A brassy musical collaboration is about to take place. I spoke with two of their principals to find out what's going on. Master Sgt. Jeff Castle plays trumpet and is in charge of Freedom Brass.
"Freedom Brass is one of the chamber ensembles for the Band of the West," Castle said.
The Band of the West is a series of bands who make up the Air Force's musical wing. I also spoke to John Carroll, who plays trumpet in the San Antonio Symphony and is the executive director of the San Antonio Brass.
It is these two entities that have created a project together.
"It’s basically putting two brass quintets together into a ten-piece ensemble," Carroll said.
I asked Castle what kind of music Freedom Brass focuses on.
“Music spanning several centuries," he said, "from Renaissance dances and arrangements of Baroque music, all the way through to modern jazz classics and patriotic music.”
As to when you can see this musical collaboration, Carroll explained.
“We are performing in Boerne, Texas on Monday evening at 7 p.m." he said. "We’re at the St. Mark’s Presbyterian Church and then we’re performing in San Antonio on Tuesday evening at the Beacon Hill Presbyterian Church, 1101 West Woodlawn.”
These folks do it for the love of the music, and, as Castle said, sometimes for those things that are hard to quantify.
“After the concert, when I can shake the hand of a veteran who’s also a fan of our music and he says, 'Thank you,' that says everything to us. I have that resonates and they come out to our performance,” Castle said.
- For more on Freedom Brass visit: www.bandofthewest.af.mil
- For more on San Antonio Brass visit: www.sabrass.org
