Play Live Radio
Next Up:
0:00
0:00
0:00 0:00
Available On Air Stations

Classy Brass In Dress Whites

Navy Jazz Band Northwest in the KNKX Studios.
Parker Miles Blohm
/
KNKX
Navy Jazz Band Northwest in the KNKX Studios.

Seafair's big Fleet Week celebrations include plenty of sailors at work and at ease around Puget Sound, and a special visit to the KNKX studios from the Navy Band's Brass Band, an almost entirely new group from their visit last year, with a fresh, funky sound.

Clad in their sparkling clean dress whites, we heard two trombones, two saxophones, and trumpet with drums - and a warning to our Leadership Circle studio audience: this is going to be loud.

https://youtu.be/g4dLqTRIKJk","_id":"0000017a-8d1f-d4f4-a97b-af3fca1a0000","_type":"035d81d3-5be2-3ed2-bc8a-6da208e0d9e2"}">https://youtu.be/g4dLqTRIKJk">https://youtu.be/g4dLqTRIKJk","_id":"0000017a-8d1f-d4f4-a97b-af3fca1a0000","_type":"035d81d3-5be2-3ed2-bc8a-6da208e0d9e2"}">https://youtu.be/g4dLqTRIKJk

They were that, especially with the low end dominated by the band's director, Musician 2nd Class Owen Sczurba's baritone sax. Running his horn through effects pedals that would make a guitar slinger jealous, he was able to loop riffs, amplify and distort his sound, and even work out a "wa-wa" pedal.

https://youtu.be/TF4zFCvyp_w","_id":"0000017a-8d1f-d4f4-a97b-af3fca1a0005","_type":"035d81d3-5be2-3ed2-bc8a-6da208e0d9e2"}">https://youtu.be/TF4zFCvyp_w">https://youtu.be/TF4zFCvyp_w","_id":"0000017a-8d1f-d4f4-a97b-af3fca1a0005","_type":"035d81d3-5be2-3ed2-bc8a-6da208e0d9e2"}">https://youtu.be/TF4zFCvyp_w

Beginning their set with a brass band arrangement of the 80s pop hit "Sweet Dreams (Are Made of This)" and following with Maceo Parker and Trombone Shorty covers, the Navy Brass band closed with a tasty medley of "Bourbon Street Parade" and the funkiest version of "Anchors Away" we'd ever heard.

It's hard to see how the Blue Angels and hydroplanes can follow this - the fellows were on point from stem to stern, and we hope to make this a regular visit.

https://youtu.be/Ey","_id":"0000017a-8d1f-d4f4-a97b-af3fca1a0009","_type":"035d81d3-5be2-3ed2-bc8a-6da208e0d9e2"}">https://youtu.be/Ey-DwHAEdsA">https://youtu.be/Ey","_id":"0000017a-8d1f-d4f4-a97b-af3fca1a0009","_type":"035d81d3-5be2-3ed2-bc8a-6da208e0d9e2"}">https://youtu.be/Ey-DwHAEdsA

https://youtu.be/vTCNSURV98w","_id":"0000017a-8d1f-d4f4-a97b-af3fca1a000d","_type":"035d81d3-5be2-3ed2-bc8a-6da208e0d9e2"}">https://youtu.be/vTCNSURV98w">https://youtu.be/vTCNSURV98w","_id":"0000017a-8d1f-d4f4-a97b-af3fca1a000d","_type":"035d81d3-5be2-3ed2-bc8a-6da208e0d9e2"}">https://youtu.be/vTCNSURV98w

Band

MU3 Michael Brehm - trumpet

MU2 Jared Brannon - tenor sax

MU1 Michael Donaldson - trombone

MU2 Ben Fodor - trombone

MU2 Owen Sczurba - baritone sax

MUSC Danny McGowan - drums

Director of Navy Band NW - Lt. Bruce Mansfield

Tags
Studio Sessions Live Studio Sessions
Abe grew up in Western Washington, a 3rd generation Seattle/Tacoma kid. It was as a student at Pacific Lutheran University that Abe landed his first job at KNKX, editing and producing audio for news stories. It was a Christmas Day shift no one else wanted that gave Abe his first on-air experience which led to overnights, then Saturday afternoons, and started hosting Evening Jazz in 1998.