Keyboardist Brandon Fitzpatrick and guitarist Braulio Green, who grew up gigging together in Battle Creek, MI, are the visionaries behind Minor Element: an ambitious, 9-piece jazz fusion group that has just released its first EP, Stranger Things Have Happened.
The group recently joined WMUK's Craig Freeman in the Takeda Studio at WMUK for a live performance and a conversation that included Fitzpatrick and Green, as well as drummer Anthony Tyler and trumpet player Sam Gustavson.
Finding themselves the go-to musicians for school and business events, Braulio and Fitzpatrick, who studied music theory at Kellogg Community College with Dr. Mark Wells, soon decided to push their boundaries and form an instrumental group along the lines of Snarky Puppy. They recruited a number of advanced musicians who were comfortable with improvisation, and began writing music that was as challenging as it was satisfying to play.
On the songs "Big Fella," and "5D," we hear Brandon Fitzpatrick and Tom Ryberg, keyboards; Braulio Green, guitar; Quinn Blakeney, saxophone; Trent Sanchez and Sam Gustavson, trumpets; Troy Robertson III, bass; and Anthony Tyler, drums.
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