Uploaded June 2015 | Updated September 2026, 2 hours ago
CANDID CLASSICAL COMPOSER CITATIONS - 1
“The only love affair I have ever had, was with Music”
Maurice Ravel (Most famous work : "Bolero" (1928)
HENRY JEROME
"Brazen Brass" man Henry Jerome started as a bandleader in high school, and went to work full-time with a cadre of his classmates (including future Federal Reserve chairman Alan Greenspan) after graduation. From the mid-1930s through the end of the 1940s, Jerome ran the band in some form continuously, working steamships, hotels, and circuits. In its various guises, the Jerome band was a "sweet" band, specializing in light ballads and moderate tempos.
After breaking up the band, Jerome went into record producing, and ended up forming a new studio band to release a series of LPs for Decca under the moniker of "Brazen Brass." While Jerome was inspired by the success of Enoch Light's "Persuasive Percussion" album and sound, he deserves credit at least for dumping the sweet sound for something bold, splashy, and, well, brazen. The trademark "brazen" sound was enhanced through stereo by recording an equal number of trumpets on each channel, muted horns on the right and open horns on the left. According to Jerome, the technique was "To have my open brass section on left speaker talk musically to the muted brass section on the right speaker in musical phrases and be able to reverse them which was unheard of in those days and was one of the reasons for its tremendous sale-- (4 of them in the top 10 at the same time)." Jerome produced and conducted nine Brazen Brass albums for Decca, as well as several more conventional sweet albums, until he left to become an A&R man for Coral in 1959. He released one more "brazen" style album in the late 1960s, for United Artists.
REACH OUT (I'LL BE THERE)
"Reach Out I'll Be There" (also formatted as "Reach Out (I'll Be There)") is a 1966 song recorded by the Four Tops for the Motown label. Written and produced by Motown's main production team Holland–Dozier–Holland, the song is one of the most well-known Motown tunes of the 1960s and is today considered The Tops' signature song. It was the number one song on the Rhythm & Blues charts for two weeks, and on the Billboard Hot 100 for two weeks, from October 15–22, 1966.
MHO
Yep, this sound here can be called "brazen" ! Jerome goes full steam ahead with his brass section here, and besides a background rhythm, the orchestration is limited to just that : "brazen brass". For me, the track has very good sounding parts but some parts could have benefited I guess from adding some extra instrumentation. This being a track from the final "brazen" album Jerome did (for UA in 1969) maybe the guys of the production unit "insisted" there should mainly be that "fat" brassy sound... ? Anyway, music fans loving brass will be quite happy with this one, while the admirers of mellow and soft sounding strings will be, well "less happy" :) I suppose.... Cannot please everyone each time but rest assured ... the music posted on this channel will remain varied.... VERY varied ! Enjoy
CANDID CLASSICAL COMPOSER CITATIONS - 1
“The only love affair I have ever had, was with Music”
Maurice Ravel (Most famous work : "Bolero" (1928)
HENRY JEROME
"Brazen Brass" man Henry Jerome started as a bandleader in high school, and went to work full-time with a cadre of his classmates (including future Federal Reserve chairman Alan Greenspan) after graduation. From the mid-1930s through the end of the 1940s, Jerome ran the band in some form continuously, working steamships, hotels, and circuits. In its various guises, the Jerome band was a "sweet" band, specializing in light ballads and moderate tempos.
After breaking up the band, Jerome went into record producing, and ended up forming a new studio band to release a series of LPs for Decca under the moniker of "Brazen Brass." While Jerome was inspired by the success of Enoch Light's "Persuasive Percussion" album and sound, he deserves credit at least for dumping the sweet sound for something bold, splashy, and, well, brazen. The trademark "brazen" sound was enhanced through stereo by recording an equal number of trumpets on each channel, muted horns on the right and open horns on the left. According to Jerome, the technique was "To have my open brass section on left speaker talk musically to the muted brass section on the right speaker in musical phrases and be able to reverse them which was unheard of in those days and was one of the reasons for its tremendous sale-- (4 of them in the top 10 at the same time)." Jerome produced and conducted nine Brazen Brass albums for Decca, as well as several more conventional sweet albums, until he left to become an A&R man for Coral in 1959. He released one more "brazen" style album in the late 1960s, for United Artists.
REACH OUT (I'LL BE THERE)
"Reach Out I'll Be There" (also formatted as "Reach Out (I'll Be There)") is a 1966 song recorded by the Four Tops for the Motown label. Written and produced by Motown's main production team Holland–Dozier–Holland, the song is one of the most well-known Motown tunes of the 1960s and is today considered The Tops' signature song. It was the number one song on the Rhythm & Blues charts for two weeks, and on the Billboard Hot 100 for two weeks, from October 15–22, 1966.
MHO
Yep, this sound here can be called "brazen" ! Jerome goes full steam ahead with his brass section here, and besides a background rhythm, the orchestration is limited to just that : "brazen brass". For me, the track has very good sounding parts but some parts could have benefited I guess from adding some extra instrumentation. This being a track from the final "brazen" album Jerome did (for UA in 1969) maybe the guys of the production unit "insisted" there should mainly be that "fat" brassy sound... ? Anyway, music fans loving brass will be quite happy with this one, while the admirers of mellow and soft sounding strings will be, well "less happy" :) I suppose.... Cannot please everyone each time but rest assured ... the music posted on this channel will remain varied.... VERY varied ! Enjoy
