Brass Monkey (band)

Brass Monkey are an English folk band from the 1980s, who reunited in the late 1990s. They were innovative in their use of a brass section which was atypical for English folk music.

The band originally consisted of Martin Carthy (vocals, guitar, mandolin), John Kirkpatrick (vocals, accordion, concertina), Howard Evans (trumpet), Roger Williams (trombone), Martin Brinsford (born 17 August 1944, in Gloucester, Gloucestershire) (harmonica, percussion, saxophone).

Carthy was a well established musician at their formation, having been a member of Steeleye Span and The Watersons, as well as leading a successful solo career. Kirkpatrick had also played with Steeleye Span for a time, and worked with Carthy in the Albion Country Band. The two formed an occasional trio with Evans after all three appeared on Carthy's albums "Because It's There" (1979) and "Out of the Cut" (1982). Brass Monkey was formed with the addition of Williams and Brinsford after initially being billed as The Martin Carthy Band. [cite web | author= Cambridge Folk Festival| year= 1982 | title="Martin Carthy Band" (live) | work=YouTube| url=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=04qJpyYovRo | accessdate= July 22 | accessyear=2007]

In 1984, after recording their first album, Williams was replaced by Richard Cheetham (born 29 January 1957, in Ashton-under-Lyne, Lancashire). The band recorded only two albums "Brass Monkey" (1983) and "See How it Runs" (1986). Both primarily consisted of traditional songs and tunes and were later re-issued on a single CD under the title "The Complete Brass Monkey" (1993). [cite web | author= David Suff| year= 1993 | title="The Complete Brass Monkey" (sleeve notes) | work=www.watersoncarthy.com| url=http://www.watersoncarthy.com/index.php?module=Album&func=detail&id=51 | accessdate= July 22 | accessyear=2007] Unable to reconcile the schedules of its various members, the band reluctantly broke up in 1987.

In 1997 the group reunited for a tour, and soon recorded a third album, "Sound and Rumour". This was followed by "Going and Staying" in 2001 on which both Williams and Cheetham appeared and "Flame of Fire" in 2004, which reverted to the original line-up. All five of their albums were released on Topic Records.

Despite Evans' death [cite web | author= Schofield,Derek| year= 2006 | title="Obituary" | work=The Guardian (UK)| url=http://arts.guardian.co.uk/news/obituary/0,,1752814,00.html?gusrc=rss | accessdate= July 22 | accessyear=2007] in 2006 the band decided to continue to perform and debuted their four-piece line-up with a short set at a Watersons family show at the Royal Albert Hall on 12 May, 2007. Carthy, Evans and Kirkpatrick were guests on Loudon Wainwright III's album "More Love Songs".

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