The bombastic, big-band sound of the High and Mighty Brass Band takes the stage at Dog Mountain for the Levitt AMP St. Johnsbury Music Series this Sunday at 4pm! Levitteers in Westport, Conn., will recall their set at Levitt Pavilion Westport in September 2016. Get ready to dance to the funky sounds of this New Orleans-via-New York outfit, stirring up a storm at festival stages all around the country and beyond!
Evan Howard, percussionist, envisioned the band while studying Jazz Performance at the Manhattan School of Music. In an interview with Forbes magazine, Howard describes his desire for freeform, less academically-oriented musical outlets while studying, and how living in New York City made this especially difficult. “There was extreme competition trying to find something…that kind of narrowed my scope of performance.” After recruiting a rotating cast of talented jazz, funk and brass musicians from NYC, New Orleans and beyond, High and Mighty Brass Band took shape as a celebratory and decadent ensemble of 7-10 musicians, infusing classic, big-band arrangements with modern swagger.
High and Mighty Brass Band is the resident, in-house band for the Under 30 Summit, an annual Forbes magazine conference bringing together thousands of entrepreneurs and industry-changing personalities under the age of 30. With diverse keynote speakers across film, media, technology, education and more, the youthful, triumphant atmosphere of the conference is an apt outlet for the band’s music. And it’s a special treat when they perform their signature, crowd-pleasing covers of hit pop songs like Jason Derulo’s “Wiggle”!
The band’s explosive live act has brought them to Bonnaroo, Otis Mountain Get Down and the DuPont Clifford Brown Jazz Festival, among other exciting stages around the country. Some of the band’s members are associated with other eclectic projects, such as trumpet player Ivan Jackson, who makes up one half of acclaimed producer duo Brasstracks. They crafted the music for “No Problem”—Chance the Rapper’s effervescent, gospel and soul-flavored summertime hit that won a GRAMMY Award for Best Rap Performance in February 2017.
With ties to such a broad range of genres, but a firm grounding in the electrifying combination of rock, funk and big-band, High and Mighty Brass Band are sure to get St. Johnsbury Levitteer audiences off their feet and feeling the power of their energetic, loud-and-proud repertoire.