Cocktail Hour featuring Terell Stafford

Cocktail Hour - Featuring Terell Stafford

The Chamberlain Brass debut album, “Cocktail Hour”, explores jazz, Latin, pop and soul with a unique approach - a swinging brass quintet backing up a heavy weight jazz soloist. Utilizing the virtuosic improvisation of internationally renowned trumpeter Terell Stafford, and new original arrangements by rising New York arranger Jayan Nandagopan, the new genre of “the jazz brass quintet” has arrived. Existing recordings of jazz by standard classical brass groups often lack swing and feel and are usually an add-on to the group’s usual classical approach. By combining jazz musicians and fresh, new repertoire, Chamberlain Brass have created something exciting and different: a purely jazz brass quintet.

Available now on iTunes and Amazon.

Reviews
From the The Jazz Weekly, Sept 18, 2014
Reviewed by George W. Harris
"What sets the Chamberlain Brass from other similar outfits like The Canadian Brass is that the team here handles things with a bit more jazz and rhythm...creative and catchy without sounding gimmicky."

From the New York City Jazz Record, Oct 2014
Reviewed by Donald Elfman
"Perhaps the most unusual but no less convincing set of Stafford performances in this threesome (reviewed in this issue) is his work with the Chamberlain Brass Quintet on Cocktail Hour. This group bills itself as “New York’s premier ceremony and cocktail hour brass group” and this recording feels like a sampling of the music they play in a jazz vein. But these folks are top-notch players and, in short tunes, dig into some nicely varied selections. They swing quietly but in the spirit of each tune and, on seven, they get to play with the estimable Stafford. For starters, we get “Four”. The tuba plays the intro and quickly establishes a tempo and a bass line. Stafford rhapsodizes a bit before he and the rest of the players play that familiar melody. The quintet pulses out a hip underscoring for an athletic and vibrant trumpet solo. Back to the theme and the whole thing’s nicely cooked in just under three minutes. Another trumpet feature follows—Kenny Dorham’s “Blue Bossa”. The band blows some spirited dance-like fanfares as an introduction for the melody statement and an atmospheric solo that’s got passion, shape and, yes, economy. Stafford plays his special part in five more tunes, including music by Stevie Wonder (“Ribbon in the Sky”), Bill Lee (“Mo’ Better Blues”) and Brazilian masters Luiz Bonfa (“Black Orpheus”) and Jobim (“The Girl From Ipanema”). He’s out front but ably assisted by these brass players. And listen to the tuba do those famous opening notes of Miles’ “So What”—makes it feel like a Gil Evans arrangement. Stafford knows this music intimately and his feature here makes it both old and new."

Terell Stafford (trumpet soloist)

Terell Stafford, acclaimed trumpet player based in New York, has been hailed as “one of the great players of our time, a fabulous trumpet player” by piano legend McCoy Tyner. Stafford is recognized as an incredibly gifted and versatile player, he combines a deep love of melody with his own brand of spirited and adventurous lyricism. Since the mid-1990’s, Stafford has performed with groups such as Benny Golson’s Sextet, McCoy Tyner’s Sextet, Kenny Barron Quintet, Frank Wess Quintet, Jimmy Heath Quintet and Big Band, Jon Faddis Jazz Orchestra, Carnegie Hall Jazz Band, Village Vanguard Big Band, and Dizzy Gillespie All-Star Alumni Band. See more at http://www.terellstafford.com/.

Jayan Nandagopan (arranger)
Jayan Nandagopan is an Australian born trombone player and arranger living in New York City. He has performed and toured around the world with many different artists including: Ray Charles, James Morrison, Roger Daltry, Alice Cooper, Peter Frampton and Gary Brooker to name a few. Since moving to New York City he has performed with many artists and has been commissioned to write arrangements for various ensembles including Chamberlain Brass, Minneapolis Pops Orchestra, Music St. Croix Chamber Orchestra and has had arrangements performed by Chestnut Brass in South Korea and all over the USA.

The Chamberlain Brass
Founded in 2010 as a friendly brass chamber music ensemble dedicated to serious brass repertoire, The Chamberlain Brass quickly evolved into a working brass quintet playing hundreds of engagements in the
New York area carving out a niche as jazz brass group that can also play classical repertoire. The group is composed of well known New York pros, each with many years of experience touring, recording, and performing in brass quintets.