Millenium Park Summer Music Series: No BS Brass Band/Dayme Arocena

The music series (free Mondays and Thursdays) features a wide variety of genre-defying music from top local, national and international artists – both established and emerging.

Richmond, Virginia based No BS! Brass Band embraces the spirit of New Orleans into its original East Coast modern funk and fearlessly combining elements of James Brown, John Coltrane, Michael Jackson, and Led Zeppelin into their fiercely original sound.  Founders Reggie Pace and Lance Koehler have cast this 11-piece band in which nearly every member has had conservatory training, holding various degrees in music. In putting together the compositions and arrangements, the “b.s.” has been stripped to give the audience something solid, unique, organic, real, and powerful.

Dayme Arocena is one of the “most inviting ambassadors” for Cuba’s contemporary music. Santerian chant, rhythmic complexity, fluid jazz styling and a nuanced Afro-Cuban soulfulness – Dayme channels the elements in service to her audience and culture.  In May, 2016 Dayme released her third album, One Takes (Brownswood Recordings) featuring Horace Silver’s powerful “Gods of Yoruba” among a collection of masterfully reimagined rare covers that further bridge her musical worlds.