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Revolutionary Snake Ensemble

Dressed a la Mardi Gras in feathered masks and multi-colored, sequined costumes, playing music that riotously combines the rhythms of New Orleans brass bands with improvisation and heaping undercurrents of funk, the Revolutionary Snake Ensemble inhabits that rare musical planet on which Sun Ra, James Brown, George Clinton & Parliament Funkadelic, and a myriad of New Orleans marching bands jointly reside. Based physically in Boston since forming in 1990, the horn and percussion-based group is led by saxophonist/composer Ken Field, who describes it as "a funk and street beat brass band, playing New Orleans and other modern improvised celebratory styles." The Snake's music is rooted in the New Orleans tradition of jazz funerals - a tradition unique to the birthplace of jazz - which began with a 'first line' procession to the burial ground, a brass band playing hymns in a funeral dirge. Afterwards, there was a celebration of the deceased's life, with a 'second line' of musicians playing up-tempo music celebrating the miracle of life. Playing Field's original compositions and rearrangements of traditional tunes, opening up new avenues for improvisation, the Revolutionary Snake Ensemble celebrates, expands, and transforms the brass band tradition - a tradition, in the wake of Hurricane Katrina, that is now in diaspora. A saxophonist/ composer/ improviser, Ken Field is one of Boston's most dedicated and versatile musicians. Since 1988, he has been a member of Birdsongs of the Mesozoic, a New Music/ chamber rock ensemble that began as a spinoff from the legendary Mission of Burma. Birdsongs has recorded seven internationally acclaimed CDs on Cuneiform Records, including the recent Extreme Spirituals, which features the bass/baritone of acclaimed African American vocalist Oral Moses. Field also has an active solo career. An improviser and composer of classical/New Music, he has performed internationally and released four solo discs [Subterranea (O.O.Discs), Pictures of Motion (sFz), Tokyo in F (Sublingual), and Under the Skin (Innova)]. Field has composed music for animation, film, and video, for Bridgman/Packer Dance, and for television, including music for Sesame Street and PBS. As a performer, he has worked as a sideman with countless renowned reggae, funk, R&B, rock, jazz, and world beat artists - and performed for former President Bill Clinton. Field is also the long-standing host of The New Edge, a Boston-based weekly radio show featuring a broad range of creative instrumental music. The Revolutionary Snake Ensemble was formed in 1990 when Field assembled an improvisational horn and percussion group with trumpeter and cartoonist Scott Getchell to entertain at a pagan women's ritual celebration.

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274
Album Review

Revolutionary Snake Ensemble: Forked Tongue

Read "Forked Tongue" reviewed by Joel Roberts


What do Billy Idol, Ornette Coleman and Doris Day have in common? One thing at least: They’re all fodder for the creative madness of the Revolutionary Snake Ensemble (RSE), the wildly eclectic, uproariously entertaining Boston-based group that offers a post-modern, Sun Ra-meets-Mardi Gras twist (down to their outrageous costumes) on the New Orleans brass band tradition.

RSE is the brainchild of alto saxophonist Ken Field, whose resume includes everything from post-punk (he’s a longtime member of Birdsongs of ...

352
Album Review

Revolutionary Snake Ensemble: Forked Tongue

Read "Forked Tongue" reviewed by Mark Corroto


Feel good. It's okay to feel good in these days of war, floods, pestilence, and (insert the current price of) gasoline. Certainly the tradition of jazz, especially New Orleans jazz, tells us to celebrate the moment, even if that moment is minutes after you've buried a love one. For that you must have a brass band and the troop known as the Revolutionary Snake Ensemble is certainly a worthy one.

Founded in Boston by saxophonist Ken Field in ...

351
Album Review

Revolutionary Snake Ensemble: Year of the Snake

Read "Year of the Snake" reviewed by AAJ Staff


Two things matter most when it comes to funk: the music has to be fun, and it can't be boring. Apply this filter and a whole lot of mass market dreck drops right out the bottom. But plenty of records pass the test--for example, Garage a Trois and Skerik's Syncopated Taint Septet--and they deserve frequent, loud play. Such is the way of the Snake.

Ten years after the Revolution, this Boston group has finally found its way onto ...

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1

Recording

Ken Field's Revolutionary Snake Ensemble Releases "I Want That Sound!"

Ken Field's Revolutionary Snake Ensemble Releases "I Want That Sound!"

Source: All About Jazz

The Revolutionary Snake Ensemble (RSE) has been developing and cultivating a distinct sound critics and audiences alike hail for invigorating an illustrious musical heritage with fresh ideas, wit, and spunk while in the process attracting new and younger audiences to the music. In fact, RSE has been at the forefront of the jazz renaissance The Guardian (UK) newspaper recently touted as a “new golden age”. Over more than a quarter century of touring and performing in settings ranging from clubs ...

2

Recording

Revolutionary Snake Ensemble's "Live Snakes" To Be Released By Accurate Records March 11

Revolutionary Snake Ensemble's "Live Snakes" To Be Released By Accurate Records March 11

Source: Terri Hinte Publicity

Boston-based saxophonist/composer Ken Field has drawn deeply from the wellspring of the New Orleans brass band tradition since forming his Revolutionary Snake Ensemble in 1990. Using the boisterous rhythms of that tradition as a launching pad for unbridled improvisations on both original and traditional material, the band has emerged as a singular force in the music. Their third CD, Live Snakes, set for March 11 release by Accurate Records, captures their distinctive sound in all its expressive glory. Recorded in ...

144

Performance / Tour

Ken Field's Revolutionary Snake Ensemble Returns to NYC

Ken Field's Revolutionary Snake Ensemble Returns to NYC

Source: Rolling Thunder PR

Boston's Acclaimed Revolutionary Snake Ensemble Returns to New York City Bringing their Avant Second Line New Orleans Funk Back For the First Time in Two Years “The Revolutionary Snake Ensemble, a writhing, horn-heavy group led by the Boston-based saxophonist and composer Ken Field, dresses in feathered masks and sequined robes and covers a broad range of funk- and New Orleans-inspired music. A seasoned collection of horn and percussion players, the group, which is closing in on two decades of music-making, ...

222

Interview

Revolutionary Snake Ensemble's Ken Field Interviewed at AAJ

Revolutionary Snake Ensemble's Ken Field Interviewed at AAJ

Source: All About Jazz

Saxophonist/composer Ken Field describes the Revolutionary Snake Ensemble as a “funk and street beat brass band playing New Orleans and other modern improvised celebratory styles." Playing original compositions and those of artists as diverse as Billy Idol and Ornette Coleman, the RSE was formed in 1990 to entertain a at a pagan women's ritual celebration. The project continued and today RSE is a fixture on the Boston, New York and New Orleans musical scenes. RSE's two discs-- Year of the ...

197

Performance / Tour

Revolutionary Snake Ensemble in Boston, Philadelphia, New Orleans, and Worldwide!

Revolutionary Snake Ensemble in Boston, Philadelphia, New Orleans, and Worldwide!

Source: All About Jazz

It's a difficult time, and doubly so for small independent record companies like our Maryland-based label Cuneiform Records. Not only are sales down due to the economy--CD burning and illegal free download sites are cutting significantly into the market. You can support dedicated and creative independent music businesses by buying a CD or two, and of course our CD Forked Tongue is one possibility. The Revolutionary Snake Ensemble prepared for our annual pilgrimage to New Orleans with a warm-up gig ...

187

Recording

Download Two Free MP3's from the Revolutionary Snake Ensemble's "Forked Tongue" and "Year of the Snake"

Download Two Free MP3's from the Revolutionary Snake Ensemble's "Forked Tongue" and "Year of the Snake"

Source: All About Jazz

Download two free MP3s from Revolutionary Snake Ensemble's Forked Tongue and Year of the Snake. Under the Skin Revolutionary Snake Ensemble From Forked Tongue 3:00 Central Square Revolutionary Snake Ensemble From Year of the Snake 05:51 About Revolutionary Snake Ensemble Dressed a la Mardi Gras in feathered masks and multi-colored, sequined costumes, playing music that riotously combines the rhythms of New Orleans brass bands with improvisation and heaping ...

132

Recording

New urban tribal/street beat debut CD from Revolutionary Snake Ensemble

New urban tribal/street beat debut CD from Revolutionary Snake Ensemble

Source: All About Jazz

The Revolutionary Snake Ensemble, a Boston-based funk & street beat brass band playing New Orleans and other modern improvised music, announces the release on Innova Recordings of their debut CD “Year of the Snake". The group was nominated best local jazz act by the Boston Phoenix and WFNX Radio. www.RevolutionarySnakeEnsemble.org www.innova.mu RSE will perform live at First Night Fall River (MA), Wed night 12/31, from 7:30-11:15pm at Gromada Plaza. “Year of the Snake" has been listed ...

”OUT OF LEFT FIELD: The Revolutionary Snake Ensemble, a writhing, horn- heavy group led by the Boston-based saxophonist and composer Ken Field, dresses in feathered masks and sequined robes and covers a broad range of funk- and New Orleans-inspired music... The group puts a funky spin on everything from Billy Idol to Ornette Coleman.” The New Yorker NIGHTLIFE PICK OF THE WEEK “I love the disc” Scott Borne, Music Director, WWOZ New Orleans “If the wailing vigil of Down By the Riverside doesn't rake your spine, chances are you don't have one...It's quite possibly the most convincing treatment of New Orleans by a non-native since Hugh Masakela's Goin' Back to New Orleans...If [Field]'s not re-arranging some holy chestnut, he's dreaming up freaky, wind-jamming floor monsters like The Large S.” Brendon Griffin, PopMatters “A quirky, idiosyncratic band capable of both partying and intellectual discourse...A formidable slew of potent originals...The Revolutionary Snake Ensemble has taken danceable music to both earthy and progressive levels.” Michael Nastos, All Music Guide “Unlike most modernisations of supposedly 'traditional' concepts, this one has an informing logic that carries it through, and by the time you get to Minor Vee and Under the Skin, both written by saxophonist/leader Ken Field, you're a voodoo convert.” Brian Morton, The Wire (UK) “The music is what counts, and Forked Tongue demonstrates why the Revolutionary Snake Ensemble matters.” Steve Greenlee, JazzTimes “About the most fun I've had musically all year.” Jon Davis, Exposé “RSE is a gloriously humorous and creative group that makes great music” Jay Collins, Signal to Noise “Three cheers and five stars - Thoroughly happening!” Glenn Astarita, eJazzNews “The album is GREAT! [It] touches all the right cornerstones of jazz, but also funks my socks off.” Kyle Press, WKDU Philadelphia “Can't stop playing this crazy CD over and over again

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Photos

Concerts

Music

Recordings: As Leader | As Sideperson

I Want That Sound!

Innova Recordings
2016

buy

Live Snakes

Accurate Records
2014

buy

Forked Tongue

Cuneiform Records
2008

buy

Year of the Snake

Innova Recordings
2003

buy

Under the Skin

From: Forked Tongue
By Revolutionary Snake Ensemble

Central Square

From: Year of the Snake
By Revolutionary Snake Ensemble

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