Wonderbrass

A South Wales jazz collective

Authors

  • Rob Smith University of Glamorgan

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.1558/jazz.v5i1-2.166

Keywords:

collaboration, improvisation, musical collectives, musical participation, musicians’ experiences

Abstract

Wonderbrass is a community jazz big band based in South Wales, UK. This case study traces the origins of the band in various projects dating from the late 1980s, and its development into a self-sustaining musical collective. Despite a huge turnover of personnel the band has survived as a distinctive entity on the Welsh musical scene for over twenty years by pooling its resources, developing its members’ musical skills, remaining inclusive and promoting the idea that musical excellence is not the sole domain of musical professionals. This case study also looks at some of the crises that inclusivity and collectivity can precipitate.

Author Biography

  • Rob Smith, University of Glamorgan

    Rob Smith is a composer, improviser and educator who has performed with, among others, Derek Bailey, Evan Parker, John Stevens and Keith Tippett. His portfolio includes numerous compositions for radio, television and film. He is an experienced community musician and is a long-standing tutor of, and founder member of, Community Music Wales. His research interests include improvisation and community music and he is actively involved in projects that address the design of new technologies that facilitate musical inclusiveness and improvisation. He is a Senior Lecturer and Joint Award Leader in Popular Music at the University of Glamorgan.

References

Berger, H. M. (1999) Metal, Rock and Jazz: Perception and the Phenomenology of Musical Experience. Hanover, NH: Wesleyan University Press.

Blacking, J. (1987) A Common-sense View of All Music. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

Gauntlett, D. (2007) Creative Explorations: New Approaches to Identities and Audiences. Abingdon: Routledge.

Jones, P. M. (2010) ‘Developing Social Capital: A Role for Music Education and Community Music in Fostering Civic Engagement and Intercultural Understanding’. International Journal of Community Music 3(2): 291–302.

Keil, C., and S. Feld (1994) Music Grooves. Chicago, IL: University of Chicago Press.

Lewis, G. E. (2008) A Power Stronger than Itself: The AACM and American Experimental Music. Chicago, IL: University of Chicago Press.

Peters, G. (2009) The Philosophy of Improvisation. Chicago, IL: University of Chicago Press.

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Published

2012-11-19

Issue

Vol. 5 No. 1-2 (2011)

Section

Articles

License

© Equinox Publishing Ltd.

For information regarding our Open Access policy, click here.

How to Cite

Smith, R. (2012). Wonderbrass: A South Wales jazz collective. Jazz Research Journal, 5(1-2), 166-175. https://doi.org/10.1558/jazz.v5i1-2.166