Brassology by Brassology

“Pigeon-holes are only comfortable for pigeons” -Jessye Norman

The music world, both in macro and miniature, has always been obsessed with classification. But musicians with clear heads and clearer vision prefer to erase lines rather than draw them, offering well-informed correctives to that limiting process. Case in point is Brassology. The brainchild of trumpeter Brandon Ridenour and trombonist Marshall Gilkes, this extraordinary octet is completely committed to removing barriers. “I just can’t stand how we put up all of these boundaries around music,” Gilkes shares. “Especially brass players, always identifying or asking if somebody is a classical person or jazz player.” Ridenour concurs, noting that Brassology is “trying to push the boundaries of what a brass group can be and what those expectations are while, again, not labeling the players as people who only play classical or only play jazz.”

An ensemble with an incredibly enlightened worldview, its philosophical outlook stems from its co-leaders’ vast experiences. Having initially crossed paths as locker neighbors while studying at Juilliard in the early aughts, Ridenour and Gilkes would each rise to prominence in different professional spheres—the former as a member of the Canadian Brass and a sought-after soloist with top-flight orchestras, the latter as a two-time Grammy-nominated bandleader and a key figure in celebrated large ensembles like the WDR Big Band and Maria Schneider Orchestra. Not surprisingly, categorizing tags came with those accomplishments. But neither man ever resigned himself to one side of any classical-jazz divide, and both found opportunities to cross the aisle. “Marshall grew up in the jazz realm but has more than dabbled in the classical world and I know that many classical players are envious of his fundamentals and skills,” Ridenour notes.  “So he’s coming from that sort of angle—jazz into classical—and I’m really coming from the opposite way, having more of a classical background but finding myself in more jazz improv scenarios.”

Fast-forwarding to 2022, both men found themselves in the same place and headspace. Having followed and admired Ridenour’s work over the years, Gilkes brought him into the fold for the genre-blurring Cyclic Journey—an album merging a classically-oriented brass octet with a jazz rhythm section. And as the trumpeter became more deeply connected to the trombonist’s writing, thoughts and possibilities emerged. “When I heard Marshall’s music it had a lot of neo-classical/jazz shiftiness to it, where it would go back and forth between these melodies in a jazz style and then these other playful things in a classical style,” Ridenour shares. “So I really liked that and I thought it would be interesting to take that a step further.” Ascertaining Gilkes’ interest, Ridenour discovered that he was equally enthusiastic and eager to collaborate. Thus the seeds were planted for Brassology to bloom.

After shaping the outfit’s concept in conversation, personnel discussions logically ensued. And in seeking like-minded souls with versatility and virtuosity to match their own, Ridenour and Gilkes assembled an octet beyond measure. Michael Rodriguez, a leading light in the jazz world, and Chris Coletti, another noted Canadian Brass alum, fill out the trumpet roster. Eric Reed, of American Brass Quintet and Orpheus Chamber Orchestra fame, covers the musical middle ground with his horn. Tim Albright, a protean pro with innumerable credits from jazz to Broadway to classical environs, joins Gilkes in the slide section. Demondrae Thurman, a revered figure in orchestral circles and the Chair of the Brass Department at Indiana University’s Jacobs School of Music, brings a broad range of expression with his euphonium. And Carol Jantsch, the longtime Principal Tuba in the Philadelphia Orchestra, holds down the low end with supreme skill and verve.

Offering a dozen selections highlighting each of the co-leader’s writing skills, the individualistic artistry of eight and a collective chemistry like no other, Brassology’s eponymous debut redefines what brass ensembles are all about. That’s made clear from the beginning with the concise harmonic framework in Ridenour’s “848 Soundcheck.” “I was experimenting with chords at the piano, toying with an ear-bending progression that made sense but stretched things apart just enough,” he explains. “And then when I started to write it down, I thought about the idea of having just eight chords for eight people. That’s the ‘848.’” Lasting a mere 36 seconds and resolving with what the trumpeter humorously dubs “a jazz Dolby Stereo sound,” it’s a real head-turner that invites the listener into another dimension. Gilkes’ “New Horizons Fanfare” follows, citing the dawn of this venture in name and substance. A regal number showcasing the trombonist’s harmonic signatures through the introduction, it goes on to marry grounding rhythms and soaring lines, use an accelerando to offer a pathway to parts unknown and bring things full circle in its final act(s).


Presenting the first of several miniatures adapted from his Transcendental Etudes book, Ridenour offers pronounced pith and intensity—and a focus on alternate fingerings—in “Hell’s Bells.” “I took the original melody, and that stays in the trumpets almost all the way from the beginning to the end here,” the composer notes. “And then I just added all of these other crazy harmonies and rhythms and aggressions and hellish aspects. I was trying to think, ‘What are all of the things that you see in hell or feel in hell?’ Then I tried to work those aspects into the accompaniment since the melody was already there. And since it is called ‘Hell’s Bells’ I wanted to have bell effects. So you hear that, literally played by brass instruments with bells. This is just a wild and relentless ride from beginning to end.”


Moving on to “Brahms 3/3/3”—Ridenour’s take on the third movement from Johannes Brahms’ Symphony No. 3 in F major, Op. 90, in 3/4 time—Brassology artfully melds classical construction with jazz sensibilities. “It’s the idea of doing a Brahms arrangement in a completely different style from the original. I was just going for a walk one day and this melody popped into my head. I eventually figured out what it was and I immediately thought it would work for this group. And once I got going—filling out the extra harmonies and adding jazz chords to it—I realized it would be a great feature for Marshall.” Working as melodist and soloist, Gilkes applies his broad skillset to this number with characteristic brilliance.

Remaining in the classical orbit for Coletti’s arrangement of Franz Liszt’s Transcendental Étude No. 10 in F minor, Allegro agitato molto, this outfit captures the complexity and majesty of notoriously difficult music originally meant for the 88s. “Chris had already written this for brass octet years ago and it only saw one performance,” Ridenour shares. “But that version used bass trombone instead of euphonium. So he made slight adjustments, adding more dexterous lines for euphonium.” An ambitious showing on both the technical and expressive fronts, it’s an achievement likely to leave mouths agape.

“Gracefully,” sourced from Ridenour’s book, and “Always Forward,” drawn from Gilkes’ oeuvre, come next, reflecting their respective titular suggestions in brief. The first, with underscoring nodding to Radiohead’s “Pyramid Song” and a melodic focus on flugelhorn and euphonium, operates with the objective “to play gracefully and smoothly despite whatever intervals or fingerings or slide positions you’re having to go to.” And the second—a 60-second snippet of a tweaked take on an arrangement penned for The Brass Band of Battle Creek—adds beauty atop a bouncing framework. It’s a wide-eyed wonder progressing with purpose.

“Can Ya Feel,” which came to Ridenour at a moment of literal awakening, uses gorgeous designs to bookend related dancing lines and conversational extemporization from Gilkes and Rodriguez. “I started humming this idea one morning. So I got out of bed and started writing this melody down and figuring out some chords to go with it. And then I just wrote the fast version and developed it from there with a lot of shifting time signatures.” A play on words, alluding to or questioning the way the music’s rhythmic and metric subdivisions create different perspectives, it speaks to interpretational savvy as it delights with its subjective nature.


Dealing in tenderness with an updated version of “Edenderry,” Gilkes simultaneously looks forward and back. “When we were talking about material for this project I was wondering what ballad might work well. I showed Brandon the big band version of this piece and he was immediately on board. Then it was just a matter of changing the voicings and reallocating the parts with the tuba and euphonium and horn. I’m thrilled with how it came out, with warmth and all, and the way Brandon plays on it is beautiful.” The trombonist’s final compositional contribution—“Bedtime Fables”—is a jaunty-turned-dramatic travelogue inspired by evening’s odysseys. “My son Ethan and daughter Cora are always asking me to make up bedtime stories, so I just started writing while thinking of those adventures. I came up with these harmonic ideas first, and I sat at the piano and started messing with them and finding a melody.” Writing with both Rodriguez’s sound and his own instrument in mind, Gilkes found clear form and direction. “It’s almost like a waltz in the first half. Then in the second section I was trying to build a lot of intensity. You hear and encounter all of these different sections, with the harmony subtly changing throughout, and then it modulates and has augmented chords thrown in.”


Ridenour’s remaining etude developments take the album to its end with differing reference points. “Alpine Leap,” influenced by the composer’s affection for the respective works of Richard Strauss and Gustav Mahler, delivers a challenge with lyrical leaps spread across the ensemble; and “The Russian One,” a finale bringing bombast to the fore, serves as the trumpeter’s mighty tip of the hat to Dmitri Shostakovich. The first release in what promises to be a growing discography, Brassology’s maiden voyage expands on the notion of what a brass ensemble is capable of creating while truly aiming to please. “That’s our goal,” Ridenour admits. “We’re not trying to write something that’s just for an elite, particular group of people or brass specialists or whatever pigeonholed audience label you might come up with. We’re trying to write and play something for everyone.”

Dan Bilawsky, September 2023



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