geordiecolin
Active Member
I attended a concert last night. It wasn't an ordinary concert by any stretch of the imagination....
Most concerts don't start at midnight and only last an hour....
You see Youngblood Brass Band aren't a Brass Band in the strictest sense of the term, for a start they have a sax player...
Youngblood Brass Brass are a "New Orleans Style" Brass Band composed of 2 Tenor Troms, 2 Bb trumpets, a Bb Tenor Sax, a Sousaphone and two percussionists.
Last night they played Sheffield Uni Union's Tuesday Club to a great reception and it was indeed a great performance.
The crowd had been warmed up from 11pm with some extremely funky hip-hop played by the Tuesday Club's resident DJ before the Band appeared bang on midnight, instruments in one hand, Stella in the other.
They immediately launched into a lively set which oozed energy, passion, sweat and pure funk. Playing a unique mix of fusion jazz and Hip-Hop they blew everyone away. Take Tower of Power, fast forward them 20 years and you're kinda getting close to what these people are all about. The trombone players carried most of the melodic leg-work and certianly earned their pay. The trumpets were used more sparingly with Maynard Fergusonesque flourishes of frankly ridiculous pitch and power. The poor Sousaphone player..... I take my hat off to him. He put in a sterling performance whilst dealing with technical difficulites regarding his mike. This guy was awesome, never stopped playing and even mangagd at one point to play his Sousaphone and bang a drum simultaeneously. What got me though was his uncanny ability to perfectly immitate a record being scratched, truly awesome. Throw in some lively percussion and a bit of rapping and you can begin to get the picture. The conditions they were playing in weren't ideal either, hot, dark, sweaty, smoky, small room, low ceiling and a ridiculous amount of weed was being smoked too, but they pulled it off.
Youngblood are doing a sterling job, dragging brass playing by the scruff of its neck into the 21st Century. These lads, not much older than myself aren't just in it for the money, they also have an active schools partnership scheme in the States and whilst in the UK are happy to visit local schools if teachers contact them. I manged to have a word with the Sousaphone player after they had finished and he was a quality bloke. We talked about Sousaphones, standard Tubas, bore differences, mouthpieces, New Orleans Bands, British Brass Bands (I quote "I really dig that s**t man, its awesome!!"), George Bush, the UK, the price of fish and England's threadbareness at Centre-Half (Ok maybes not the last 2 then...) I can only wish him, and the rest of the band best of luck in the future, they are ambassadors to brass players world over.
Their UK tour continues and if you get the chance to see them, go! You can't help but move your feet, the quality of playing is exemplary and the soloing is fantastic. A bargain for a fiver!!
My only gripe was with the crowd who started chanting "Tubaaa, Tubaaa" at one point.... ITS A B*****Y SOUSAPHONE!!
www.youngbloodbrassband.com
Most concerts don't start at midnight and only last an hour....
You see Youngblood Brass Band aren't a Brass Band in the strictest sense of the term, for a start they have a sax player...
Youngblood Brass Brass are a "New Orleans Style" Brass Band composed of 2 Tenor Troms, 2 Bb trumpets, a Bb Tenor Sax, a Sousaphone and two percussionists.
Last night they played Sheffield Uni Union's Tuesday Club to a great reception and it was indeed a great performance.
The crowd had been warmed up from 11pm with some extremely funky hip-hop played by the Tuesday Club's resident DJ before the Band appeared bang on midnight, instruments in one hand, Stella in the other.
They immediately launched into a lively set which oozed energy, passion, sweat and pure funk. Playing a unique mix of fusion jazz and Hip-Hop they blew everyone away. Take Tower of Power, fast forward them 20 years and you're kinda getting close to what these people are all about. The trombone players carried most of the melodic leg-work and certianly earned their pay. The trumpets were used more sparingly with Maynard Fergusonesque flourishes of frankly ridiculous pitch and power. The poor Sousaphone player..... I take my hat off to him. He put in a sterling performance whilst dealing with technical difficulites regarding his mike. This guy was awesome, never stopped playing and even mangagd at one point to play his Sousaphone and bang a drum simultaeneously. What got me though was his uncanny ability to perfectly immitate a record being scratched, truly awesome. Throw in some lively percussion and a bit of rapping and you can begin to get the picture. The conditions they were playing in weren't ideal either, hot, dark, sweaty, smoky, small room, low ceiling and a ridiculous amount of weed was being smoked too, but they pulled it off.
Youngblood are doing a sterling job, dragging brass playing by the scruff of its neck into the 21st Century. These lads, not much older than myself aren't just in it for the money, they also have an active schools partnership scheme in the States and whilst in the UK are happy to visit local schools if teachers contact them. I manged to have a word with the Sousaphone player after they had finished and he was a quality bloke. We talked about Sousaphones, standard Tubas, bore differences, mouthpieces, New Orleans Bands, British Brass Bands (I quote "I really dig that s**t man, its awesome!!"), George Bush, the UK, the price of fish and England's threadbareness at Centre-Half (Ok maybes not the last 2 then...) I can only wish him, and the rest of the band best of luck in the future, they are ambassadors to brass players world over.
Their UK tour continues and if you get the chance to see them, go! You can't help but move your feet, the quality of playing is exemplary and the soloing is fantastic. A bargain for a fiver!!
My only gripe was with the crowd who started chanting "Tubaaa, Tubaaa" at one point.... ITS A B*****Y SOUSAPHONE!!
www.youngbloodbrassband.com
