New York Rock & Roll Ensemble

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The New York Rock & Roll Ensemble was a rock band of the late 60s and early 70s described as playing "classical baroque rock".

1 History/Biography
2 Discography
3 Members
4 External link

[edit] History/Biography

The band was formed by three Juilliard students (Michael Kamen, Marty Fulterman ---now known as Mark Snow--- and Dorian Rudnytsky). Rudnytsky apparently introduced the others to two rock musicians (Brian Corrigan and Clif Nivison) from Toms River New Jersey where Rudnytsky went to high school.

Reportedly, the group played together for a time under the name "Emil & The Detectives" and were discovered and signed by Atlantic Records after a Halloween dance in 1967 at Juilliard. Their debut in discography was in 1968 with a self-named album. The New York Rock & Roll Ensemble broke the tradition by using classical music instruments in rock songs and rock instruments in classical pieces. This fusion, daring at the time, impressed legendary conductor Leonard Bernstein so much that he invited the group to appear at one of his Young People's Concerts with the New York Philharmonic Orchestra where they performed their signature song "Brandenburg" which was based on the first movement of Bach's Fifth Brandenburg Concerto. Brandenburg showed the group at their best: starting off with a "straight" rendition of Bach's music (featuring two oboes, guitar and cello); then migrating slowly but surely into a straight rock song all the while continuing to use Bach's original music for its musical base.

Because Brandenburg was the one song that showed the widest range of their musicianship, the group typically performed that song when they made television appearances on The Tonight Show, The Steve Allen Show and similar TV shows of that era.

Brandenburg appeared on the group's second LP "Faithful Friends". This LP had higher production values than their first and contained many of the songs that were part of their live act.

Their third album, "Reflections", was the product of their collaboration with Greek composer Manos Hadjidakis on the score for a film that was never produced. The group decided to use this music for their last Atlantic album. Because this album was such a great departure from their "classical/rock" roots, it apparently sold poorly when released. Ironically, this album is now the group's biggest selling album because it was re-released in Europe a number of years back and has apparently sold well since that time. In 2005 the well known and critically acclaimed Greek band named Raining Pleasure has released its own interpretation of this classic album.

Rhythm guitarist Brian Corrigan departed after the third album and after being part of the only movie appearance by the group, "Zachariah" (which is still available on video). According to Dorian Rudnytsky, after Corrigan left, the remaining members of the group discussed finding another guitarist/singer before deciding to continue on as a quartet. The band then shortened its name to New York Rock Ensemble and switched to Columbia.

Released in 1971, Roll Over was their most overtly rock album to date and, at that time, their biggest seller, although they fell well short of Led Zeppelin on the Billboard charts. The band's tour to support this album was unique in that, in addition to their usual college dates, the band also played with leading symphony orchestras across the country including the Boston Pops and the St. Louis Symphony. When playing with the orchestras, the group played a set by themselves and then joined up with the orchestra to perform an orchestral version of Kamen's rock song "Anaconda". Kamen's efforts at orchestral composing (and fusing rock and orchestral music) set the stage for his later work as a movie composer as well as a composer, conductor and performer with Metallica, Eric Clapton and Pink Floyd.

Their last album was "Freedomburger" which was an uneven collection of songs. Soon after the tour supporting this album, the band dispersed.

Kamen, joined by Rudnytsky and other musicians, gave it one last try when he released "New York Rock" in 1973.

Michael Kamen later gained renown for his many film scores and for his aforementioned "fusion" efforts. He unfortunately died an untimely death in 2003.

Marty Fulterman later adopted the name of Mark Snow and gained renown for his many scores and themes for TV shows, most notably, The X Files.

For additional information about the group, you can refer to Michael Kamen's website www.MichaelKamen.com where Dorian Rudnytsky often adds "first hand" history of the group.