Concert Review The Asphalt Orchestra is a band with 12 musicians who play brass (horns of all kinds), woodwind (flutes and clarinets), and percussion (drums, cymbals) instruments. The musicians are very talented and the music they play makes the people listening very happy. But more than that, the main thing about the Asphalt Orchestra gets right up next to their audience. They took the word "asphalt" for their name because that is often where they play -- on the street and weaving in and out of the crowds of people listening to them. Asphalt Orchestra is a "street band" that parades around while having as much fun and creating as much sound as a marching band at half-time. And they are really, really good musicians -- it is hard to walk around through crowds and play great music at the same time.

The band has not been together for a long time. The first performances of Asphalt Orchestra were in the summer of 2009 and the summer of 2010 in New York. The band played outdoors at the Lincoln Center Out of Doors Festival. After that, the Asphalt Orchestra played in many places across the United States and Canada.

An article in The Philadelphia...

The music may be so different because the musicians all have different backgrounds. Some of the musicians in the Asphalt Orchestra have played rock music, other musicians have played jazz, and some of the musicians have played classical music. All these musicians playing together make a very unique sound. Here is an example of the kinds of music that the musicians in the Asphalt Orchestra bring together: Frank Zappa rock, Swedish metal band Meshuggah, pop music from Bjork, jazz from Charles Mingus, and music written just for the Asphalt Orchestra by Yoko Ono and David Byrne of the group called Talking Heads. If it seems like a lot of different music styles to combine, it is -- and it really shows the talent of the Asphalt Orchestra musicians.
A new album called just "Asphalt Orchestra" can be bought on iTunes. Some of the songs on the album include a jazz piece called "Hyper-Ballad" and an electric-metal piece called "Electric Red." But the best way to listen to Asphalt Orchestra is to hear and see them play live. Asphalt Orchestra really knows how to entertain…