Styles will include jazz, folk, opera and barbershop
February 15, 2007
When the Boston Brass appears today at Western Oregon University, you can expect music but also a strong dose of show business, from a bit of barbershop harmony to loud blazers and a general sense of fun.
"It's a show," said trumpet player Jeff Conner, the group's founder and sole original member. "We're there to entertain an audience; it's all part of the experience.
"We do some singing; we have a good time."
The Boston Brass, which is making a return visit to the Smith Fine Arts Series, travels easily from the classics to jazz standards, folk, opera standards and pop music, peppering its concerts with humor and chatter.
Founded in 1986, the five-member group has transcended the traditional definition of a brass ensemble to become a group that creates popular chamber music with all the means at its command.
"We play music that we love, we enjoy, that the audiences will enjoy," Conner said.
"I'm very fortunate to do what I do and very privileged to play with the people that I'm with."
The other members of the group are French horn player J.
D. Shaw, with the group for 11 years; tuba player Andrew Hitz, seven years; trumpet player Jose Sibaja, in his second year; and trombone/euphonium player Lance LaDuke, who joined last summer.
Boston Brass has as strong a commitment to education as it does to performance and has conducted master classes at colleges and universities throughout the country, including the Northwest and Portland.
During its Monmouth stopover, the group will do an outreach performance at Perrydale High School.
"Music education is extremely important," Conner said. "That's the reason we're here: high school and middle school music teachers.
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Conner, who gets ribbed for his longevity by the other members, has performed as a soloist with the Boston College Symphony and the Salem Philharmonic and has a master's in music from Boston University and a bachelor's from Boston Conservatory.
Longevity isn't a big deal in this ensemble: Everyone is an equal partner, sharing in the decisions and the financial rewards.
"It's pretty much full time," Conner said of the Boston Brass.
"What we do when I'm home, I'm on the phone a lot; I do the business side."
Competition is intense for the openings in the group, which has had enviable success.
The group has been featured on "The CBS Morning Show" and National Public Radio's "Performance Today" and recorded several albums, including one from its incarnation as the Brass All-Stars Big Band, "A Stan Kenton Christmas.
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The Boston Brass performs more than 100 concerts each year, performing at concerts and jazz festivals around the world.
"We usually don't like to be out for more than three days, a week or 12 days," Conner said.
"Last fall, we were in Europe, Italy, Austria and Germany.
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Asia has been a strong audience for the Boston Brass.
"They're great audiences," he said. "I think they love brass playing, and brass bands are very popular in Asia.
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The Monmouth program is typically diverse, hinting at why the ensemble reaches an audience that encompasses different ages and tastes.
The first half of the program is classical in nature, with selections by Shostakovich, Ginastera, Liszt and Dvorak. The second half is jazz.
"We do some Duke Ellington," Conner said. "We do a tune that was written for Doc Severinsen; we do some Pee Wee Ellis.
"We do some Dizzy Gillespie; we do some beautiful ballads.
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And there will be some barbershop harmony, from voices that are not necessarily perfect.
"First of all, we're proponents of singing," he said. "You need to be able to sing your parts.
"We go up there; we're not afraid to do it, but it's not the Buffalo Bills."
The members of the Boston Brass rely on their strengths, which include Shaw's arrangements.
"It's pretty much all transcriptions, when it's an orchestra piece, a piano piece," Conner said.
"We definitely borrow from everybody. It's good music.
"It's definitely how it's approached and how it's set up.
The pieces we play are not extremely long, anywhere from three to six minutes.
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