Hypnotic Brass Ensemble, Meltdown review: Glorious

The self-christened Bad Boys Of Jazz still got the things that matter right, says John Aizlewood
Star in the making: topless, tattooed horn player Uttama Hubert
John Aizlewood21 August 2015

“Is Birmingham in the house? Er, Manchester…?” If the bemused shrugs which greeted Hypnotic Brass Ensemble’s question suggested the finer points of English geography bypassed them during their year in Muswell Hill, the self-christened Bad Boys Of Jazz still got the things that matter right over two wildly different sets last night.

From Chicago’s tough South Side and featuring jazz trumpeter Phil Cohran’s sons, Hypnotic Brass Ensemble have played with artists as diverse as Snoop Dogg, Erykah Badu and Damon Albarn, while their stirring, jagged instrumental War featured on The Hunger Games soundtrack. After a decade of making albums, their moment has come and last night’s eight-strong version of their ever-fluctuating line-up featured two trumpeters, two trombonists and a baritone horn seemingly held together by sticky-backed plastic, alongside guitar, bass and drums.

A banquet for the ears and eyes, Hypnotic Brass Ensemble might be the supercool name to drop, but they were never cold, as their first set went for all-guns-blazing brass attack and in topless, heavily-tattooed baritone horn player Uttama “Rocco” Hubert they have a real star in the making.

In the second set the supertight band high-fived the audience as they thrilled them.

The brass was used sparingly on Party Started and Kryptonite as members incited sing- alongs, begged to be visited on social media and bounced around like trampoline testers. Yet when the instrumental surge came the effect was sensational. Glorious.

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