A low rumble of bass drum, sousaphone and trombone ran below intertwined trumpet and flugelhorn lines in an innocuous and more or less empty Lower East Side bar (Oct. 4th). Mehanata Bulgarian Bar’s wooden walls, weathered tables and oversized disco ball, however, made it easy to imagine the setting as somewhere just west of the Volga River. Indeed, the
musicians could have been from Belgrade or Bucharest but in fact the Cocek Brass Band was just down from Boston on an East Coast tour promoting its debut album, Here Comes Shlomo. They played infectious, hyper-polka grooves propelled by a parade drum and a single cymbal, an adrenaline-dosed oom-pah under the alternating red, green and blue of the overhead spotlight. Vigorous clapping pushed their “Stolen Pie” as they reached the midpoint and propelled them into their theme song, with shouts of “Cocek”. Although for the most part it was all about the small horns, the trombone got a chance to step up for a funereal number and one of the most delicate arrangements of the long set, bandleader Sam Dechenne’s trumpet easing back to sing in unison with its milder sibling. As the room slowly filled with people more or less not paying
attention, the band seemed to want to march. They kicked and moved in formation while glasses clinked and patrons yelled, which seemed fine. Some music works well in noisy rooms. At length, through a loud LES drinking crowd, if in small little circles, they Marched.