Today we’d like to introduce you to Ally Chapel.
Hi Ally, can you start by introducing yourself? We’d love to learn more about how you got to where you are today.
I have been playing saxophone since I was 8 years old. I went to Denver School of the Art for middle and high school where I continued to play the saxophone in a specialized setting. After high school, I went to the University of Colorado Boulder where I studied Art History and Media Information Technology and continued to play saxophone in the Marching Band and various classical ensembles. After college, I worked at the Denver Art Museum and played with the Mile High Community Band.
In 2015 I left Denver for New York City to pursue a career in the art world. Four years into that career I started an all-female brass band called the Brass Queens. My job in the art industry did not allow me the flexibility to perform with my band as regularly as I wanted to, so I left my job to be in the music world full-time.
Since forming the band in 2019, the ensemble has performed at the 2021 Met Gala, Good Morning America, Governor’s Ball Music Festival, and Exit Zero Jazz Festival, and toured throughout Colorado including Call to Arms Brewing in Denver.
Would you say it’s been a smooth road, and if not what are some of the biggest challenges you’ve faced along the way?
The brass band community is typically dominated by male musicians, including many all-male or mostly male groups to the exclusion of female performers. I created Brass Queens with my co-founder Alex Harris to reverse the typical brass band narrative by empowering female musicians and spreading our love of the genre to new audiences.
By nature, the music scene that we were entering did not already have space for us as a group, so we had to create our own space. We did this by setting goals for ourselves and never stopping until we achieved that goal before immediately going after the next one. We understood from the beginning that it wasn’t a straight shot to the top. It would take hard work and the ability to change and evolve that would build a foundation strong enough to support us throughout each year of this journey.
While this would be a feat in itself, it was a top priority for us to focus on female performance, and creating our female brass tradition. Unfortunately, the pool is a lot smaller with that limitation, but that limitation made us stronger as we got creative and problem-solved our way through challenges as they came our way.
As you know, we’re big fans of you and your work. For our readers who might not be as familiar what can you tell them about what you do?
Brass Queens is a New Orleans-style brass band that features an all-female horn section. All of its members are currently based in New York City, but two of its members are from the Denver area. Myself (alto sax) and Heather Ewer (sousaphone).
We met for the first time in NYC, but we have many mutual friends from our upbringing in Colorado. This means that outside of NYC, Colorado has our second largest fan base and we welcome every opportunity we get to travel back and perform for our home state.
We’re always looking for the lessons that can be learned in any situation, including tragic ones like the Covid-19 crisis. Are there any lessons you’ve learned that you can share?
We got stronger as an ensemble during the pandemic. We started rehearsing outdoors in May of 2020 and even just our rehearsals were a welcome respite for the culture-deprived residents of the neighborhood.
Not long after they started hiring us to pop up outside of their homes to perform for birthdays, anniversaries, and sometimes just parties to lift the people on their block. We learned the true value of live music and our ability to make a lasting impact on someone’s well-being.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://www.brassqueensnyc.com/
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/brassqueensnyc/
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/brassqueensnyc/
- Twitter: https://twitter.com/brassqueensnyc?lang=en
- Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCPANaEUj4JrODNKmLaRtpeQ
- Other: https://open.spotify.com/artist/1EKoLMMmw6n1FOhnnelZHn
Image Credits
Marc Basch
