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Musician Master Workshop with Bonerama




Event Details

Bonerama


When New Orleans' Bonerama takes the stage, you can guess it's not like any brass band you've seen. Founded by Mark Mullins and Craig Klein, former members of Harry Connick Jr.'s Big Band, Bonerama carries the brass band concept to the funk rock world creating an exciting sound and energetic performances. Current members include:
Mark Mullins -- trombone/vocals
Craig Klein -- trombone/vocals
Greg Hicks -- trombone
Bert Cotton -- guitar
Alvin Ford, Jr. -- drums
Charlie Wooton -- bass

New Orleans' fertile club scene was directly responsible for Bonerama getting together. Trombonists Mullins and Craig Klein were looking to supplement their gig with Harry Connick, Jr. with something a little less structured. "Harry sets the bar pretty high, and you have to play it the same way every night for everyone to follow."

The big chance came in the summer of '98, when Mullins had a weekly residency at Tipitina's in the French Quarter. The club was then turning weekly slots over to some of the city's favorite musicians, including Allen Toussaint and Cyril Neville; Mullins got charge of Wednesdays. Word got out one week that he and Klein were staging their trombone super-session and everybody they knew wanted to get involved. "It seemed that half the trombone players in town showed up," Klein recalls. .At the end of the night we had them all onstage, maybe fifteen trombones at once. It sounded like a freight train; a big wall of sound coming right at you.

"There's definitely something about the guitar and the trombone that are related," Mullins figures. "You compare the fretboard to the slide; there's a lot of similarity there." Indeed, the sounds Mullins makes by playing through a guitar amp and wah-wah pedal may explain why he's named Jimi Hendrix as one of his favorite trombonists. "It's great to grab people with the rock songs, and then turn them on to some New Orleans music at the same time," Klein says.

Bonerama released their debut album, Live At The Old Point, in 2001, followed by another live offering, Live From New York in 2004. The band's third offering, Bringing It Home, was recorded live at Tipitina's in New Orleans in 2006. In 2008 the band released You Are Not Alone, a joint EP with Damian Kulash of OKGO. In 2009, Bonerama released the Hard Times EP, which features their first four tracks recorded in the studio alongside a bonus live track. Stay tuned for a new studio release in 2012.

The three trombonists (Mullins, Klein and Hicks) are now one of the most in-demand horn sections in New Orleans appearing under the name The Bonerama Horns. The Bonerama Horns appear on several songs on Alec Ounsworth's Clap Your Hands Say Yeah 2009 release Mo Beauty; R.E.M.'s 2010 release Collapse into Now (appearing on "It Happened Today" and "Oh My Heart"); and Sierra Leone Refugee All Stars 2010 release Rise and Shine.

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