Ken Field’s Revolutionary Snake Ensemble
Year of the Snake
1. Parade Easy Reader Music BMI
alto saxophone: Ken Field
trumpet:: Jon Fraser
trombone: Bob Pilkington
flügelhorn:Scott Getchell
drums: Eric Paull, Ethan Meyer
acoustic bass: Derek VanBeever
2. Year of the Snake
alto saxophone: Ken Field
trombone chorale: Lennie Peterson
trombone: Bob Pilkington
drums: Eric Paull, Ethan Meyer
acoustic bass: Derek VanBeever
3. Soul Makossa
Kooper Music BMI
alto saxophone: Ken Field
trumpet:: Jon Fraser
trombone: Lennie Peterson
drums: Ethan Meyer
snare drum: Mickey Bones
electric bass: Aaron Bellamy
4. Soul Power
Crited Music BMI
alto saxophone: Ken Field
trumpet::Jon Fraser
trombone:Brian Thomas
tenor saxophone: Mark Caughill
drums: Ethan Meyer
electric bass: Aaron Bellamy
5. A Call For All Demons
Enterplanetary Concepts BMI
alto saxophone: Ken Field
trumpet::Jon Fraser
trombone:BobPilkington
baritone saxophone: Charlie Kohlhase
tenor saxophone: Mark Caughill
drums:Eric Paull, Ethan Meyer
percussion:Larry Dersch
conga: Karen Aqua
acoustic bass: Derek VanBeever
6. Central Square
Conical Music BMI
alto saxophone: < class=MsoNormal>Ken Field
trumpet:: Jon Fraser
tenor saxophone: Mark Caughill
drums: Eric Paull, Ethan Meyer
acoustic bass: Derek VanBeever
7. Some Nerve
Scoway Music BMI
alto saxophone: Ken Field
trumpet:: Jon Fraser, Scott Getchell
trombone: Bob Pilkington
drums: Eric Paull, Ethan Meyer
snare drum: Larry Dersch
tambourine: Karen Aqua
acoustic bass: Derek VanBeever
8. El Choclo (Public Domain)
alto saxophone: Ken Field
trombone: Bob Pilkington, Lennie Peterson
drums: Ethan Meyer
percussion: Larry Dersch, Mickey Bones, Ken Field
acoustic bass: Derek VanBeever
9. Iko Iko/Aicho
Public Domain/Conical Music BMI
alto saxophone: Ken Field
trumpet:: Jon Fraser, Scott Getchell
trombone: Bob Pilkington
drums: Eric Paull, Ethan Meyer
percussion: Larry Dersch, Mickey Bones, Karen Aqua, Ken Field
acoustic bass: Derek VanBeever
10. I Got It (Field) Conical Music BMI
alto saxophone: Ken Field
trumpet::Jon Fraser
trombone: Bob Pilkington
tenor saxophone::Mark Caughill
drums: Eric Paull, Ethan Meyer
percussion: Ken Field
acoustic bass: Derek VanBeever
Bring together a couple of marching drummers, add a tuba or a sousaphone to hold down the bass, and play a groove behind an assortment of trumpets, trombones and saxophones. You’ll have found one of the happiest sounds on Earth. From the raucous street sound of a Mexican comparsa, to the wild dance rhythms of a Serbian wedding band, to the resonant double-reeded horns of a Catalonian cobla, the sound of a brass band causes the heart to stir.
Perhaps nowhere else in the world has the brass band taken hold in local culture as it has in New Orleans, where a brass band can signal an event as momentous as a funeral or Carnival day itself. Well over a century ago, African-American musicians adopted the instruments of military bands and began swinging the music, with early jazz musicians such as trumpet players Buddy Bolden and Louis Armstrong getting at least some of their training in the street. In 2003, the brass bands are still parading. On any Sunday afternoon throughout the fall and winter, you’ll find a “second line” parade somewhere in the city. Members of “Social and Pleasure” clubs such as the Black Men of Labor or the Money Wasters pay for the privilege of dancing down the street in front of the band, always dressed to impress. Everyone else dances along behind the band. It’s not a passive activity.
New Orleans brass band music isn’t always what you’d call a sophisticated sound—it’s meant to make you shake your butt, and its chanted refrains give a sense of shared experience that further bonds the dancers to the musicians. Yet, there have been a few groups, notably the Dirty Dozen Brass Band, who have taken the music to more ambitious musical heights, using the second line format as a foundation for a modern jazz ensemble.
It’s within this context that alto saxophonist Ken Field and trumpeter Scott Getchell co-founded Boston’s Revolutionary Snake Ensemble, picking up the ever evolving New Orleans brass band sound and moving it to a new neighborhood. The Snake Ensemble has added influences from non-New Orleans, horn-based funk bands like the JBs, Tower of Power, or Lester Bowie’s Brass Fantasy, and from Latin jazz and salsa, but what it all boils down to is a great party band that delivers music of substance.
Year of the Snake opens with the New Orleans-style “Parade,” which Field wrote for Sesame Street. All the elements are here: a classic New Orleans parade groove with a syncopated melody line that’s just right for second-lining, and well-conceived solos that balance a healthy dose of grit with smart modern jazz chops. It’s a showcase for Field’s alto, Bob Pilkington’s trombone, and Getchell’s soaring flügelhorn. Several other tunes, including “Central Square,” with its chugging train beat and polyphonic solo section, and the classic “Iko Iko,” follow in the same mold. These tunes would not be out of place in the street in New Orleans.
But all is not predictable here, as the Snake Ensemble takes the sound of the street around a few new corners. The title track is a tone poem, featuring an overdubbed trombone chorale crafted by Lennie Peterson, over an appropriately slinky groove. New interpretations of two 1970s hits, Manu Dibango’s “Soul Makossa” and James Brown’s “Soul Power,” use Aaron Bellamy’s bubbling electric bass and the drums of Ethan Meyer and Mickey Bones as a platform for tight ensemble horn work. Sun Ra’s “A Call For All Demons” is built over what Duke Ellington might have characterized as a “jungle” groove. Again, the horn ensemble shines, followed by strong baritone sax and trumpet interplay from Charlie Kohlhase and Jon Fraser, then solos from Field and Pilkington over wonderful polyphonic ensemble work.
“El Choclo” is a classic rhumba, with an elastic groove that makes a fine platform for Field, Pilkington, and Peterson. The percussion ensemble of Larry Dersch, Bones, and Field shines. The final track, Field's “I Got It,” begins with a drum groove that is soon startled by a melodic syncopation on alto sax before heading for the parade, this time with Derek VanBeever’s acoustic bass. You can hear all the influences at play here: a traditional jazz-style ensemble section, a strong double-drum break from Eric Paull and Ethan Meyer, and a tight horn ensemble that plays with harmony in delightful ways.
The Revolutionary Snake Ensemble has accomplished something uncommon with its debut release. With due deference to the New Orleans tradition, Ken Field and his compatriots have created a funky brass band sound that’s quite at home in Boston. With its keen writing, superb soloists and always-funky grooves, The Revolutionary Snake Ensemble will have you dancing and listening time and time again to its outstanding musicianship. It’s all here—music for the head, the heart and the feet.
—Scott Billington (Scott Billington has produced numerous recordings of Louisiana-based music, which have won two Grammy Awards and nine Grammy nominations. For his efforts, Governor Edwin W. Edwards named him a Louisiana Colonel.)
Special thanks to:
Sesame Workshop, Andy Pinkham, Chris Strouth, Tristram Lozaw, Scott Billington, Tony Gillis, Claire Folger, John Scofield, and all the musicians.
Ken Field website design: Andrew Doss
www.dosswerks.com
Producer : Ken Field
Excutive Producer:
Chris Strouth
Recorded and mixed: August-October 2002 & June-July 2003 by Andy Pinkham at Mortal Music, Charlestown, MA
CD Mastering:
Tony Gillis, Hit Factory,
Graphic Design by Umod007
Costume photographs by Claire Folger www.clairephoto.com
"I Got It" & "Central Square" were composed during a one-month residency grant at the Fundacion Valparaiso, Mojacar, Andalucia, Spain
Ken Field is a Vandoren Performing Artist, and uses Vandoren reeds and mouthpieces for performance and recording. www.vandoren.com
