Members of the Jazz Legacy Band from Brigham Young University in Utah put on a sterling show at The Brasshouse, one of Birmingham’s most historic pubs – although none of them drink alcohol.
Watch our video of the band in action here:
And the band’s tuba player Sam Clawson (pictured below) just loved sitting on the Black Sabbath bench, in between the faces of Ozzy Osbourne and Tony Iommi.
He had been amazed to discover that Birmingham Jazz & Blues Festival promoter Jim Simpson was the band’s first manager who’d taken them to No 1 with Paranoid.
The euberant Jazz Legacy Band are back in action on Westside today (Friday 21 July) – at the Waters Edge Band Stand in Brindleyplace at 5pm, and then at Velvet Music Rooms on Broad Street from 8pm.
Director Dr Kristen Bromley runs the band from an area just three miles from where The Osmonds created all of their famous hits in the early 1970s. The university is a religious school based in Provo, Utah and is owned by the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (based in Salt Lake City and founded in 1830).
The Brasshouse was founded in 1781 and underwent alterations in 1870. It was Grade II-listed in 1978 and today is a popular canalside gateway to life along Waters Edge.
Loving the traditional atmosphere, Kristen says: “And now we’re in an English pub – what a great audience, it’s so fantastic. None of the members of the ensemble drink, it’s just not our thing.“
So if they don’t drink, but are willing to play pubs, so do they prefer audiences that haven’t had a drink or have had a few?
Kristen laughs and says: “Maybe, unless they get too tipsy, right. And they get a little bit past ‘gone’ and they are lost. But sure, baby.”
The Jazz Legacy Band borrows from many different periods of jazz and the setlist will vary over the years according to the styles and preferences of the band members, particularly in terms of what the singer – currently Gaby Taft – can handle.
Kristen adds: “We borrow from a lot of different generations of jazz and blues including the New Orleans era of the early 1910s, when they had a polyphonic front line of trumpets playing the melody with clarinet above and trombone below, and a really hot, happening rhythm section that borrows from some of those more march grooves and swing grooves, but then we bring in more modern playing.
“We get pretty bluesy and borrow from different areas. Swing hard, play hard and borrow from different areas. For some reason, When the Saints go Marching In (which opens the above video) is a real favourite.
“With this band as a director and university professor, I try to maximise the strength of the students. The university is about three miles from where the Osmonds’ studio was. I’ve met them and even been recording in the studio while they’ve been in another studio. They should play some of our songs … maybe we should collaborate!”
Notepad
The 39th Birmingham Jazz & Blues Festival was launched at Birmingham Rep on Friday 14 July and continues until Sunday 23 July. For full details of the programme, which totals almost 200 mostly-free shows, visit www.birminghamjazzfestival.com
The dates for next year’s Festival have also been announced – the landmark 40th anniversary event will run from 19 to 28 July 2024.
Main image: Gaby Taft of the Jazz Legacy Band. © Graham Young
ENDS
