Formed in 1990, Revolutionary Snake Ensemble is an experimental brass band with influences ranging from free jazz to New Orleans second line to contemporary funk. Leader Ken Field , a longtime member of the modern music ensemble Birdsongs of the Mesozoic , originally formed the group with trumpeter and cartoonist Scott Getchell to entertain at a pagan women's ritual celebration. The success of that performance and subsequent club and concert appearances over the next decade finally convinced Field to bring the group into the studio in 2002, resulting in the release of "Year of the Snake" on Innova Recordings in 2003. That CD received considerable public, radio, and press acclaim, and was included on best-of-year lists from NPR affiliate WNYC Radio in New York City, the Gambit Weekly in New Orleans, and Radio Popolare in Milan, Italy. "Year of the Snake" included treatments of music by Field, Sun Ra, John Scofield, James Brown, and others. Liner notes were contributed by two-time Grammy-winning New Orleans music producer Scott Billington.
Cuneiform Records will release the group's second CD, "Forked Tongue", in May 2008. The recording of "Forked Tongue" took place during 2006 at Boston's legendary Mortal Music Studios. The CD was remixed by the Minneapolis-based Balanced Production team of Chris Strouth and Brian Jacoby, and mastered in Los Angeles by Bob Demaa. The disc includes unique arrangements of music by such diverse songwriters as Billy Idol, Ornette Coleman, and Norman Span, as well as original material by Field. Guest musicians include vocalist Gabrielle Agachiko performing a stunning minor key rearrangement by Field of the traditional classic Down By the Riverside.
Notable Revolutionary Snake Ensemble appearances have included the Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts (DC), the Krewe of Muses Mardi Gras Parade (New Orleans), the Cambridge River Festival, ArtBeat, the Central Square World's Fair, Tonic (NYC), the Somerville Theater, First Nights Boston, Providence, & Fall River, the Museum of Fine Arts (Boston), the Brooklyn Academy of Music, the Puffin Cultural Forum, the Big Top (New Orleans), Berklee Performance Center, and numerous other venues.
The Ensemble can be heard on Parade of Numbers, an animated counting piece regularly aired on the television program Sesame Street.
Repeatedly nominated in their Best Music Poll by the Boston Phoenix and WFNX Radio, the group has also been twice nominated by a panel of music writers and critics for a Boston Music Award.
The Snakes have traveled annually to New Orleans on the Amtrak Crescent train for the past four years, performing on the train along the way.
Revolutionary Snake Ensemble slideshow:
RSE marches with Krewe of Muses in NOLA 2/1/08:
RSE plays on the Amtrak Crescent & in NYC Penn Station:
RSE plays in the streets of Somerville (a long time ago):
RSE plays Kennedy Center:
RSE plays Kennedy Center (again):
Click here for a free cellphone ringtone of RSE performing Soul Makossa - check it out!
