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Donald's Encyclopedia of Popular MusicA B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W X Y ZBRASS MONKEYUK folk band formed early '81. Original lineup: Martin Carthy and John Kirkpatrick, both singers and multi-instrumentalists; Howard Evans (b 29 Feb. '44, Chard, Somerset) on trumpet and flugelhorn; Roger Williams (b 30 July '54, Cottingham, Yorks) on trombone; Martin Brinsford (b 17 Aug. '44, Gloucester) on percussion, harmonica, saxophone. Five-piece group grew out of earlier trio (Carthy, Kirkpatrick and Evans, united on Carthy's Because It's There '79), work at London's National Theatre and other antecedents going back to mid-'70s. Carthy and Kirkpatrick were well- established folk performers, Evans and Williams were sought- after theatre and classical brass musicians and Brinsford had played in various folk dance bands, notably the Old Swan Band. For several months in '81, Kirkpatrick, Evans and Williams were concurrently members of the First Eleven, which became the Home Service; the latter two remained members of that band. The quintet built up a strong repertoire mixing Child ballads with songs by Richard Thompson and Keith Christmas. Album Brass Monkey '83 on Topic was a revelation incl. tour-de-force 'The Maid And The Palmer' (an incest, infanticide and hellish damnation ballad previously recorded by a Steeleye Span lineup that incl. Carthy and Kirkpatrick, also in a variant 'The Well Below The Valley' by Planxty); David Lindley in a Swing 51 interview described the group as 'the most exciting, original thing I've seen in ten years'. Trombonist Richard Cheetham (b 29 Jan. '57, Ashton-under- Lyne) replaced Williams '84; the new lineup recorded See How It Runs '86, also on Topic; they guested same year on Loudon Wainwright's More Love Songs (Rounder/Demon). Their significance lay in the imaginative way they shook up folk arrangements in an amplified acoustic context; demands in other spheres caused them to suspend the group '87. Their two albums were reissued on one CD as The Complete Brass Monkey '93. Pressure on them to reunite continued, leading to the second lineup doing a one-off ceilidh (dance) and concert performance at the Sidmouth International Festival of Folk Arts '94. In March and April '97 the second lineup was rehearsing old and new repertoire, having relented once again, this time to go out on a spring tour and the promise of going into the studio later in '97. Meanwhile the John Kirkpatrick Band issued Welcome To Hell on Fledg'ling; see also Carthy's entry. |