Home » Jazz Musicians » Wendell Brunious

Wendell Brunious

Trumpeter and vocalist Wendell Brunious boasts a towering musical family tree primarily flowered with trumpets. He is the son of trumpet master John “Picket” (or “Picky”) Brunious Sr. and Nazimova “Chinee” Santiago, the niece of guitarist/banjoist Willie Santiago.

Brunious believes what’s considered the “Brunious sound” all began with his father’s influence. “When my father first started to develop as a trumpet player was in an era before amplification, so you had to play loud enough to hear yourself and to be heard in the band. I kind of think that’s where what some people call the Brunious sound kind of started. That ‘sound’ is being able to interpret ballads when you are also trying to hear the actual words coming out of the end of the trumpet. What was important was the tone, playing in tune, and being able to play nice ballads—not just fast stuff. My daddy used to say this: ‘If you don’t know the melody, you don’t know the song. ‘Bourbon Street Parade,’ ‘Paul Barbarin’s Second Line,’ ‘Hold that Tiger’ and a million other songs have the same form but what segregates the tunes is the melody.”

The talented and dedicated Wendell Brunious credits some of his early development to having worked with the Olympia Brass Band under the direction of his cousin, bandleader/saxophonist Harold Dejan. Extremely knowledgeable in the music’s tradition and history, Brunious enjoys sprinkling his conversation with advisory quotes from his father and other artists who have crossed his musical path through his decades-long career.

Tags

2

Interview

Interview: Wendell Brunious

Interview: Wendell Brunious

Source: JazzWax by Marc Myers

If the name Wendell Brunious is not familiar to you, I assure you that the sound of his trumpet will stick with you the moment you hear it. Wendell, 66, has spent much of his life in New Orleans, growing up in a musical family rich in the jny: New Orleans jazz tradition. From 1987 into the 2010s, he led the city's Preservation Hall Jazz Band, and he has been recording since 1977. Wendell is a New Orleans treasure. Last ...

97

Performance / Tour

Jazz This Week: Tony Bennett, Kurt Elling, Peter Martin and Wendell Brunious, "Drum Line II" and More

Jazz This Week: Tony Bennett, Kurt Elling, Peter Martin and Wendell Brunious, "Drum Line II" and More

Source: St. Louis Jazz Notes by Dean Minderman

Along with an assortment of jazz and creative music instrumentalists, this week brings two outstanding male vocalists to St. Louis—one representing the tradition of jazz-influenced popular singing, the other offering what amounts to a survey of the current state of the art in contemporary jazz vocals. The representative of tradition is, of course, the great Tony Bennett, who returns to our city tonight to perform at the Fox Theatre. Bennett is currently enjoying another popular success with his recently released ...

82

Performance / Tour

Peter Martin, Wendell Brunious to Perform for Benefit on Saturday, November 19 at the Sheldon

Peter Martin, Wendell Brunious to Perform for Benefit on Saturday, November 19 at the Sheldon

Source: St. Louis Jazz Notes by Dean Minderman

Pianist Peter Martin will team with New Orleans trumpeter Wendell Brunious to provide the music for “ArtSounds: French Quarter Fête," an event to benefit the Sheldon Art Galleries to be held at 6:30 p.m. on Saturday, November 19 at the Sheldon. Martin and Brunious will team with bassist Chris Thomas—who, like Martin, originally is from St. Louis—and drummer Jason Marsalis in a group billed as the New Orleans Modern Jazz Masters. Brunious, 56, has played with the Preservation Hall Jazz ...

Photos

Music

Videos

Similar

Get more of a good thing!

Our weekly newsletter highlights our top stories, our special offers, and upcoming jazz events near you.