2024年8月10日发(作者：雪秀媛)
VOA慢速英语：新奥尔良乐队Bonerama的三个长
号演奏大放异彩
With Bonerama, Three Trombones Lead the Big Parade
By VOA
20 November, 2021
New Orleans is a city famous for its food, mix of
cultural influences and of course, its music. The city known
as the Big Easy is the birthplace of several styles of
popular American music including jazz and ragtime. New
Orleans has a long history of combining musical art forms to
create something different and fun.
The band Bonerama is both. The New Orleans-based group
brings together funk, rock, blues and jazz, creating a gumbo
for the ears. Bonerama has horns like many local bands. But,
unlike most groups, the trombone players lead this band.
Craig Klein and Mark Mullins are the founders of Bonerama
and two of its three trombone players. Both Mr. Klein and Mr.
Mullins performed as part of the brass section for another
New Orleans musician, Harry Connick, Jr.
Craig Klein says he was inspired to start the band that
would become Bonerama while traveling and playing music for
Harry Connick, Jr.
"Well, Mark and I were on tour with Harry Connick, Jr. We
started playing with him in 1990. And we were in New York,
and I went and saw this Cuban band that had five trombones,
and I just had an idea, ‘Let's put together, let's make a
New Orleans band that features the trombone.'"
Jonathan Evans performs with New Orleans-based band
Bonerama, Oct. 15, 2021.
The group formed in 1998. Mark Mullins says he knew from
the start that the sound of Bonerama was different.
"The sound of the unit from the very beginning, it was
obvious： it connected with people for some reason, and I
think people heard a sound when bringing these instruments
together that they hadn't really heard before. In New Orleans
you hear a lot of different things. You'll hear funk bands,
rock bands, and of course, brass bands. But a band of all
trombones with a sousaphone and a conventional funk band
rhythm section was kind of different."
One special quality is that Mark Mullins sometimes makes
his trombone sound like an electric guitar. He creates this
effect using a guitar pedal that he connects to a microphone
on his trombone. He can lift the pedal up and down to make
different kinds of sounds, just like a guitar player. He says
audiences enjoy hearing guitar sounds coming from a trombone.
He adds that he is able to express musical ideas with the
guitar pedal that may not be possible with trombone alone.
"It's definitely fun; it's like driving a different car,
speaking a little different language for a second there
because you can ‘say' things that you might get away with
‘saying'. Gives you a little different vocabulary there for
a minute, it's neat. But the rock stuff is fun, it transfers
real well. And I think if you pick the right songs, and just
have fun with it and be honest with it, I think people kind
of connect with that. They know if you're having fun, they
know if it's kind of honest. The sound, for the audience
perspective apparently, it seems like they get a kick out of
hearing Hendrix or Led Zeppelin through the voice of
sousaphone and trombones. It'fun for everybody!"
Bonerama's latest album is called "Shake It Baby." It is
the band's 6th album. But Craig Klein says the horn section
has recorded music for at least 10 other musicians or groups
including REM and OK Go.
"We were on REM's record, Sierra Leone (All Stars), we
played a record with some of the OK GO guys. Cowboy Mouth,
Wonderlick, I guess we've probably
been on, as a horn section, probably about 10 different
records or more."
Bonerama recently performed at The Hamilton in Washington,
D.C. This reporter got to not only attend the performance but
to take the stage and play trombone with the band. It was an
unforgettable experience, both as an audience member and a
performer.
I'm Jonathan Evans.
_____________________________________________________________
_
Words in This Story
section – n. a part of a band or orchestra that has one
kind of instruments
gumbo – n. a thick soup made in the southern U.S. with
meat or seafood and usually okra
inspire – v. to make (someone) want to do something： to
give (someone) an idea about what to do or create
conventional – adj. of a kind that has been around for a
long time and is considered to be usual or typical
microphone – n. a device into which people speak or sing
in order to record their voices or to make them sound louder
Now it's your turn to use these Words in This Story. In
the comments section, write a sentence using one of these
words and we will provide feedback on your use of vocabulary
and grammar.
2024年8月10日发(作者：雪秀媛)
VOA慢速英语：新奥尔良乐队Bonerama的三个长
号演奏大放异彩
With Bonerama, Three Trombones Lead the Big Parade
By VOA
20 November, 2021
New Orleans is a city famous for its food, mix of
cultural influences and of course, its music. The city known
as the Big Easy is the birthplace of several styles of
popular American music including jazz and ragtime. New
Orleans has a long history of combining musical art forms to
create something different and fun.
The band Bonerama is both. The New Orleans-based group
brings together funk, rock, blues and jazz, creating a gumbo
for the ears. Bonerama has horns like many local bands. But,
unlike most groups, the trombone players lead this band.
Craig Klein and Mark Mullins are the founders of Bonerama
and two of its three trombone players. Both Mr. Klein and Mr.
Mullins performed as part of the brass section for another
New Orleans musician, Harry Connick, Jr.
Craig Klein says he was inspired to start the band that
would become Bonerama while traveling and playing music for
Harry Connick, Jr.
"Well, Mark and I were on tour with Harry Connick, Jr. We
started playing with him in 1990. And we were in New York,
and I went and saw this Cuban band that had five trombones,
and I just had an idea, ‘Let's put together, let's make a
New Orleans band that features the trombone.'"
Jonathan Evans performs with New Orleans-based band
Bonerama, Oct. 15, 2021.
The group formed in 1998. Mark Mullins says he knew from
the start that the sound of Bonerama was different.
"The sound of the unit from the very beginning, it was
obvious： it connected with people for some reason, and I
think people heard a sound when bringing these instruments
together that they hadn't really heard before. In New Orleans
you hear a lot of different things. You'll hear funk bands,
rock bands, and of course, brass bands. But a band of all
trombones with a sousaphone and a conventional funk band
rhythm section was kind of different."
One special quality is that Mark Mullins sometimes makes
his trombone sound like an electric guitar. He creates this
effect using a guitar pedal that he connects to a microphone
on his trombone. He can lift the pedal up and down to make
different kinds of sounds, just like a guitar player. He says
audiences enjoy hearing guitar sounds coming from a trombone.
He adds that he is able to express musical ideas with the
guitar pedal that may not be possible with trombone alone.
"It's definitely fun; it's like driving a different car,
speaking a little different language for a second there
because you can ‘say' things that you might get away with
‘saying'. Gives you a little different vocabulary there for
a minute, it's neat. But the rock stuff is fun, it transfers
real well. And I think if you pick the right songs, and just
have fun with it and be honest with it, I think people kind
of connect with that. They know if you're having fun, they
know if it's kind of honest. The sound, for the audience
perspective apparently, it seems like they get a kick out of
hearing Hendrix or Led Zeppelin through the voice of
sousaphone and trombones. It'fun for everybody!"
Bonerama's latest album is called "Shake It Baby." It is
the band's 6th album. But Craig Klein says the horn section
has recorded music for at least 10 other musicians or groups
including REM and OK Go.
"We were on REM's record, Sierra Leone (All Stars), we
played a record with some of the OK GO guys. Cowboy Mouth,
Wonderlick, I guess we've probably
been on, as a horn section, probably about 10 different
records or more."
Bonerama recently performed at The Hamilton in Washington,
D.C. This reporter got to not only attend the performance but
to take the stage and play trombone with the band. It was an
unforgettable experience, both as an audience member and a
performer.
I'm Jonathan Evans.
_____________________________________________________________
_
Words in This Story
section – n. a part of a band or orchestra that has one
kind of instruments
gumbo – n. a thick soup made in the southern U.S. with
meat or seafood and usually okra
inspire – v. to make (someone) want to do something： to
give (someone) an idea about what to do or create
conventional – adj. of a kind that has been around for a
long time and is considered to be usual or typical
microphone – n. a device into which people speak or sing
in order to record their voices or to make them sound louder
Now it's your turn to use these Words in This Story. In
the comments section, write a sentence using one of these
words and we will provide feedback on your use of vocabulary
and grammar.