Westerlies

The Westerlies are Riley Mulherkar and Zubin Hensler, trumpets, and Andy Clausen and Willem de Koch, trombones. Childhood friends from Seattle, they formed in New York in 2011 while studying at Juilliard and the Manhattan School of Music. Following their critically acclaimed debut album Wish the Children Would Come On Home: The Music of Wayne Horvitz, The Westerlies return to their roots as an original music ensemble with this self-titled sophomore release, showcasing the quartet in a boldly personal setting. This double-disc set features 14 compositions by The Westerlies, as well as pieces by Ellington and Ives, and an English folk ballad arranged by Sam Amidon and Nico Muhly. The Westerlies bring together jazz, improvisational, classical and folk approaches, navigating the music with the precision of a string quartet, the audacity of a rock band, and the charm of a family folk ensemble. This album is the product of four composer-performers who, though they grew up in the same city, have unique and diverse musical backgrounds. The listener can hear each composer gently tugging the ensemble in the direction of his own taste, and the band follows, expressing their friendship through musical empathy. The high-res recording is a collaboration with producer/engineer Jesse Lewis (Roomful of Teeth, Brooklyn Rider, Silk Road Ensemble with Yo-Yo Ma), and it pushes the expressive palette and sonic limits of chamber music. The Westerlies are an accidental brass quartet, the product of a shared history and musical philosophy; because of their somewhat unorthodox instrumentation, they've cultivated an entirely original and personal repertoire of compositions, arrangements, and vocabulary. This is not conservatory music: it exudes warmth, beauty, humor, surprise, and genuinely quirky attitude, but it's all performed with consummate skill. It's music that's equally at home in rock or jazz clubs, in concert halls, at folk festivals, or on "indie-classical" series.