New Orleans Influence Street Band To Perform At CranFest

 HARWICH – The Revolutionary Snake Ensemble is a costumed funk/street beat improvisational brass band which performs a unique blend of original and traditional music. The band has attracted a devoted following creating sounds for more than three decades. 

 The Revolutionary Snake Band will perform on Saturday as the Harwich Cranberry Arts and Music Festival gets underway behind the community center. The crafts fair and CranJam Music Festival will be held this weekend. 

The Harwich Cranberry Arts and Music Festival will take place behind the community center on Oak Street on Saturday, Sept. 13 and Sunday, Sept. 14 from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m.

The CranJam Music Festival will begin at 11 a.m. on Saturday in the tent with the Wampanoag Nation Singers and Dancers and The Drumma Queens of Cape Cod at noon. The Grace Morrison Band will take to the stage at 1 p.m. and the Revolutionary Snake Ensemble will take over at 2:15 p.m. On Sunday, Entrain will perform from noon to 3 p.m.

The Revolutionary Snake Ensemble has been characterized as a New Orleans-influenced street band “finding joy in the rhythm of the street, in the melodies of the every day, and in the shouts one creates against the darkness.”

It is led by Ken Field, a saxophonist, flautist and composer who is also a longtime member of the modern music ensemble Birdsongs of the Mesozoic. Revolutionary Snake Ensemble features award-winning and acclaimed Boston-area musicians including Field, who also spends time in Truro and plays alto sax and flute, David B. Harris on trombone, Jerry Sabatini on trumpet, Blake Newman on acoustic bass and Phil Neighbors on drums.

“These are some of the best players in Boston, or anywhere,” said Field. “They’ve been with me 10 years and it’s just a blast, it’s great. We’ll be partying it up. People can expect to be dancing and appreciating some good music. We have a great time.”

 The Revolutionary Snake Ensemble is well known in the Boston area, having been nominated repeatedly in The Boston Phoenix’s Best Music Poll, twice nominated for the Boston Music Awards, and nominated Best Jazz Group in the 2014 New England Music Awards.  

 The ensemble can be heard on Parade of Numbers, an animated counting piece regularly aired on Sesame Street since 1995, according to Wikipedia. Field said Cranfest attendees can expect to hear that piece, along with funk, New Orleans compositions, and a few low-energy thoughtful instrumental pieces.

 Field said he performed for President Bill Clinton along with Trombone Shorty at a fundraiser at the Museum of Fine Arts. He has performed with the late Charles Neville of the Neville Brothers, and has played saxophone on one of former J. Geils frontman Peter Wolf’s albums. 

 Field has recorded eight CDs with Birdsongs of the Mesozoic and four with the Revolutionary Snake Ensemble. Cuneiform Records is scheduled to release the ensemble’s fifth album on Sept. 26.

 The band won’t be marching in the streets of Harwich, but Field said they will be in costume so you know who is in the band, and some members could be passing through the aisles and mixing with the audience.

“It makes for a real party,” said Field.