Capital Brass Ensemble To Debut At Historic Saratoga

August 4th will mark the debut of the new Capital Brass Ensemble. The performance will be the first of a set of weekly appearances at the famous Saratoga Race Track.

The track gig is a great get for the young group; procured largely on the reputation of the organizations signature music group: Brass-O-Mania!,which kicked off the season on Opening Day (7/25) for their14th SEASON AT THE TRACK.

The venue is up-close and intimate in the very crowded "paddock " area, where the public sets up picnic areas before the races begin. CBE will be on a bill that includes some of the best and longest running professional acts in the region.

Most of the CB! Mini-corps members will participate in at least some of the track gigs, and they will be joined by several Brass-O-Mania! players to make up the new Capital Brass Ensemble.

This debut marks a HUGE step toward integrating a corps-style ensemble into the mainstream music scene. This dream is about to become a reality – just 1 week from now!

Going forward:

In the Fall, the 2 groups will begin to rehearse separately, with a fair amount of cross-over (both material and personnel) expected:

Capital Brass! will continue to be developed as a drum corps project; mostly performing in area parades and other events; and possibly traveling to MCA and I&E events to compete as a mini-corps and/or breaking into smaller entries.

Some plans for the mini-corps include the development of a Percussion Ensemble; continuation of Alumni performance projects; development of a battery for marching parades with the minicorps and/or the continuation of the Mardi-Gras Ensemble (a strolling, New Orleans-style parade unit).

In addition to the mini-corps, the creation of a separate Capital Brass Ensemble for `08 brings CB! a number of advantages:

The new group will utilize the many very experienced players picked up this summer, who are not able to travel , but have a huge amount of experience and talent that could be funneled into a local-only concert group. The smaller, more experienced group will be better able to meet the higher demand (in terms of volume and material) expected from the `08 book.

CBE will also be an excellent place for dedicated members from Capital Brass! to aspire to: a chance to perform with a high octane group, with a large music book; allowing the organization to grow players from within.

The group is also a natural for sharing brass players and drummers with B-O-M; and functioning as a smaller all-brass version of the large jazz ensemble; and fitting PERFECTLY into the original plan to develop a drum-corps style ensemble which could compete for jobs with other "legit" acts.

And, with the personnel ALREADY ON BOARD, this group will be able to handle a wide variety of material; and will be the standard-bearer for the Capital Brass! brand.

BOTH groups will continue to use corps-style instrumentation; and to push the envelope in terms of corps ensembles in the Albany area..

The 2 corps-style groups now take a legitimate place in the B-O-M family of music ensembles:

Capital Brass!
Capital Brass Ensemble
Brass-O-Mania!
The B-O-M Big Band
and to debut in `08: our all-union Big Band

Players in the Albany area, who want to be part of a PROFESSIONAL, DYNAMIC ORGANIZATION, that is NOT STOPPING HERE, should contact:
Tom MacDonald
tommacd [at] nycap [dot] rr [dot] com