Superbrass - Under the Spell of Spain

Welcome to Superbrass and our debut recording "Under the Spell of Spain", a deliberate and eclectic mix of original and arranged music for brass and percussion, all inspired by the vibrant country and people of Spain. The whole idea of recording this album came about following a conversation with my old friend and tuba player David Powell, when he came out with the comment "EVERY musician should record and produce their own CD". That concept stuck in the back of my mind for years and just wouldn't go away. So my first thanks go to you Dave, not only for that simple bit of advice, but for your patience throughout this project, the two wonderful arrangements you supplied, your magnificent composition Dulcinea and the poetic eloquence of your preamble. The next big thanks and influence on this project go to Philip Jones and his magnificent brass ensemble (PJBE). I have not only played bass trombone in the RPO for close on 20 years, but I have a part-time position as Professor of Bass Trombone and Head of Brass Studies at Trinity College of Music. Between 1983 and 1990, TCM had as it's Principal a certain trumpeter called Mr Philip Jones. Where would we all be without that man's vision and persistence? Philip saw the college through many turbulent and financially worrying times and established a school of excellence in brass chamber music playing that is in my opinion still unequalled. All the brass teaching rooms at TCM are adorned with posters, pictures and record sleeves of Philip and his groundbreaking ensemble; the weight of responsibility I feel on my shoulders to carry forward his ideals in my own very small way literally look down on me every day I teach there. (Coincidentally this year 2011, marks the 60th Anniversary of the start of the PJBE) I grew up in Neath, South Wales, and went to the local state school, Dwr-y-felin Comprehensive, which had a tremendous musical tradition. Within six months of starting to learn the trombone aged 13, I was participating in orchestral, jazz and brass bands - both at school and county level. The most memorable and significant occasion was playing antiphonal Gabrieli at the very first School Proms at the Royal Albert Hall in 1975. Further study at the Royal Northern College of Music, Manchester in the 80's was a huge culture shock, suddenly to be surrounded by amazing talents from all the corners of the country. The college gave us opportunities to perform influential repertoire, but we also formed our own ensemble, "Northern Festival Brass", influenced by the then lighter direction taken by the Philip Jones Brass Ensemble. We followed their lead and started arranging our very own jazz, pop and rock charts to perform. I still very much treasure those positive and consistent educational opportunities; given to me both at school and college level and like to think they helped me evolve into the musician I am today. My final thanks go to my wonderful family for their help, patience, advice and suggestions - Ruth, Alex, Ellie and my mother Doods. Being brought up with strong Spanish influences and heritage at home in South Wales was bound to push me into being interested in the history and people of Spain, but maybe getting the chance to blow my Uncle Rubio's tuba in the sleepy village of Landete one hot summer in rural Valencia, was the starting point on my journey into the music profession and my obsession with all things brassy. © Roger Argente, 2011 Under the Spell of Spain I spent my 40th birthday in Madrid, on an orchestral tour, and my treat to myself was a visit to the Museo del Prado. This great gallery houses many treasures including Picasso's "Guernica". I had been fascinated by the work of Goya since my teenage years, and I think this was my first sight of some of the real paintings. The work that had most attracted my tormented adolescent soul was the horrific "Saturn devouring his children". However once in the Prado, I caught sight of some earlier Goyas from the 1780s, depicting idealised scenes of peasant life. What struck me then as now, was the extreme contrast between the bright sunlit backgrounds to these innocent visions, as against the darkness of the later depictions of Biblical, mythological, historical subjects; even portraits of nobility. It is very tempting to think that these light and dark aspects of Goya's work express two sides of Spanish culture that continue to fascinate us today. In music, as in other areas of life, we gain our understanding of a style or a larger entity by a gradual accumulation of little bits of information, many if not most of them seemingly trite or insignificant. And then slowly we discover for ourselves our own version of the truth. For the English, Germany is beer, sausages, oompah music and girls in dirndl dresses: France, berets, strings of onions, intellectuals sitting about in cafes smoking and conducting intellectual love affairs: Italy, opera, pasta and perhaps less intellectual love affairs: but Spain is something altogether more complex and mysterious. Behind the façade of flamenco, bullfights, dark-haired sultry women wearing red, (and throw in a tambourine and a pair of castanets) lies a fascination with something we seem to lack, a deep engagement with life and love and with the moment. We in our workaday lives seem worlds away from the proud beauty of flamenco; both in the dance, where the ritualised confrontation between man and woman has a directness we constantly shy away from, and in the music in which hypnotic slow improvisation gives way to furiously rhythmic urgency, and the keening of the voice speaks of age-old tragedy and suffering. The two most important influences on the Spanish musical style are generally thought to be the centuries of Moorish rule from the early 8th century AD, and that of the nomadic gypsies. As a musician, I would extract perhaps the most vivid elements of flamenco (derived from what is idiomatic and comfortable on the guitar) such as the alternation of a major chord and the minor one a step above it, which gives rise inevitably to a very Arabic-sounding scale. There is the tendency to decorate either the first note of a phrase or the last, or often both. From flamenco vocal music we frequently notice a tragic falling semitone which has a keening quality, and from the dance itself the strumming and stamping rhythms of familiar dance-forms such as the fandango, habañera and bolero, but also of less well-known ones like the jota and the buleria. The origin of flamenco music is probably a much-disputed point, but it is generally thought to be imported by gypsies; it is notable how similar much of the Spanish style is to the music of the Balkans, where gypsy culture has also had a profound influence, even though there, as elsewhere, they have suffered great persecution. As a composer asked to supply a piece that conjures up "Spain", it is bound to be hard to avoid the clichés that pepper so many popular "exotic" LPs from the 60s and 70s (just look at their garish covers). Remember also the huge influence of Iberian culture on the music of South America and the Caribbean, in a synthesis with West African music imported by slaves and as a consequence of more recent migration, on North America too. Hence the inclusion on this album of two tangos and a salsa tune. Strangely, many listeners' impressions of a Spanish musical style have been gained through the filter of key non-Spaniards such as Bizet, Ravel, Debussy and of course Gil Evans. The authenticity of these great composers' re-interpretations of Spanish music is confirmed by comparing them to the works of da Falla, Albéniz and Granados, and one should also add of course Rodrigo, whose Concierto de Aranjuez for guitar was sensitively but faithfully rewritten by Gil Evans in the album "Sketches of Spain". The latter is surely the biggest giant peering over the shoulders of all the jazz composers featured on this album. Or perhaps they are straddling his and other