The Brad Felt NuQuartet Plus

Veteran Detroit jazz musician Brad Felt has been championing the role of the euphonium and tuba as front-line instruments for over thirty years. Felt has an extensive sideman résumé, having performed with notable artists such as Roy Brooks, Martha Reeves and Howard Johnson's Gravity. First Call is an introduction to Felt's progressive jazz ensemble Nu Quartet Plus, featuring saxophonist and longtime musical associate Steve Wood.

Felt composes with an intriguing playfulness, building on rhythmic motifs and cleverly engaging euphonium and saxophone to develop his themes, all with an underlying propensity to swing. The blazing, bebop-inspired unison lines of the opening title track and straight-ahead flavor of "Invocation" contrast nicely with the layered entrances and harmonic spread of "The Truth About You" and sneakiness of "Surface Dwellers," with touches of intuitive, free-form blowing.

Bassist Nick Calandro—whose lyrical approach is an integral part of the ensemble—introduces the sly funk of "Explode the Modular," an appealing track with a simple motif bounced back and forth between Felt and Wood on soprano sax; a blending that works exceptionally well. Here, drummer Bill Higgins executes a dynamic sense of interplay and pianist Gary Schunk delivers a solo of astonishing single-note runs, bordering on the ethereal.

The Latin-tinged "If You Came to Me For Love" has an accessible appeal and contains exceptional solo turns, especially from Felt. The closing "High Contrast" takes shape with a kind of controlled approach to group improvisation. Indeed, in marked contrast, the tune eventually settles into an up-tempo burner based on the changes to "What is This Thing Called Love?" Wood, Felt and Schunk each wind their way emphatically through multiple choruses until the opening section is eventually re-introduced.

First Call is a bold musical undertaking from an empathetic cast. As a composer and performer, Felt's vision, steeped in the traditions of Detroit, is forward thinking and deserving of wide recognition. - All About Jazz

One of the unsung heroes on the Detroit jazz scene, Brad Felt plays the euphonium with such a compelling combination of brains, facility and command of contemporary post-bop that he makes you forget that his instrument is still a rarity in jazz. Few players handle the big horn with as much authority in this idiom. Felt's NuQuartet Plus is celebrating the release of a terrific new album "First Call." - The Detroit Free Press, Mark Stryker - 11/12/09

'This is the most challenging gig I've ever done," says Brad Felt, euphonium in hand. "I don't know if that's a good thing or a bad thing, but I couldn't resist."

Felt, who leads his own quintet at next Sunday's Michigan Jazz Festival, was speaking last week at Cliff Bell's in Detroit, where he was the only horn in a trio led by drummer Bill Higgins with Gary Schunk on organ. The evening was devoted to classic, sophisticated post-bop compositions by Joe Henderson from the '60s. Tackling them in such a lean setting would test any horn player, but only a truly brave -- or foolish -- soul would take the plunge on euphonium, the smaller, higher-pitched version of the tuba.

Yet Felt's no-prisoners improvisations were so fleet, harmonically aware and rhythmically flexible that he made you forget that his instrument is still regarded as something of an interloper in jazz. Felt, 54, an unsung hero on the Detroit scene, remains one of just a handful of musicians playing modern-mainstream jazz on the euphonium and tuba, his first instrument. Though he has toured internationally with tuba hero Howard Johnson's Gravity ensemble and contributed to all manner of local groups, Felt has reached a new creative peak with his NuQuartet Plus, which is devoted to his sturdy original compositions. - The Detroit Free Press

CD/LP Review | Published: May 26, 2010

First Call
Brad Felt Nu Quartet Plus | Launch Control (2010)


By John Barron
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Veteran Detroit jazz musician Brad Felt has been championing the role of the euphonium and tuba as front-line instruments for over thirty years. Felt has an extensive sideman résumé, having performed with notable artists such as Roy Brooks, Martha Reeves and Howard Johnson's Gravity. First Call is an introduction to Felt's progressive jazz ensemble Nu Quartet Plus, featuring saxophonist and longtime musical associate Steve Wood.

Felt composes with an intriguing playfulness, building on rhythmic motifs and cleverly engaging euphonium and saxophone to develop his themes, all with an underlying propensity to swing. The blazing, bebop-inspired unison lines of the opening title track and straight-ahead flavor of "Invocation" contrast nicely with the layered entrances and harmonic spread of "The Truth About You" and sneakiness of "Surface Dwellers," with touches of intuitive, free-form blowing.

Bassist Nick Calandro—whose lyrical approach is an integral part of the ensemble—introduces the sly funk of "Explode the Modular," an appealing track with a simple motif bounced back and forth between Felt and Wood on soprano sax; a blending that works exceptionally well. Here, drummer Bill Higgins executes a dynamic sense of interplay and pianist Gary Schunk delivers a solo of astonishing single-note runs, bordering on the ethereal.

The Latin-tinged "If You Came to Me For Love" has an accessible appeal and contains exceptional solo turns, especially from Felt. The closing "High Contrast" takes shape with a kind of controlled approach to group improvisation. Indeed, in marked contrast, the tune eventually settles into an up-tempo burner based on the changes to "What is This Thing Called Love?" Wood, Felt and Schunk each wind their way emphatically through multiple choruses until the opening section is eventually re-introduced.

First Call is a bold musical undertaking from an empathetic cast. As a composer and performer, Felt's vision, steeped in the traditions of Detroit, is forward thinking and deserving of wide recognition.

Track listing: First Call; The Truth About You; Empathic; Surface Dwellers; Invocation; Explode the Modular; If You Came to Me For Love; High Contrast.

Personnel: Brad Felt: euphonium; Steve Wood: tenor saxophone, soprano saxophone; Gary Schunk: piano; Nick Calandro: bass; Bill Higgins: drums.

Style: Modern Jazz

- All About Jazz

Critic's Choice: One of the sublime treats of Brad Felt's new disc is "Explode the Modular," which juxtaposes Steve Wood's spry soprano lines against the weight of Felt's euphonium lines, in a sort of Laurel and-Hardy dance of the horns that echoes Steve Lacy (and behind him Thelonious Monk). The euphonium isn't so well-known in jazz as its larger cousin tuba, but Detroiter Felt's out to change that. His excellent new disc, First Call (Launch Control Records), features his longtime modernist accomplice Wood on soprano and tenor, the too-little-heard Gary Schunk on piano, Nick Calandro on bass and Billy Higgins on drums. By way of endorsements, Felt has toured Europe as a featured soloist with Howard Johnson's famed tuba ensemble Gravity, the all-star team of the tuba universe. At 9 p.m. at Cliff Bell's, 2030 Park Ave.; 313-961-2543. (Megan O'Neil) - The Metro Times

The Brad Felt NuQuartet Plus, consisting of Brad Felt (euphonium), Steve Wood (tenor and soprano saxophones), Gary Schunk (piano), Nick Calandro (bass) & Bill Higgins (drums) offers First Call (Launch Control 0475). The leader, who wrote all the compositions on this disk, has managed to turn the euphonium into a perfectly normal jazz instrument, sounding somewhat like a dusky voiced valve trombone. His fast-fingered post-bop solos are complex and well developed, characterized by a fanciful melodic sensibility. In this he matches his front line companion, Steve Wood, who plays quite a bit of soprano here. We are accustomed to hearing him more often on the tenor, but Felt clearly sensed that the contrast between the sweet sound of smaller sax and the gruff euphonium created the sound he was seeking, and it certainly seems to work.

To mix things up, every track has a very different rhythmic pattern; moreover, Felt does not score the instrumental voices in unison, but makes them dance around each other in varying ways throughout the disk. - SEMJA