Public radio from Western Michigan University 102.1 NPR News | 89.9 Classical WMUK
Play Live Radio
Next Up:
0:00
0:00
0:00 0:00
Available On Air Stations

LHI Live: The Brass Rail

The Brass Rail - a quintet of West Michigan brass players - was created for fun. Mike McMinn (cornet, trumpet), Roger Lynch (cornet, trumpet), Chris Garrett (horn) John Dickey (trombone) and Fritz MacDonald (tuba) have dozens years of music training and hundreds of performances between them. Walking onto the Miller Auditorium stage in formal wear for a Kalamazoo Concert Band performance is an experience familiar to all. 

But they also share a desire to play for their own collegial entertainment in a public setting. Every third Friday at the Old Dog Tavern in Kalamazoo, The Brass Rail fire up their iPads and start picking from a playlist of around 200 song arrangements for brass quintet. The list includes Dixieland, show tunes, novelty dances, ballads, Baroque pieces, and more.

In the studio with Cara Lieurance, The Brass Rail plays a half-dozen tunes, and the members talk with trademark humor about the experience of playing in the group. 

Cara Lieurance is the local host of NPR's All Things Considered on 1021 WMUK and covers local arts & culture on Let's Hear It on 89.9 Classical WMUK weekday mornings at 10 - 11 am.
As Chief Engineer for WMUK, Martin Klemm is kept busy by tending to a variety of issues - from computers to tower lights - he will never run out of things to fix. Before coming to WMUK in 2003, Martin worked in Los Angeles making records with some outstanding producers, but preferred to be close to his family here in west Michigan. He enjoys keeping a busy schedule balancing WMUK, loving on his friends' doggos, and remodeling his home in the Edison neighborhood (which never seems to end)
Related Content