SPANISH BRASS AND FRIENDS Joseph Alessi - Matthias Höfs

It has been an extraordinary experience for Spanish Brass to collaborate with two exceptional musicians, Matthias Höfs (Germany) and Joseph Alessi (USA). This has given rise to a shared desire to document this relationship with an extremely interesting recording project.

We first performed with Matthias in October 2022 at the “Make It Brass Festival” in Belgium. Given the happy results, we discussed recording an album with him.

With Joe, the relationship began a few years earlier, in October 2018, at a concert held at the Manuel de Falla Auditorium in Granada, Spain. Later, our partnership deepened with our collaboration in one of the concerts at the “Concours International de Trombone Michel Becquet” (Luxembourg) in 2023.

Since then, Spanish Brass has eagerly continued on the path we embarked on in 2001, with a CD titled “Spanish Brass & Friends”.

The beginning of a small series of audio recordings featuring some of the most prestigious musicians in the brass world, both from Spain and abroad.

Both Matthias and Joe were keen to join us to participate in this project, with friendship being the beautiful common denominator.

And so, with this CD, we'll be completing a quartet of recordings on which musicians such as Michel Becquet and Eric Aubier have collaborated as soloists (Spanish Brass & Friends, 2001).

To celebrate our 15th anniversary, and following the path laid out with our previous album, we enlisted the splendid collaboration of Ole Edward Antonsen and Christian Lindberg (Absolute, 2014), which included, in addition to the CD, a wonderful tour of Spain.

The penultimate showcase of our record production with great friends and exceptional musicians was our collaboration with Luís González and Carlos Gil (Sinèrgies, 2019). This album is part of our label's catalog and includes a piece written by Ramón Cardo, entitled "Tangasso", which we re-recorded on our latest album, SPANISH BRASS & FRIENDS, with Matthias and Joe.

We couldn't have hoped for a better grand finale for this series than to join forces with the talent and excellence of two other icons of the brass world. They round out a roster of legendary artists, creating something unique and unrepeatable. It will be presented to the public in late 2025 and on a tour in early 2026.

A varied, eclectic, and innovative repertoire, in which both Matthias and Joe present solo and duo pieces, with the constant presence of Spanish Brass.

A true pleasure.

• Canzon Seconda.- Bartolomeo de Selma e Salaverde (arr. Matthias Höfs) *

• No, che non sei capace KV419.- Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart (arr. Matthias Höfs) *

• Andante KV315.- Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart (arr. Matthias Höfs) *

• Sonate Es-Dur aus “Essercii musici” TWV 41:C5 (arr. Matthias Höfs) *

• Unveiling.- Frederic Talgorn

• Sighisoara.- Ricardo Mollá

• Vals para Miguel.- Thierry Caens

• How do you keep the music playing?.- Michel Legrand

• Tangasso.- Ramon Cardo

• Bolero.- Maurice Ravel (arr. Carlos Benetó)

Spanish Brass
Matthias Höfs, trumpet
Joseph Alessi, trombone