AHC: More Brass Instruments in Popular Music

I think brass instruments actually made a comeback via the freak folk scene in the Noughties. And it wasn't unusual for indie bands to feature the odd trumpet, saxophone or even trombone players (e.g. Broken Social Scene) - at least, more so than in the Eighties or Nineties. And there also has been a recent tendency to use the saxophone in dance tracks again. I'd say that this may be partially a result of a younger generation of musicians who used to play in marching bands later using their skills for doing their own thang, e.g. ending up in rock/indie/punk/dubstep acts. So you'd just need to amplify this tendency. I had this fantasy idea for a European answer to freak folk: young kids from Austria/Switzerland who grew up listening to indie, dance or punk start to incorporate the traditional instruments (including, for instance, the alphorn) of their upbringing.

Otherwise, you could just make ska or rocksteady a big thing in the Sixties. If ska went as big as soul, beat or psychedelia, then you could develop a scenario where a trumpet player is a natural requirement for bands like bassists or guitarists. Or, instead of only using backing bands, soul acts with a continuous horns section evolve, thereby making brass solo players as important as singers or guitarists.
 
Don't forget The Alan Parsons Project frequently used orchestras on their albums, this included brass. The end of TURN OF A FRIENDLY CARD PART II includes three repeat instrumental sections at the end: guitars, brass and strings...
 
Saxophones aren't brass instruments.

Whatever they're made from, they're woodwind. It's how the sound is produced that is key. Saxes have reeds, rather than a mouthpiece.

Moving on to the meat of the question, I think that @TRH and @Ed Costello cover the main issues. Cost, and versatility. The first will inevitably become an issue as synthesisers and the like develop. Why split the cash fifteen ways, or give the session players a cut, when you could keep it between two or three? The latter as, essentially, been an issue as long as brass instruments have been a thing. The last twenty years or so, better practice mutes and silent brass systems have overcome the "can only practise when the neighbours are out/friendly/not watching television" issue, but all the others remain.
 
Brass instruments were still common in popular music in the late 1950s and early 1960s, even in some music that might be considered proto-rock, but they haven't really been part of the mainstream since. How could brass instruments have remained part of popular music?

other than in Ska and ska influenced (ska rock and ska punk) music you mean, plus the ubiquity of the Earth Wind and Fire horn section working with a number of other artists in the 70s and 80s ...

between 'funk' and 'ska' influences there has been a steady presence of brass in popular music throughout the period in question

i agree with those discounting saxophones as 'brass' as it's a wind instrument that happens to be made of metal rather than wood or plastic ... you wouldn't claim a flute was 'brass' would you ?
 
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