Balkans and Beyond: Cocek! Brass Band Bring the Horns and the Energy

Sam Dechenne was an aspiring trumpet player, still in junior high school, when he looked through CDs in his local public library. One cover caught his eye, a picture of men holding shiny brass instruments, and he began to smile. The name of the band was exotic – Fanfare Ciocărlia. He had no idea what it meant or where they come from. But when he got home and played the disc, his life was changed forever. In that moment the foundation for Cocek! Brass Band was laid. Now their debut CD, ‘Here Comes Shlomo’ (released October 2nd, 2014) has arrived.

“I fell in love with the music,” recalls Dechenne. “It really spoke to me. From there I discovered more Balkan brass and it became the biggest influence on the band.”

For all that they’re named after a Balkan dance, Cocek! Brass Brand aren’t slavish copyists of the style. It’s definitely there, but it’s only one ingredient in a spicy stew of horns. The five-piece (two trumpets, trombone, tuba, and drums) also draw from jazz, New Orleans, and even reggae – not too much of a stretch as Dechenne is a member of John Brown’s Body, one of America’s leading roots reggae bands.

“I wrote all the material on the album,” Dechenne explains. ‘We’re not trying to be traditional. It comes from all the music I’ve played, whether it’s Balkan, West African, Dixieland, classical brass, marching bands, or whatever.”

And so “Slow Jump, Fast Fall” carries echoes of the slow drag style of early jazz, while faint traces of “Summertime” drift across “Vagabond Dreamin’."

“I’ve been writing tunes for the last year,” Dechenne notes. “I didn’t really intend on doing anything with them. But when the band just came together last winter, we really hit the ground running, playing shows as much as we could for the last six months, then going into the studio. We already have another album’s worth of material.”
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