Thursday, March 04, 2021

'The Royal Chase' by Nation Beat

4 March 2021

I’ve written here before about my love of New Orleans brass bands, such as the excellent Hot 8 Brass Band (reviewed here in January 2013) and Minor Mishap Marching Band, Rebirth Brass Band, Youngblood Brass Band and Galactic (reviewed here in February 2019) – all of which featured in the third season of the ‘Fargo’ TV series (reviewed here in October 2017). Very long-time readers may also remember my interest in forró – the high-tempo, rapid-fire dance music from the North East of Brazil. I reviewed a concert of forró music by the legendary Brazilian musician Gilberto Gil at the Royal Festival Hall in July 2010 and the album ‘Light a Candle’ by New York-based Brazilian ex-pats Forró in the Dark in January 2010. So this week I was naturally delighted to discover ‘The Royal Chase’ by Nation Beat – a new album of brass and percussion tunes which bring together New Orleans jazz and Brazilian forró. Nation Beat’s Scott Kettner says “I wanted to reimagine the classic forró songs from Brazil as vehicles for improvisation in a funky brass band format.” He describes the result as “Forró, Funk, Brass ’n’ Sass!” The album is a nice mix of styles and moods, beautifully performed and always catchy. Here’s a flavour: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FD07mVtsCDQ

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