Albert Brunies

Last updated March 07, 2019

Albert "Abbie" Brunies (January 19, 1900 - October 2, 1978) was an American jazz cornetist.

Jazz is a music genre that originated in the African-American communities of New Orleans, United States, in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, and developed from roots in blues and ragtime. Jazz is seen by many as "America's classical music". Since the 1920s Jazz Age, jazz has become recognized as a major form of musical expression. It then emerged in the form of independent traditional and popular musical styles, all linked by the common bonds of African-American and European-American musical parentage with a performance orientation. Jazz is characterized by swing and blue notes, call and response vocals, polyrhythms and improvisation. Jazz has roots in West African cultural and musical expression, and in African-American music traditions including blues and ragtime, as well as European military band music. Intellectuals around the world have hailed jazz as "one of America's original art forms".

The cornet is a brass instrument similar to the trumpet but distinguished from it by its conical bore, more compact shape, and mellower tone quality. The most common cornet is a transposing instrument in B♭, though there is also a soprano cornet in E♭ and a cornet in C. All are unrelated to the renaissance and early baroque cornett.

Brunies came from a famous New Orleans musical family, which counted among its members George Brunies and Merritt Brunies. Brunies was the leader of the Halfway House Orchestra from 1919 to about 1927, playing at the Halfway House club in New Orleans. This ensemble recorded for Okeh Records in 1925. Among the musicians who played in this group were New Orleans Rhythm Kings members Charlie Cordella, Mickey Marcour, Leon Rappolo, Sidney Arodin, Bill Eastwood, Joe Loyacano and Leo Adde. He played in New Orleans into the mid-1940s, after which time he moved to Biloxi, Mississippi. There he played with Merritt in the Brunie Brothers Dixieland Jazz Band. This ensemble recorded sparsely.

New Orleans is a consolidated city-parish located along the Mississippi River in the southeastern region of the U.S. state of Louisiana. With an estimated population of 393,292 in 2017, it is the most populous city in Louisiana. A major port, New Orleans is considered an economic and commercial hub for the broader Gulf Coast region of the United States.

George Clarence Brunies, a.k.a.Georg Brunis, was a jazz trombonist who was part of the dixieland revival. He was known as "The King of the Tailgate Trombone".

Merritt Brunies, was an American jazz trombonist and cornetist.

Related Research Articles

George Vitelle "Papa Jack" Laine was an American musician and a pioneering band leader in New Orleans in the years from the Spanish–American War to World War I. He was often credited for training many musicians who would later become successful in jazz music.

The New Orleans Rhythm Kings (NORK) were one of the most influential jazz bands of the early to mid-1920s. The band included New Orleans and Chicago musicians who helped shape Chicago jazz and influenced many younger jazz musicians.

Paul Mares, was an American early dixieland jazz cornet & trumpet player, and leader of the New Orleans Rhythm Kings.

Leon Joseph Roppolo was a prominent early jazz clarinetist, best known for his playing with the New Orleans Rhythm Kings. He also played saxophone and guitar.

Joe Stephens, generally known as Ragbaby Stephens, was an early New Orleans dixieland and jazz drummer.. He was the 13th and last child of Philip Stephens (1841–1906) and his wife Catherine Kolb (1843–1913), both natives of Baden-Baden. A number of the Stephens family descendants were professional musicians or band members.

Mel Stitzel was a German-born pianist best known for his work with the New Orleans Rhythm Kings, a leading jazz band of the early 1920s. The leading members of the group including cornetist Paul Mares, trombonist George Brunies and clarinet player Leon Roppolo were school friends from New Orleans who recruited others such as Stitzel and drummer Gene Krupa to join their band. Stitzel also played with The Bucktown Five in the early 1920s.

Preservation Hall Jazz Band is a New Orleans jazz band founded in New Orleans by tuba player Allan Jaffe in the early 1960s. The band derives its name from Preservation Hall in the French Quarter. In 2005, the Hall's doors were closed for a period of time due to Hurricane Katrina, but the band continued to tour.

Friar's Inn was a nightclub and speakeasy in Chicago, Illinois, a famed jazz music venue in the 1920s.

Arthur Hazel, better known as Monk Hazel, was a jazz drummer.

Alvin Alcorn was an American New Orleans jazz trumpeter.

Antonio Sparbaro, known professionally as Tony Sbarbaro or Tony Spargo was an American jazz drummer associated with New Orleans jazz. He was the drummer of the Original Dixieland Jazz Band for over 50 years.

Leo Adde was an American jazz drummer.

Louis Albert Cottrell Jr. was a Louisiana Creole jazz clarinetist and tenor saxophonist. He was the son of the influential drummer Louis Cottrell, Sr., and grandfather of New Orleans jazz drummer Louis Cottrell. As leader of the Heritage Hall Jazz Band, he performed at the famous Carnegie Hall in 1974.

Sidney Arnandan or Arnondrin or Arnondin, better known as Sidney Arodin was an American jazz clarinetist and songwriter, best known for co-writing the pop standard "Lazy River" with Hoagy Carmichael.

Voltaire "Volly" De Faut was an American jazz reed player.

The New Orleans Owls were an early jazz band from New Orleans that descended from The Invincibles String band and recorded 23 sides for Columbia from 1925 to 1927 on 78 rpm Gramophone record. They are reportedly the first group to record by the electric system operating from a mobile recording van. They played principally for the dancers in the ballroom of the Roosevelt Hotel in New Orleans. The replaced Abbie Brunies' Halfway House Orchestra at the Halfway House dancehall in the late 1920s.

"Tin Roof Blues" is a jazz composition by the New Orleans Rhythm Kings first recorded in 1923. It was written by band members Paul Mares, Ben Pollack, Mel Stitzel, George Brunies and Leon Roppolo. The tune has become a jazz standard and is one of the most recorded and often played New Orleans jazz compositions.

Brunies is a surname. Notable people with the surname include:

References

Albert Brunies at Allmusic

This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.