Photo by Andrea Canter

Meet the Hornheads

The members of the Hornheads trace their collaboration back to the early 1990s when four of the original Heads toured with Prince as members of the New Power Generation, a decade-long association that included nine recordings and tours throughout the world. As leader Michael Nelson explains in the liner notes, this subgroup of NPG rehearsed together acapella, and the Hornheads were born. In addition to their tours with Prince, the Hornheads collectively and individually are busy session musicians, and have performed or recorded with Janet Jackson, Rod Stewart, James Brown, Aretha Franklin, Louis Belleson, Dizzy Gillespie, Ray Charles, Clark Terry, and Tony Bennett, among others. London’s Q Magazine described this brass menagerie as a “peerless horn section…playing in bare brilliant syncopation, punching with a staccato precision beyond the grasp of science or synclavier.”

• Michael B. Nelson (trombone) is the leader, arranger and trombonist for the Hornheads. He has composed and arranged for Prince and many international artists, including performances with Doc Severinsen, Chaka Khan, Lenny Kravitz, Ben Sidran, Sammy Davis Jr., Phil Upchurch and many others. The recipient of a McKnight Composers Fellowship in 1996, he is also a member of the trombone ensemble Locally Damaging Winds.


Photo by Andrea Canter

• Dave Jensen (trumpet) toured with the Artie Shaw Orchestra for three years before joining New Power Generation and the Hornheads.. Dave is a pit musician for musical shows and theatrical productions at the Orpheum, Ordway and Guthrie theaters, plays with the JazzMN Big Band, and is a faculty member at McNally Smith College (MusicTech).

• Kathy Jensen (alto/baritone saxophone). Before her tenure with the Hornheads, Kathy performed with Moore by Four. A popular pit musician and educator in the Twin Cities, she has performed with the Minnesota Orchestra and with touring artists such as Aretha Franklin, James Brown, Frank Sinatra Jr. and Natalie Cole. She also performs with the JazzMN Big Band.

• Kenni Holmen (tenor/soprano saxophone) is an active touring and recording artist. His credits include work with Michael Bolton. Celine Dion, Johnny Mathis, Prince, Tony Bennett, Dizzy Gillespie, Ben Sidran, Doc Severinson, the Minnesota Orchestra, and many more. He has also performed with and co-produced with Lorie Line for over ten years, including a performance at the White House.

• Steve Strand (trumpet, flugelhorn) has toured and/or recorded with Prince and Phil Upchurch as a member of the Hornheads as well as with the Steve Wright Big Band, Peter Ostroushko. Lorie Line, and Mandy Moore.

Without a rhythm section, the responsibility for pulse and basslines has been taken up by trombone and baritone sax, with trumpets and alto, tenor, and/or soprano sax filling in the melody and harmony. While Nelson provides the arrangements and many original compositions, the Hornheads’ repertoire has also included the master composers, from Ellington and Monk to Rogers and Hammerstein. The Hornheads first, self-titled recording was released in 1994; Five Heads Are Better Than One followed in 1997.

Fat Lip (Bone 2B Wild Music)

The Hornheads new recording continues their tradition of serious music that’s full of the playful humor that often characterizes brass in creative and energetic hands—er, lips. Michael Nelson contributes 8 of the 15 tracks; the covers include a Stevie Wonder Medley and a medley from Bernstein’s West Side Story. Each tune includes “soli sections,” the short solos which are Hornhead trademarks. Overall, Fat Lip is 53 highly entertaining minutes that demonstrate the vast range of sound, dynamics, and harmony that can be generated from five horns and five master musicians.

From the opening track, “Can’t Quite Put My Finger On It,” the Heads provide snappy, crackling solos, here from Dave Jensen who blows some fast climbing swirls, while Kenni Holmen’s soprano sax flavors the tune with “N’awlins” swing over Kathy Jensen’s pulsating bari. “Chiclete com Banana” (by Almira and Gordurinha Castilho) has a beat that demands a dance floor, with Holmen particular playful on tenor. The title track starts with Nelson sliding up and down, popping and growling with conversation-like phrases; it all bubbles with good humor.

“Things Left Unsaid” is a dramatic shift, its solemn tones and chords almost hymnal. Sounding like he moves from trumpet to flugelhorn, Dave Jensen sings the melody over Nelson’s bassline. Shifting gears again, “Zeetin’ Z/Bo” is a simmering melody with repeating phrases, with a bari solo from Kathy Jensen that shows off her fleet fingering and buzzy vibrato. Nelson gets his turn making the trombone as lyrical as possible while maintaining the bouncing humor of the piece, then engages in a brief duet with the bari. A great cascade of phrases from each horn closes out the fun.

The Stevie Wonder medley provides an opportunity for the ensemble to take on overly familiar pop melodies and rearrange them into novel vignettes. “Superstition” opens like a bowl of Rice Krispies and moves into bubbling oatmeal, with Dave Jensen’s legato slides and Holmen’s staccato runs. “All in Love Is Fair” proves the trombone can be a melodic instrument. On “Isn’t She Lovely,” gruff ensemble playing introduces a muted solo by Dave Jensen, then shifts to into great spiraling phrases from Holmen on tenor. It’s a quick and boppish run through a tune that you think you know-- til you hear this arrangement.

Kathy Jensen provides swirling alto licks on “Lady Dude” over Nelson’s funky groove; the trombonist carries the melody on his “Que Bonita,” while the other horns blend into a string-like accompaniment. Back on the bari sax, Kathy Jensen is swinging, full of bop enthusiasm, while on “Head Case,” her whining alto squeals without chafing.

The Bernstein medley is a personal favorite. “Tonight” blows and blends as if a full orchestra is behind it before settling into the melody on Holmen’s tenor, with just enough soulful longing over the bari bass line. The tune folds right into “Cool” with the slightly dissonant harmonies evoking the gang confrontation of the original score, hinting at danger. Improvised lines from the trumpets add energy and challenge. On the delightful arrangement of “America,” Holmen’s tenor and Strand’s trumpet parry back and forth, with sass fitting Rita Moreno.

The short closing track, Nelson’s “Hornz Stand Up,” initially sounds like an orchestra tuning up, then takes off with the trombone in the lead, passing off to Dave Jensen, then to Holmen, ending with a unison chorus and final shout from each instrument.

It’s a fitting close to a wild romp through the brass menagerie. And it is even more fun to see and hear the Hornheads live. Come celebrate the long-awaited release of their new recording this weekend at the Dakota!

Fat Lip is available from CD Baby at http://www.cdbaby.com/cd/hornheads3 and locally in Minneapolis at the Electric Fetus (2000 4^th Av South). The Hornheads will celebrate the new recording at the Dakota on Sunday, May 22, first set at 7 pm. The Dakota is located at 1010 Nicollet Mall in downtown Minneapolis; www.dakotacooks.com. Visit the Hornheads website at www.hornheads.com