The Canadian Brass is a Canadian brass quintet formed in 1970 in Toronto, Ontario, by Charles Daellenbach (tuba) and Gene Watts (trombone), with horn player Graeme Page and trumpets Stuart Laughton and Bill Phillips completing the quintet. As of 2018, Daellenbach is the sole original member in the group, with the other members being trumpeters Caleb Hudson and Chris Coletti, hornist Jeff Nelsen and trombonist Achilles Liarmakopoulos.
The group is known for the use of humor in their live performances, and an irreverent attitude that includes their signature attire of formal black suits with white running shoes. They have performed internationally and have recorded more than 130 CDs and DVDs. They have commissioned, performed, and recorded hundreds of transcriptions and original works for brass quintet. Canadian Brass has a library of more than 600 compositions and arrangements specially written for them.
The quintet was named the “one of the most popular brass ensembles in the world” in 2015 by The Washington Post. They have appeared on all the major North American TV networks, The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson, CBS Sunday Morning and Hunan TV in China.
The Canadian Brass originally included “ensemble” in its name, but in 1971, the Hamilton Philharmonic’s then-music director Betty Webster suggested that the quintet should be officially named the Canadian Brass.
Canadian Brass made its American debut at the Kennedy Center in Washington, D.C. in 1975. A significant international visit was made in 1977 when they were sent to mainland China as a cultural exchange between Canada and China.[2] The ensemble was chosen and sent on this cultural mission by then-Prime Minister Pierre Elliott Trudeau. They are now remembered in China as the first Western musicians allowed into China after the Cultural Revolution had suppressed Western art and music.
In 1979, the Canadian Brass became the first chamber ensemble to solo the MAIN stage at Carnegie Hall. As The New York Times reported, their sold-out performance “clearly establishes the Canadian Brass as a main-stage attraction.” In addition to their heavy international touring schedule for nearly 50 years, and their extensive recording catalog, they have been on the Billboard charts in each decade of their existence, recording for RCA Records, BMG, Columbia Records, SONY, Philips Decca, Steinway Label and Opening Day Entertainment occupying virtually all the spots open to brass players. As of 2018, the Canadian Brass recordings have been released by Toronto-based Opening Day Entertainment Group (ODEG), headed by the Daellenbachs.
The first recordings the Brass created were for the CBC radio transcription service, including their very first major concert in Toronto the summer of 1971. Record producer Eleanor Sniderman discovered the group and put the group on its first commercial LPs in 1973 and 1974, which then attracted major artist management in New York City. In 1977, the same year the Brass represented North America in the People’s Republic of China, a live radio broadcast on WQXR was heard by multi-Grammy award-winning producer Jay Saks, who was impressed, and brought the group to the prestigious RCA Red Seal label. The ensemble was then scouted by CBS records, soon to be Sony, where they recorded with the Berlin Philharmonic, New York Philharmonic and Boston Symphony brass players, establishing a repertoire that is now standard for expanded brass ensembles.
When the group’s former manager, Costa Pilavachi, assumed the post of “Head of A&R” at Philips Records in the Netherlands, he lured the Brass to his new label, establishing a new European presence for the group. In 1992, the Brass returned to RCA, releasing fourteen albums in eight years, including Bach’s Goldberg Variations, for which the group won a German Echo award.
Stuart Laughton founded Opening Day in 1993, as a recording company specializing in Canadian performers and compositions (five JUNO nominations and a win resulted). By 2003 Laughton was seeking a partner for the heavy work load, and in talks with Chuck Daellenbach agreed to share, then relinquish control. Daellenbach extended the scope of the company, creating Opening Day Entertainment Group and entering into partnership with producer Trey Mills later that year. Mills signed over to Mary Beth Daellenbach in December, 2007. Opening Day Entertainment Group remains an independent recording label now directed by Mary Beth Daellenbach. As of 2014 ODEG has released over 70 CDs for artists in a variety of genres. (wikipedia)
The durable Canadian Brass has been among the quickest of small groups to jump on the bandwagon of releasing its own music; various discs have shown that the group’s ability to forge a distinctive and seamless combination of classical, jazz, and pop numbers is unimpeded by the appearance of a host of competing groups on the scene. The same stylistic mixture is evident on the present Celebration disc, ostensibly a celebration of Canadian-Polish friendship. While that friendship is undoubtedly lasting and deeply rewarding, the budget prices at which good Eastern European orchestras tend to come these days might have played a role in the planning of the project as well. Be that as it may, this isn’t one of the more successful releases of the current Canadian Brass set — even in spite of the fact that it focuses on the combination of brass quintet and orchestra — virtually an original Canadian Brass innovation. The centerpiece is a new composition by Lukas Foss, also entitled Celebration.
The idea of the work is a good one; like others by Foss, it grafts subtle abstract effects onto easy-on-the-ears neo-Classic concepts. Here, in the outer movements, Foss explores the ways the brass quintet reorients the listener’s perceptions of the basic musical material when it repeats that material in a straightforward concerto structure. But the work depends on the kind of peppy syncopations that are common in Foss and in a great deal of other neo-Classic music, and the Warsaw Philharmonic’s renderings of these are unenthusiastic. The same problem plagues the segment of the program devoted to Duke Ellington (tracks 8-11). The three Beatles pieces included (tracks 5-7) have a different problem — limp swing rhythms that distort the melodies and bring to mind nothing so much as Lawrence Welk’s attempt to get with the rock revolution in the 1960s. Nothing the Canadian Brass does is without exciting features, and here those exciting features include the all-out slow introduction to Come Together and a straightforward Fats Waller medley. The door is open, however, for a younger group to attempt a more refined version of the ideas here. (by James Manheim)
To hear the Canadian Brass tell it, the ensemble was — and I quote — hijacked by the Canadian Embassy (in Warsaw, Poland) to add culture to a Team Canada delegation" in January 1999. Bearing in mind the Canadian Brass approach to everything its members do, I am inclined to believe their version is a bit heavy on hyperbole.
Still, whether planned in just a few hours, as the ensemble claims, or the result of slightly more structured planning, the resulting concert was a triumphant, ceremonious affair marking the first visit to Poland by a Canadian Prime Minister. This live recording was cut from that very concert.
What sets this recording apart from so many others that have preceded it is the group's collaboration with The Warsaw Philharmonic. The concert itself marked the world premiere of a three-movement piece for orchestra and a brass quintet titled "Celebration" by the German-born American composer Lukas Foss. And while the entire work is lovely, it is the last movement, the "March" in which the Canadian Brass truly shine, laying the groundwork for the remainder of the program.
In a three-song tribute to The Beatles, John Lennon and Paul McCartney, the group interjects whimsy and irreverence into these otherwise respectful arrangements of Penny Lane, Blackbird& Come Together. From the applause that follows, it is clear the audience truly appreciated their efforts.
The remainder of the disc features long-time collaborator Luther Hendersons arrangements of works by Duke Ellington and Fats Waller, which have been modified only minimally to accommodate the full orchestra. Of course, no concert is complete without the Canadian Brass beloved traditional encore, a medley of When the Saints Come Marching and Handels Halleluiah Chorus, which will leave you laughing, singing and clapping along. (Musical Heritage Society)
Recorded live at the National Philharmonic Hall in Warsaw, Poland, 24th January 1999
Personnel:
Christopher Cooper (french horn)
Charles Daellenbach (tuba)
Jens Lindemann (trumpet)
Ronald Romm (trumpet)
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The Warsaw Philharmonic Orchestra conducted by Krzesimir Debski
Tracklist:
01. Little Fugue In G Minor (Bach) 3.49
02. Celebration (Foss)
02.1. Fanfare 5.19
02.2. Choral 5.24
02.3. March 5.22
03. McCartney & Lennon Tribute:
03.1. Penny Lane 3.16
03.2. Blackbird 3.55
03.3. Come Together 4.22
04. Classical Duke
04.1. Harlem Sunday Morning (Ellington/Dawson) 5.16
04.2. Cotton Tail (Ellington) 3.28
04.3. Sophisticated Lady (Ellington/Mills) 3.41
04.4. It Don’t Mean A Thing (Ellington) 4.02
05. Mostly “Fats”
05.1. Lookin’ Good, Feelin’ Bad (Waller) 2.19
05.2. Handful Of Keys (Waller) 2.59
06. When The Saints (Traditional) / Hallelujah (Händel) 4.32
More from the Canadia Brass in this blog:
The official website:
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