Motor City Brass Band (MCBB) is ranked among the top ten competition bands in North America. Its roots derive from Britain's 200-year-old venerable brass band heritage. MCBB was established in 1996 by John Aren, a Salvation Army officer and former member of the then current National Champion Illinois Brass Band. With musical director Craig Strain at the helm as conductor, arranger, and composer for the group since its inception, MCBB continues to musically define itself as an integral part of the growing national brass band movement.
The band performs in a variety of venues throughout the year in a wide range of musical styles from classical to jazz, pop to sacred. MCBB has performed throughout the state as well as Illinois, Kentucky, Minnesota, Ohio, & Ontario, Canada. The Band annually participates in the Honors Section of the North American Brass Band Association (NABBA) Championships and, in 2001, released its first CD After Five. The band has shared the stage with some of Detroit area's finest ensembles and has featured some of its own stellar players in other performances.
In 2001, just weeks after the September 11th attacks, MCBB was invited to perform on its own merit as the state representative for Michigan State Day at Kennedy Center for Performing Arts in Washington, DC on October 2, 2001. In the following years MCBB has been invited to perform at many events, including several years with the Detroit Symphony Orchestra at Greenfield Village for the annual Salute To America concerts. In 2005 MCBB participated in its second US Open Brass Band Championship held in Arlington Heights, Illinois and won the award for Best performance of a March (Death or Glory) as well as taking Second Place in the overall competition.
2006 saw MCBB celebrate its Tenth Anniversary with a gala concert highlighting the past decade. John Aren returned to conduct and many former members of the band joined in the concert's final number, The Stars and Stripes Forever.
MCBB continues to spread a love of the brass band sound and philosophy throughout the State of Michigan and, in 2010, inaugurated the Motor City Festival of Bands. This event has brought together some of the finest community and brass bands from across Michigan to perform separately, and as a massed band. Conducting the massed bands have been such notable figures as Leonard Slatkin, Music Director of the Detroit Symphony Orchestra, Charles Greenwell, also from the Detroit Symphony, and William Himes, noted composer and conductor.
Through its performances across the region, events such as the Motor City Festival of Bands, and numerous school outreach concerts, Motor City Brass Band is certainly living up to its motto, "It's more than a concert, it's a SHOW!"
