The Andy Martin Quartet

Jazz brass is a jazz-centered approach that foregrounds brass instruments—chiefly trumpet, trombone, and tuba/sousaphone—either as solo voices or as harmonized horn sections. It emphasizes the distinct timbres, colors, and articulations available to brass, from velvety cup-muted lines and plunger “wa-wa” effects to open-horn brilliance and growls. Across small combos and big bands alike, jazz brass is defined by swing and post–swing rhythmic feels, riff-based call-and-response, shout choruses, and an improvisational language rooted in the blues. Early forms drew on New Orleans marching/brass band traditions and ragtime; later developments absorbed bebop’s chromaticism and hard bop’s gospel/blues inflections, while contemporary practice spans straight-ahead, second-line, and modern chamber-like brass voicings. In performance, brass players exploit mutes (Harmon, cup, plunger, bucket), lip slurs, half-valve effects, shakes, smears, and flutter-tongue to shape phrases—making tone color and articulation as central as harmony and rhythm.