Heritage Blues Orchestra

Heritage Blues Orchestra

Heritage Blues Orchestra is a United States-based blues orchestra active since 2009. The group is based in New York and brings together blues, jazz, jazz blues and gospel influences, with harmonica and brass arrangements forming a major part of its sound.

Style and repertoire

The group combines country and urban blues with New Orleans brass, gospel handclaps, jazz-influenced horn writing, work-song elements and rhythmic drumming rooted in older blues traditions. Its music also draws on the musical exchange between the United States and Europe, and on the relationship between African-American music, modern jazz and Western European harmony.

Debut album

Its debut album, And Still I Rise, features interpretations of songs associated with Son House, Muddy Waters and Lead Belly, along with original arrangements that move between trio harmonies, slide guitar, horn sections and funk passages. The closing piece, Hard Times, is structured in three movements and includes call-and-response singing, a horn composition with an echo of Miles Davis’ A Silent Way, and a final funk section.

Members and personnel

The orchestra includes Vincent Bucher, Clark Gayton, Junior Mack, Kenny Rampton, Bill Sims, Chaney Sims, Kenny “Beedy Eyes” Smith, Bruno Wilhelm and Steve Wiseman. Kenny “Beedy Eyes” Smith provides the group’s drumming, while Vincent Bucher plays harmonica. Bruno Wilhelm, from France, is the tenor saxophonist and horn arranger, and the horn section includes players who have worked with artists such as Wynton Marsalis, Sting and Bruce Springsteen.

Background

The group’s performances and recordings draw on collective experience in jazz, R&B and gospel. Its material includes versions of songs such as Clarksdale Moan, Catfish Blues, Go Down Hannah and Get Right Church, presented through a mix of vocals, slide guitar, harmonies and percussion.