Old but New

It is a pretty big stretch to consider this video as a brass ensemble. But I am willing to make that stretch. I will make the case by saying that the opening features several brass instruments playing in a very dirty, New Orleans dixie style, it constitutes some of elements of a brass ensemble.

The reason I make this post is because as of late I have been digging into new arrangements of older tunes, specifically when they use brass instruments (or other 'classical' instruments). In this case it is a jazz band....Anyway....My goal is to find out how popular (or at one time popular) musicians are utilizing instrumentalists in recent times. I recently discovered some arrangements with Paul Simon on SNL that are fantastic, but I will save that content for a different type of blog.

I have become interested in this area because I think it is always fascinating when a musician covers their own music in a completely new way. A lot of rock and popular music I think are well suited for the brass ensemble sound, and therefore would love to see more utilization of brass in popular music (and not synthesized brass...yuck).

Here is the video in question, Layla, performed by the Jazz at Lincoln Center orchestra, and Eric Clapton.

Enjoy!