London Brass Biography

The Philip Jones Brass Ensemble was founded in 1951 and quickly developed into the world's leading brass chamber group. It led the rediscovery of renaissance and baroque music for brass, and allowed contemporary composers a new medium to exploit. Its success was compounded by dozens of recordings and tours which made the PJBE famous throughout the world, winning them many fans from the general public, and of course musicians and brass players.

The PJBE was the brain-child of one man. Philip Jones was Principal Trumpet of the Royal Opera Orchestra at Covent Garden when he founded the ensemble in 1951. For many years the reaction to his idea of a brass ensemble was not taken seriously, even by some early members of the group - although they did agree to the unpaid rehearsals.

Of course, no music for brass had been written since the time of Gabrieli and Pezel in the sixteenth century. The modern brass instruments that Jones and his group were playing are so far removed from the early equivalents, that any comparison was largely seen as worthless. The arrangements of Jones himself, and trumpeter Elgar Howarth were to prove invaluable to the original quintets success.

Another side to Jones' genius was the ability to get composers to write for his new genre. Composers as important as Lutoslawski, Andre Previn, and Malcolm Arnold all wrote pieces which the PJBE premiered, and these captured the publics imagination in a way which was never thought possible.

The PJBE put the finishing touches to their incredible legacy with dozens of recordings and published works throughout the 1970's and 80's, and when Philip Jones eventually retired in 1986, the group continued as London Brass. London Brass are still one of the worlds leading chamber ensembles following in the tradition of the great man, Philip Jones. (edit)

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