Short bio:

Good Time Brass brings a fresh and fun angle to the traditional brass chamber experience! Based in Los Angeles, Good Time Brass feeds off the musical energy of its city, performing a wide variety of styles including jazz, contemporary classical, pop, and film music. Their exciting style features the individuality of its five members, fully on-display in their new live show “Cowboy Bebop” merging Western films and jazz arrangements.

Long bio:

Good Time Brass brings a fresh and fun angle to the traditional brass chamber experience! Based in Los Angeles, Good Time Brass feeds off the musical energy of its city, performing a wide variety of styles including jazz, contemporary classical, pop, and film music. The group synthesizes this versatility with top-notch musicianship and technical ability, building on the legacy of Los Angeles brass from Herb Alpert to the Hollywood studios.

Founded in 2022, Good Time Brass creates a space to foster the individual creativity and artistic freedom of its members (Aric Kline, Trumpet; Austin Ali, Trumpet; Vincent Jurado, Horn; Nathan Culcasi, Trombone; Sam Adam, Tuba). Through performances and after-gig hangs, the quintet has strengthened their bond as friends, matured as an ensemble, and developed a unique and authentic sound. 

The sandbox for Good Time Brass’s growth has consistently been at UCLA. Its members all met in graduate school at the Herb Alpert School of Music, and the quintet became a staple of the UCLA concert landscape. Good Time Brass members performed as sought-after musicians in graduate recitals, Graduate Composers Concerts, and UCLA’s flagship large ensembles. The quintet found a home outside of the conservatory through the Music in Medicine program, bringing live music to physicians, patients, and staff at the Ronald Reagan Medical Center. These performances became their equivalent of the Beatles’ stint in Hamburg, allowing them to fine-tune their craft and premiere numerous new arrangements. More recently, Good Time Brass recorded multiple projects at the UCLA Recording Studio and made a triumphant return to the concert hall at the inaugural Climate Notes” Concert (featured in UCLA Newsroom). This concert was dedicated to the interdisciplinary synthesis of music and climate science through new music commissions. Good Time Brass premiered Austin Ali’s piece A Cosmic Perspective as a multimedia experience featuring a film by fellow PhD student Katie Osborn.

From its inception, Good Time Brass has committed to performing new music (and avoiding all things Ewald-related). Through this pursuit, the group hopes to expand the traditional brass quintet repertoire and pave the way for innovations for the ensemble. Good Time Brass has worked closely with numerous emerging composers, premiering and recording their original works for brass quintet. Composition collaborators include Austin Ali (Santander Overture, A Cosmic Perspective), Robby Good (Another Day Has Died (And What It Brings)), Sergey Nesterov (Golden Resonances), and Peder Barratt-Due (Kanon).

Good Time Brass is dedicated to music education. The members of the quintet are all high-level music educators across Los Angeles, teaching through YOLA and Harmony Project as well as SMMUSD and various other institutions. As a quintet, they showcase the educational power and fun of brass chamber music in schools. Good Time Brass performs yearly for the students at Malibu High School, and they will be bringing their new show entitled “Cowboy Bebop” to schools and other venues in the 25/26 school year.