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Brass Monkey

Biography

The history of Brass Monkey begins in 1973 with John Kirkpatrick playing with Martin Carthy in the Albion Country Band, one of Ashley Hutchings’ many creations. (Carthy played with Hutchings before that in 1970-71 in Steeleye Span – another one – and again later in 1977-78.) Martin Brinsford joined Carthy and Kirkpatrick for Plain Capers (1976), a recording of Morris Dance Tunes From the Cotswolds. Howard Evans, who was with the Albion Band in 1978, joined the other three, together with Roger Williams, to form Brass Monkey in 1979. At some stage the band was briefly called the Martin Carthy Band. (see the short YouTube video of Jolly Tinker at the 1982 Cambridge Folk Festival).

Brass Monkey produced two LPs, Brass Monkey in 1983 and See How It Runs in 1986. On the latter, Roger Williams was replaced by Richard Cheetham. Both LPs were re-released on a CD, Brass Monkey, in 1993.

After a long break due to problems finding gigs for such a large band, they reformed in 1997 and recorded three more CDs with either Richard Cheetham and/or Roger Williams. Howard Evans died in 2006. In 2008, Brass Monkey recruited Paul Archibald as trumpet player and they started recording a new CD for Topic Records.

Musicians

Brass Monkey are
Martin Carthy: vocals, guitar, mandolin;
John Kirkpatrick, vocals, button accordion, melodeon, treble, baritone and bass Anglo concertinas;
Howard Evans, trumpets (1979-2006†);
Paul Archibald, trumpets (2008-);
Martin Brinsford, mouth-organ, C-melody saxophone, drums, percussion;
Richard Cheetham, tenor trombone, sackbut;
Roger Williams, bass trombone, tuba