Trumpet player and singer Josh Keller, percussionist Carolyn Koebel and Great Lakes Brass founder and sousaphonist Fred Bueltmann brought their instruments to the WMUK studio for an informal Mardi Gras party, as they previewed a series of appearances in west Michigan in the next few weeks. Those appearances include a date in Kalamazoo at Rugger’s Up and Under on Saturday, Feb 19, and shows and parades in Saugatuck, Holland, Allegan, and Comstock Park.
Bueltmann has loved the musical culture of New Orleans for years, gaining more appreciation every time he visits. The music’s joyous sound and complicated history, he says, "rising out of pain" in marginalized communities, deserves special respect from the musicians who play it. Koebel, who has studied global drumming styles from Africa and the Carribbean, says she hears those patterns used extensively by New Orleans musicians. For Josh Keller, this music taught him about the value of deep traditions, citing an experience playing in a second line at a funeral far from New Orleans. During the conversation, they run through classics like “You Are My Sunshine,” “St. James Infirmary,” and “I’ll Fly Away.”
One thing that has changed for Fred Bueltmann, who also plays sousaphone in the Strapping Owls, is that standing in a row to play onstage feels weird to him now. The walking and circling are part of the appeal of this music, he says while describing how Great Lakes Brass will parade from location to location in Saugatuck on Fat Tuesday, Feb 21. Koebel forecasts spontaneous parading at pubs, churches, festivals and wherever their feet take them.
