High Praise for the Lowdown

If you've followed me at all on The Local Tourist, on Twitter, on Facebook, subscribe to my newsletter or have met me at any point you probably know what a big fan I am of the Chicago music scene. I will extol its virtues to anyone who will listen. Seven days a week you can hear live music of almost any genre. Sure, some bands should never have left the basement, and some are trying really hard but are not quite there yet, but then there are those gems that stand out and make you stand up and take notice.

Say hello to Lowdown Brass Band.

After an amazing evening Thursday checking out the Museum of Science & Industry's new Science Storm exhibit I stopped in at Cubby Bear to see another band. We've been chatting on Twitter and they invited me to their free show. While I felt that night they're in the second category, I'll be following them with interest because I think they've got a lot of potential.

By the time their set finished after 11 I was ready to go home, since it was a school night, but I could see the next band warming up their trombones, trumpets, saxophones, and an honest to goodness tuba. There was no way this marching band drum major daughter of a trombone player could leave and oh, I am so glad I didn't.

Lowdown Brass Band is a group of nine Chicagoans that blend jazz and blues with more modern elements like funk and hip-hop. The video below is what a bunch of "brass-holes", as my dad used to call his fellow horns, sound like when they're trying to be metal-heads. Not exactly Slipknot, but not exactly John Philip Sousa either. What it is, exactly, is AWESOME!

p.s. Did I mention the show was FREE?