2005.
Here comes trouble!
After Erin dug up this picture and scanned – I remembered that my cabin mate Murry Dweck (Then trumpet player and Now obgyn) sent me a picture he took a few moments before the big picture above was taken. He made sure to circle my face with a pen just in case I miss it. I dug up that picture up too and here it is… Erin went to the same summer camp, and our paths parted for many many years… Although I am a mere spec in the dark area in the middle right, Erin is visible in the crowd – fourth from the left. Sometimes being late lands you a better spot in the picture.
P.S. I also dug up a picture of my cabin mates. I managed to stay in touch with a few over the years. Murry Dweck who sent me the picture is the guy in the blue sweatshirt trying to cover my face.
My aimlessly ambitious cabin mates went on to do great things. Nana on my left is a plastic surgeon specializing in breast augmentation, liposuction, and tummy tuck. Murray who is flashing the full-palm gang sign to my right is a (drum roll) Gynecologist. Topher peeking from the back middle is a MD at Stanford
I am happy to be back in my favorite city after wrapping up this summer’s fantastic concert series with the Israeli Philharmonic.
First stop – Coney Island with KidWonder! We made a pit stop at Daptone Records to deliver the goods on Wily Bo Walker’s brilliantly original song (see below) Drive. KidWonder was (mostly) quiet during our short visit. I gave her my Cannon S90 to play with and she happily channeled Annie Leibovitz saying “OK now let’s hold that pose aaaaaaaand … good” So cute.
This morning however, I was randomly thumbing through the Coney Island shots and I did a comical double-take when I arrived at the start of yesterday’s photo set. Looks like L’il Leibovitz wasn’t pretending at all.
Grateful thanks to Diane Drexler and Taylor Hughey at the International Trombone Association Journal for allowing this group of goofballs to grace their pages!
In back from left to right artist & instrument: Shai Nissenboim – Bass Trombone, Nir Erez – Tenor Trombone, Maestro Zubin Mehta – Stick, Yehoshua Pasternak – Tenor Trombone, Shahar Livne – Contrabass Trombone in F, Daniele Morandini – Bass Trumpet Flugelbone, Tal B.R. – Bass Trombone Front: Danny Flam – Alto Trombone, Micha Davis – Bass Trombone.
Last year I did some brass work on The Bad Dogs’ self-titled debut EP. This interesting R&B/ pop group consists of the very young French singers Mathilda Buzaré and Marie Niquet, who occasionally perform covers as well as original songs with Marie’s father Jean-Christophe. That will be the case this Friday night when they open for the très très rock’n’soul Head Shakers at L’Entrepôt (i.e. “The Warehouse”) located at 7 rue Francis de Pressensé, 75014 in lovely Paris. Cool poster, no?
If you’re like me and happen to be too busy with work and car-pooling etc. to zip off to Paris for The Bad Dogs’ Tween-heavy show, this video should whet your interest. So cuuuuuute. (Eat your heart out, Justin Bieber!)
The goal for the album was to create a nu-funk retro sound, and recreate the original brass vibe of the 60s, using ribbon microphones microphone placement and playing style – (a little less clean but more’funky) . The horn section consisted of 1 or 2 trumpets, trombone, alto/tenor and bari saxophones. The arrangements range from replaying original licks on some of the song to actually writing fully new arrangements.
Meet multi-instrumentalist, UK singer-songwriter Laura Jeanne.
I know what you’re thinking – she really looks like a young Tammy Wynette. And wouldn’t it be great if she had a voice to match? Well fear not music fans– she does, and New York Brass was the lucky crew tasked with brassing-up her debut single Coincidence.
Not Laura
Laura
Coincidence is unquestionably indie pop; A romanticized hat-tip to the likes of Tori Amos and Jewel. However, I think you’ll agree that Laura Jeanne offers something very different from the usual twee-below-the-knee aesthetic. Yes you say, different but how? Here at the Brass Works we’ve been scratching our heads trying to identify the ingredient responsible for renovating the indie pop sound she puts out there. This is what we came up with: Laura Jeanne is happy, and her happiness is the spark. Yes - Coincidence is free from the expected later day indie melancholia. And by melancholia, I am referring to the powerfully despondent debut song Shadowboxer from Fiona Apple, Smashing Pumpkin’s 1979 and Belle & Sebastian’s I Want the World to Stop. There are plenty of other examples, but you get the point. We bounced this idea over to her side of the pond and were pleased that she agreed.
"Yes! Music makes me happy and I am a happy person generally.”
As was the case with the brass on Coincidence, first-timer brass customers often amend their original request after hearing the majestic potential of brass loops placed into their mixes. “Wow really?” they’ll say; “You can crank those trombones even more, add some bass trumpet and maybe you know, like, light it on fire?”
Is this loud enough?
Each brass draft on Coincidence generated a request for more layers and on top of that, even more. By the second week we had added a Chicago Hotdog’s worth of French horns, bass trumpet and trombone. Fun! But trying to make multiple brass audio layers work over Laura’s cool voice proved to be a problem. Too many tracks risked making it all sound overly coincidental. (Ha-ha. OK that’s twice.)
Her engineer’s superb final mix did tame these elephants allowing the song to shine. Hear those Kung-Fu grip diminished 7th tremolos at 01:17? Laura is channeling the Peter Buck/Michael Stype energy circa 1987′s The One I Love. Is it country or pop? Both? Or is it just a coincidence? (Three strikes! OK OK I’ll stop.)
Director: Ben Simister
Cameraman: Colin Nuttall
Assistant: Julia Bobbin
Editor: (BAFTA award winner) Stephen Moore
Make-up Artist: Julie Kendrick
Guitarist: Tom Moon
About the video, Laura explained “The director Ben & I came up with the idea together and we shot the ‘Coincidence’ video over 2 full days in central London, at The Cumberland Hotel (Marble Arch), The Hard Rock Cafe, and the famous Wellington Arch. We were able to film in a Cumberland Hotel Suite and also inside London’s Hard Rock Cafe, where I have done a couple of gigs. The whole thing was just incredible – a DIY dream come true.” If you like Coincidence and want to hear more from this admirable lady with the alabaster voice, the best and easiest thing you can do is to simply share this link with your friends and neighbors on Facebook, Twitter, Tumblr, whatever, and encourage more independent artists to get their stuff out there.
Tal Herzberg & Ms. Gaga – one of the many notables he produced
Goodbye Friend!
It is a sad day for music. It is a sad day for me. Tal Herzberg was a producer, engineer, programmer, bass player, Grammy-nominee and also my friend. A very short time ago, Tal was discovered to have cancer – liver cancer most likely.
We played together in the Israeli Air Force Orchestra during our compulsory national service. Tal was a bassist and sat to my left. We once assembled on the tarmac to play welcoming music for visiting dignitaries, and I remember the sun glinting off of Tal’s head in the afternoon heat. Yeah, even as a 19-year old he had the tough Bruce Willis bald look going on. Active duty in the military is no picnic, even for the lucky ones like us who were assigned to band duty. Tal was referred to as “the union boss” during those years because he looked out for our welfare; he wasn’t afraid to approach our crazy C.O. to advocate for our dignity and the other essentials – such as more water.
He told the funniest, dirtiest jokes too, and in general he kept our spirits up during the toughest times.
Tal emigrated to the US in 1992 and he loved his life in Los Angeles. Before taking the plung into engineering and producing some of today’s top artists, he was full-time employee of a company called Waves, and worked hard demoing their audio products throughout the industry. I’m kind of in a fog right now. We spoke less than two weeks ago, and I keep asking myself: “Are you sure he’s dead? Maybe this is a hoax.” Many people spend their lives running after the material world, Tal dedicated himself to music. Moments like these, put life in perspective – His life has been cut short, but his achievements are more than many people dream of. His death is not only a personal loss, it is a tragic loss to his close family, and it is a loss to the music world.
It is ironic and sad to note that on this very day, here in the U.S.A, the national cancer research budget has been greatly reduced. I’m making a donation to cancer research in Tal’s name and I encourage everybodoy to give what they can.
The more I listen to him sing You Don’t Know What Love Is, the more I understand the subtle interplay between melancholy and passion, the yin/yang at the heart of this Jazz Standard. Earlier this morning I had been waiting for the kids to come downstairs so I could take them to school. I hit play on You Don’t Know What Love Is while flipping through an old Forbes magazine, and at 1 minute :30, I became aware of having been transported into an intense state of relaxation and mindfulness. Was that me getting all sentimental over a Verizon ad on page 7 featuring a father and son telephone reunion?
That’s what a good song does; it takes over, and the listener welcomes the transcendence.
I hope we’ve been able to bring something new and fresh to Don Raye and Gene De Paul’s masterpiece. You can purchase this track (Wily Bo Walker Quintet/Heartbeat Records) on iTunes and Amazon.com. However, we are offering it on the above downloadable link for a limited time. Right click and downloadYou Don’t Know What Love Is onto your iPod or Zune or whatever you’ve got. Give it a listen. Put it on the mixed tape for your Valentine. ♥ But most importantly, please let us know what you think in the comments section below.
Scottish blues impresario Wily Bo Walker records under his own name, and also with his group Rattlin Bone. (He’s followable on Twitter.) The vibraphone tracks were offered courtesy of the Grandmaster on that instrument, Mr. Teddy Charles.
Teddy's 1957 Vibe-Rant
A few months back I jumped at a chance opportunity to join in his semi-regular Wednesday night jam sessions at his place out on Long Island. Enjoy lots of jam photos on Flickr here.
Take a look at Teddy’s extensive discography with the likes of giants including Charlie Parker and Ella Fitzgerald via jazz historian Noal Cohen.
You are also hearing pianist Ruslan Agababayev, Marco Panascia on bass and Eran Asias on drums. That’s me on Trombone.
Thank you music appreciators. We look forward to your comments.
A lot of work went into the melancholy cover art for the Wily Bo Walker Quintet’s “You Don’t Know What Love Is” single. How does it look? Singer Wily Bo Walker, Vibraphone Legend Teddy Charles and I are extremely pleased with the song itself and a link to it will follow in the next blog post.
Sepia goodness …
Most music lovers probably know this standard via Billie Holiday’s 1958 rendition, but the song was actually written in November, 1941 by Don Raye (1909 – 1985) with lyrics by Gene De Paul (1919-1988) for the Abbott and Costello film Keep ‘Em Flying.
Abbott and Costello?!
A soulful duo …
The bombing of Pearl Harbor (December 7, 1941 kids!) occurred in between the film’s start and completion, and I wonder if the attack set the stage to ‘wake up’ the film’s editors to the absurdity of featuring this raw passionate song in a slapstick comedy film. “You Don’t Know What Love Is” was left on the cutting room floor just before Keep ‘Em Flying’s release.
Passionate and Haunting
At the time the actress and singer Carol Bruce (1917-2007) was naturally disappointed. Who can blame her? Here’s a wonderful Carol Bruce YouTube clip showcasing her singing style. Larry Clinton and Carol Bruce. Look closely -you might recognize her from later work on the sitcom WKRP In Cincinnati.
I read somewhere that of all the De Paul and Raye songs and instrumentals, “You Don’t Know What Love Is” remains their most appreciated and most recorded.
Ah… Those were the days… Roaming around on YouTube I found this clip, posted by saxmac. Tony Gorruso plays a mighty solo at the end. Tony is one of our lead players here at NewYorkBrass.com. You got to admit that he has nerves of steel to stand in front of Buddy, Phil Colins and such a crowd. Or perhaps it is the invincibility of young people… Anyway, Nostalgia!
I was enjoying it so much that here is another random one with Phil Colins.(Remember him? Sic transit gloria mundi…) Tony isn’t playing on this one. But the big band sound is great.
The Doc Bongo is recording a really great new album at Brown Sugar Studios in mid-town Manhattan. Here are some really nice pictures of the studio as we were preparing the tracks for brass overdubs…
Here is Blue Tha Engineer with yours truely at Protools HD mixing board as we prepared the tracks:
This studio has one of the sweetest sounds I know, Walter invested many hours of thought in creating a very nartural sounding recording room. The vocal booth on the left allows to record a full rhythm section live, whilst (I always wanted to say whilst) maintaining full isolation of singer. The recording room has each wall coated with a different material. The effect makes the recorded results sound open and unforced, as if you are recording in a top of the line hall, such as Lincoln Center, but hey! This is a top of the line studio! As a matter of fact, we recorded some incredible tracks here for Willy Bo Walker‘s up and coming albom “Moon Over Indigo”. The studio always feels like home. As we were preparing the brass tracks, Walter was presiding over the drums, getting ready for next day’s session:
As I mentioned before the studio is located in midtown Manhattan, NY on 315 W. 39th st:
I saw Rebirth Brass Band in Chicago recently (10/9/2010). What a night! RBB’s brass wailed with abandon within the framework of the Keith Frazier/ Derrick Tabb tight backline.Before tonight I’d never witnessed a New Orleans rhythm backline doing its thing at a club. Every single person in the place secured their own little bubble of space to stomp and dance.
Last weekend we ran into band-members Teenage Fanclub at a rest stops in Northwest Ohio (near Sandusky) on our trek from Erie, Pennsylvania to Chicago.
You are here. Here you are.
Tour Wheels
The band is on a North American tour making their way from gig to gig in a cool black Sprinter Minibus.
The quintet is from Glasgow, Scotland. (Glaswegian?) We were fourth in line behind them at a truck stop Starbucks and the surly barista was having A LOT of trouble understanding their brogue. Things snowballed into comedy when Norman (vocals, guitar) pointed to an unclaimed cup on the counter and asked if that was the Cappuccino he had ordered. Exasperated and not understanding one word, the barista shot back with a mouthful of Clevelandeeze “CappuCHEE-Noe is cawfee and steeeeemed milk and NOTHING on top.”
Obviously used to this kind of communication breakdown, the guys just smiled and nodded graciously. We struck up a conversation with them at the milk and sugar DIY counter. Their manager (who looked just like the actor David Tennant) invited us to either of their two Chicago shows. LA-indie rockmates Radar Brothers were to open for them. Unexpected live indie music on a Tuesday night? You bet.
Not surprisingly, Teenage Fanclub’s latest album Shadows was sold out by the time we found the sales table at Lincoln Hall. Amazon.com should be delivering the goods shortly.
Driving west on I90 on the way to Chicago, we bumped into members of the band Teenage Fanclub at a rest stop in Amherst. I went to the travel plaza’s gadget store to buy an FM transmitter and returned to find Erin waiting in line with the band at Starbucks, where the barista was telling them loudly “Cappuccino is cawfee and steeeeemed milk and NOTHING on top.”
They’re performing at Chicago’s Lincoln Hall the next two nights – we’re definitely going!
In a wealth of caution, I’ve held off on the following announcement but –Wily Bo Walker remains the #1 UK Indie Blues Artist in the Myspace charts and ‘Same Thing’ is No 3 In UK Blues and No 9 in the US! (more…)
A few months back I was complaining about the lack of women in brass. It’s true – most professional brass players are dudes. Since the birth of my daughter, I’ve begun to notice these things. This week however, I traveled to Buckinghamshire to work with blues musician Bo Walker on his latest project. The train ride was unseasonably warm, and I was hoping for something to distract me.
Exhibit A: "Is that an alto horn?"
I know what you are thinking – the young woman in Exhibit A caught my eye. Sort of. Look at what she has parked at her feet. I suspected an alto horn case! Its not often you see people traveling with the lesser-played brass instruments (I bet you do not even know what a Alto horn is), and a female brass musician to boot. I am always asked if I my trombone is a bag of golf clubs…
Intrigued, I very politely (this being England) turned and asked her about it. Turns out her name is Wendy, and she was on the way to Chesham to visit family. (more…)
Thursday night (June 6, 2010) was the “Lineup of A Lifetime” concert - a tribute to 30 years of composing and arranging by Moshe Laufer. To those of you who aren’t familiar with Jewish music, Moshe Laufer is one of the three people (together with Mona Rosenblum and Israel Lamm) who shaped Jewish music in the past 40 years. These days Jewish music sounds more like pop/rock rather than Klezmer, and Moshe wrote hundreds of tunes. The night was a night to remember as the biggest names in Jewish music from near and afar were on stage to honor him. Photographer Baruch Ezagui , shlager.net and thejewishinsights.com provided these snazzy pictures!
With at least 50 #1 hits under his belt, Ken is great at getting the sound he is looking for, and he needed an extremely fast turnaround time and lots of options. Trumpeter Tony Gorruso accompanied me to Ken’s home studio and the three of us arranged the tracks at top speed, aiming for a deep monster brass sound.
“I basically sampled some of your samples (lol) and made brass ‘hits’ of my own” is how engineer Carole Wolf described incorporating the New York Brass free sample library into her recent work.
Carole did the pre-production at home, and the rest of it was polished and tweaked at The Loft recording studio in Columbus, Georgia. She thoughtfully emailed us a completed track.
What you are hearing is the swooning Neo-Soul vocals of Nesrin Asli along with MC Cyryus, Kevin Lamar on drums and acoustic guitar by Marshall Ruffin. Oh – and brass comes from here – which Carole has layered-in with utmost delicate subtly.
I love how Nesrin’s electrified voice climbs up and down the easy the walking beat. We are please to have contributed to this fabulous sound.
Don Downs, Tony Gorruso and Your Truly recorded for Israel Lamm and Nochi Krohn on Friday aboard the USS Nimitz. Ha-ha. No really, it’s just my studio. We’re sitting in front of two personal mixers which are part of the studio’s really cool personal monitoring system that I’ll blog about in the near future.
We look a little self-conscious here. Maybe it’s because none of us are wearing earphones as we would during an actual recording. I forgot to take a picture until we were nearly done, and said “look natural” on the ten-second dash back to my chair.
