Tulsa World
Friday, April 19, 2002
Polka 'til you drop
Martin Gross figured the gig he was being offered - to play German folk music at Disney's EPCOT Center - would be a good way to spend a year or so. "That was 1982," Gross said laughing. "So two decades go by and I'm still doing two, three shows a night"
Well, Gross does not spend every night playing German folk music in the biergarten located in the theme park's German pavilion as part of the ensemble Oktoberfest Musikanten. But the music of his ancestors informs much of what he does.
In 1989 he put together a second group, drawn from the ranks of musicians with whom he had worked at Disney, for a recording project. He called the ensemble the Sonnenschein, or "Sunshine" Express.
"I wanted an outlet for original music I was writing" Gross said. "Since the things I was coming up with were in the style of traditional music, and I knew the quality of the players from Disney, it made sense to have them be a part of it.
"The only thing was, Disney owned the name Oktoberfest Musikanten, so I came up with the name Sonnenschein Express," he said.
The Express would perform the occasional Oktoberfest, private function and concert, in addition to recording four albums of traditional and original music. Then, about five years ago, the idea of bringing the music from the beer hall into the concert hall took shape.
"We did a show with the Orlando Symphony, and it went over very well" Gross recalled. "in fact, some of the guys in the band came up to me afterwards and said, "You really need to follow through on this" So we've been doing more and more pops orchestra concerts."
The Sonnenschein Express will make its first trip across the Mississippi River to perform with the Tulsa Philharmonic at its final Music of the Rocks concert of the season, Saturday at the Brady Theater.
Guest conductor Michael Krajewski returns to lead the orchestra and the oompah band in the evening of Alpine favorites, from "Beer Barrel Polka" to the "The Beautiful Blue Danube."
Tulsa's Bourbon Street Cafe will cater the pre-convert "Happy Hour." with horns d'oeuvres and beverages available for purchase that will be in the keeping with the evening's "biergarten" theme.
Gross contributes to the vocals and plays alphorn, the "button box" accordion and trumpet, along with more esoteric instruments like cow bells, the "singing saw" and shoe slapping.
Other band members and Jim Buchamnn (clarinet and vocals) Todd Campbell (alphorn, bass guitar, tuba, cow bells and shoe-slaping) Mark Goldberg (drims and alpine xylophone), Hans Prettner (guitar and vocals) and Daven Skrzynski (accordion and vocals)
"Part of the appeal of this music for some people is the chance to see some of these instruments, especially the alphorns." Gross said, referring to the large wooden trumpets usually associated with the Alps. "I think more Germans immigrated to this country than any other nationality, if you judge the number of people we get to our concerts who know every song we play and sing along."
Still, Gross said, it is getting more difficult to find authentic German music outside Oktoberfests.
"I think that's because polkas and waltzes don't get the respect that they deserve," he said. "Just because it's not popular dance music doesn't mean it can't be taken seriously. But because the instruments used to play it get a bad rap - not too long ago (the comic strip) 'Garfeild' spent a week making fun of the accordion.
"Playing with an orchestra gives the music you cachet," he said. "And you get to play to a whole different kind of audience - one that's there to hear the music you play, instead of being there to get drunk and rowdy.
"Of course, even though we try to dress things up a bit when we play with an orchestra, if people want to get up in the aisles and dance when we do 'Beer Barrel Polka,' that's fine with us."
JAMES D. WATTS JR. -
Tulsa World
Martin Gross figured the gig he was being offered - to play German folk music at Disney's EPCOT Center - would be a good way to spend a year or so. "That was 1982," Gross said laughing. "So two decades go by and I'm still doing two, three shows a night"
Well, Gross does not spend every night playing German folk music in the biergarten located in the theme park's German pavilion as part of the ensemble Oktoberfest Musikanten. But the music of his ancestors informs much of what he does.
In 1989 he put together a second group, drawn from the ranks of musicians with whom he had worked at Disney, for a recording project. He called the ensemble the Sonnenschein, or "Sunshine" Express.
"I wanted an outlet for original music I was writing" Gross said. "Since the things I was coming up with were in the style of traditional music, and I knew the quality of the players from Disney, it made sense to have them be a part of it.
"The only thing was, Disney owned the name Oktoberfest Musikanten, so I came up with the name Sonnenschein Express," he said.
The Express would perform the occasional Oktoberfest, private function and concert, in addition to recording four albums of traditional and original music. Then, about five years ago, the idea of bringing the music from the beer hall into the concert hall took shape.
"We did a show with the Orlando Symphony, and it went over very well" Gross recalled. "in fact, some of the guys in the band came up to me afterwards and said, "You really need to follow through on this" So we've been doing more and more pops orchestra concerts."
The Sonnenschein Express will make its first trip across the Mississippi River to perform with the Tulsa Philharmonic at its final Music of the Rocks concert of the season, Saturday at the Brady Theater.
Guest conductor Michael Krajewski returns to lead the orchestra and the oompah band in the evening of Alpine favorites, from "Beer Barrel Polka" to the "The Beautiful Blue Danube."
Tulsa's Bourbon Street Cafe will cater the pre-convert "Happy Hour." with horns d'oeuvres and beverages available for purchase that will be in the keeping with the evening's "biergarten" theme.
Gross contributes to the vocals and plays alphorn, the "button box" accordion and trumpet, along with more esoteric instruments like cow bells, the "singing saw" and shoe slapping.
Other band members and Jim Buchamnn (clarinet and vocals) Todd Campbell (alphorn, bass guitar, tuba, cow bells and shoe-slaping) Mark Goldberg (drims and alpine xylophone), Hans Prettner (guitar and vocals) and Daven Skrzynski (accordion and vocals)
"Part of the appeal of this music for some people is the chance to see some of these instruments, especially the alphorns." Gross said, referring to the large wooden trumpets usually associated with the Alps. "I think more Germans immigrated to this country than any other nationality, if you judge the number of people we get to our concerts who know every song we play and sing along."
Still, Gross said, it is getting more difficult to find authentic German music outside Oktoberfests.
"I think that's because polkas and waltzes don't get the respect that they deserve," he said. "Just because it's not popular dance music doesn't mean it can't be taken seriously. But because the instruments used to play it get a bad rap - not too long ago (the comic strip) 'Garfeild' spent a week making fun of the accordion.
"Playing with an orchestra gives the music you cachet," he said. "And you get to play to a whole different kind of audience - one that's there to hear the music you play, instead of being there to get drunk and rowdy.
"Of course, even though we try to dress things up a bit when we play with an orchestra, if people want to get up in the aisles and dance when we do 'Beer Barrel Polka,' that's fine with us."
JAMES D. WATTS JR. -
Tulsa World
