The Occasional Brass Quintet swings through Wareham

Apr 6, 2010

They got everybody "In the Mood" with jazz, swung back to the 15th century with the Earle of Oxford's Marche, then blew through selections from  Broadway musicals and Dixieland blues.  The Occasional Jazz Quintet visited Wareham and performed something to appeal to all musical tastes on Sunday, dispelling the notion of a brass ensemble as simply an oom-pah band.

"I didn't think I would like it, but I'm so glad I came," said Kathleen LaFlamme, who said she had never heard a brass ensemble before.

The concert was hosted by Community Arts in Action, the nonprofit performing arts organization that holds benefit concerts each month from September through June. The group recently announced that they have raised enough money to donate three instruments to the High School Music Program.

The Boston-based quintet was formed by Bryan Hilliard and Russell Bogartz, two University of Massachusetts Amherst alumni and former members of a popular funk band called Rippopotamus.  Ami Fields joins on French Horn, Stan Johnson lends his trumpet, and the concert was the first performance of the group with John Elliott on the tuba.  The quintet's regular tubaist had just accepted a job in Beijing, and Elliott, a graduate student at New England Conservatory while on sabbatical from the Honolulu Symphony, said he was thrilled to perform with the group and travel to Wareham.

Community Arts in Action's next concert will feature the JazzLinks Quartet on May 16.