In 2014, Nora Clark met Adam Arredondo at a gig in a club in New Orleans where Adam was playing trumpet. Nora introduced herself as a tap dancer and was invited to improvise with the band. That introduction led them to their co-creation of Tap That Brass.

One of the characteristics of New Orleans that differentiates it from any other city in the world is that people can see world-class, professional musicians on the streets, and in small and large venues and festivals.

Clark was impressed that many of the talented musicians she met were so generous and willing to share their knowledge of music and the city’s traditions. Most were more than willing to teach her what they knew, not to mention excited to participate in various performances.

Arrendondo was one of those musicians. He immediately was interested in collaborating with tap dancers and created original compositions that included tap dance as part of the musical arrangement. He also wanted to learn from tap dancers about their process and approach.

Recognizing that tap dance is a unique audio-visual performance art form, Tap That Brass was formed to embrace and explore tap/live music collaboration. TTB seeks to continue to expand the full potential of percussive dance by blending the musical role of the tap dancer with other musicians. Improvisation and composition are both used to incorporate tap dance percussionists into the band while maintaining sophisticated technique and visually interesting choreography.

The approach of Tap That Brass is to merge composition with choreography, blending the skills of each performer. The goal is to keep growing and learning as we experiment and create.

We look forward to sharing our progress with the world along the way.