MERCY, MERCY, MERCY: Hopetoun Brown return to Gisborne next week as part of a tour that coincides with the release of their new album. Picture supplied
Old-school jazz, blues, plantation work songs, doo-wop and funk comes atrumpetin and astompin back into Gisborne with the return of Hopetoun Brown next week. The horn-driven act made up of Nick Atkinson, Tim Stewart and Finn Scholes will bring trombones, saxophones, tubas, tambourines, a Rhodes electric piano, a full-size concert
vibraphone, and stomp, to Smash Palace’s stage.
The Hopetoun Brown sound evolved while Atkinson (saxes, bass clarinet, piano and hollering) and Stewart (vocals, trumpet, trombone, tambourine and stomping) were the horn component of Supergroove, Atkinson told the Guide in 2018. The two men were a “band within a band”.
Not only will the trio perform songs from their three studio albums, Hopetoun Brown’s tour coincides with the release of their new album, Hopetoun Brown — Live at WOMAD.
Hear the stratospheric high notes explode from Finn Scholes’ trumpet bell while bass clarinet player Nick Atkinson underpins lyrics produced by lead singer Tim Stewart’s golden tonsils by streaming the album on platforms such as Spotify to get a sense of what to expect when Smash gets stomped and horned on Wednesday night.
