"Matching Great Clients with Great Bands"
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| Brian's Brainchild |  |
About Washington's Entertainment Connection
Mission Statement
Creating Great Bands for Great Musicians
Pushing the Envelope
Matching Great Bands with Great Clients
A Complete Performance Package
Creating Concerts and Events with our Great Bands
Working With Other Organizations in Support of our Goals
What Does All This Mean for You, the Client?
More About Brian Choper
Career Highlights
WEC is the brainchild of Brian Choper, drummer and percussionist. Brian formally studied music and has been a professional musician for most of his life. As he progressed, he found that his goals went far beyond being a musician for hire. Brian had a vision, and to achieve it required several coordinating efforts. Thus, Brian created his mission statement. (See the bottom of this page for more about Brian.)
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About Washington’s Entertainment Connection
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To create bands and a support organization which provide musical and performance environments significantly higher than those generally available.
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To provide the general public better music, better performances, and better parties than they would normally have available.
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To seek out and recruit superior musicians and personnel to comprise those bands.
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To create the platform from which to continue to grow musically and push the envelope of creativity, originality, and performance for the mutual benefit of both performers and audience.
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To operate an agency for the placement and performance of these bands.
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To provide the public a complete performance package, including lighting, photography, videography, and other services.
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To create, promote, and produce concerts and events in support of these goals.
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To work with other organizations with similar goals for the mutual benefit of all.
Creating Great Bands for Great Musicians
Although Brian founded several bands, the history of one illustrates Brian’s vision.
The renowned Nexus Rock Band grew out of Brian Choper's (the founder/drummer/band leader) passion for great rock and roll and his desire to create a music project that was a cut above the typical rock band.
Conceived in 2005, such a band could not be done according to leading area agents and managers. It took Brian two years to find the right musicians who were rock based, were musically trained, were reliable, were creative, knew how to build momentum in a party, and for practical reasons, lived near Washington, DC. While the roots of the band are classic rock, the group's repertoire grows way beyond that with its all-star lineup of seasoned professional players. The result is quite a contrast from most rock and roll bands.
In 2007, the group started working together without a specific agenda as they tried to identify their own sound. They quickly realized that every time they got together to rehearse or explore, they were creating a new rock concept, writing a new tune, or figuring out how to make each song more interesting, more unique, or more rockin'. The players had special talents in writing, lyrics and arranging. As performance inquiries came in, they expanded their repertoire to include classic rock, modern pop, funk and exciting new & original compositions.
Today the band is known for their unusual flexibility in their music. Their amazing ability to adapt to the individual preferences of the client while knowing exactly what to play to keep the party in high motion has become quickly noticed. Their popularity has allowed them to play for parties while bringing forth invites to play for major galas, celebrity parties and heads of state.
Besides the Nexus Rock Band, Brian created several other bands of similarly high caliber. Each of these bands is comprised of experienced and outstanding personnel and has achieved the high standards that Brian sets for himself and his musicians.
Brian has fostered the creation of unique sounds and personalities for each of his great bands. Steering them towards the concert stage has required each band to find its unique musical voice. This is entirely consistent with the mission of Washington’s Entertainment Connection and Gigs for You.
Creating a new and unique musical voice helps the musicians to achieve more than usually possible in a band. It also helps the clients by providing music which is clearly a cut above what is normally available locally. It helps Brian keep his artistic integrity and create a great agency which benefits everyone.
Matching Great Bands with Great Clients
Washington ’s Entertainment Connection was founded for exactly this purpose. Clients who have used WEC’s services are repeat clients. Once they have experienced these bands, they understand what Brian is doing. At WEC, it’s all about the customer. During the event, things come up that must be managed, including getting the audience involved. The effort and care that Brian takes in doing this is not lost on them. His concern about their satisfaction is evident and so is the fact that he has expertise beyond what they normally find in an agent. That has made for loyal customers and great testimonials.
A Complete Performance Package
Washington ’s Entertainment Connection is dedicated to going a step further and providing one stop shopping for its clients. WEC is taking the lead in building a consortium of outstanding vendors who have proven that they put the client’s needs first. In addition, these vendors work very well together, providing the extra level of coordination that helps events go smoothly. To get WEC’s list of preferred vendors, please click here.
Creating Concerts and Events with our Great Bands
Creating several jam sessions around Greater Washington is a new idea for 2010, and Brian is on the case. This will help WEC showcase our bands for those who are planning events. If you are planning a corporate party, a wedding, b'nai mitzvah or gala any time in the near future, be sure to contact Brian to see which jam sessions would be best for you to attend to see the bands in action (as the bands alternate from one to the next). These sessions will also create an ideal opportunity for WEC to find and recruit great musicians while providing a fun atmosphere for WEC's musicians to perform and network. In addition, they will provide great evenings out for people in the Washington area who love music and love to mingle. Again, everyone wins.
Working With Other Organizations in Support of our Goals
WEC is working on several events besides the jam sessions and concerts around town. These will be appearing on this website in the future.
What Does All This Mean for You, the Client?
WEC is an agency dedicated to providing quality by working with and encouraging great players, and above all else, encourages their bands to constantly explore and to constantly improve upon themselves. WEC allows each group within the agency to experiment and create music with such quality that it emanates from the band and feels great on the dance floor. This makes not just a good party, but an outstanding party for any client working with the agency. We encourage you to check us out and see what our bands can do for you.
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Brian Choper, the founder of Washington'sEntertainment Connection, is a multi-faceted individual who has formal training in business (marketing and public relations) and in music. He is a classically trained drummer/percussionist with more than 30 years experience in music both nationally and internationally. He has performed both as guest artist and as band leader since 1997. In 2001, he started his own bands. He currently plays with four regular bands of his own while freelancing in many genres including Rock & Roll, Latin, Swing, Jazz, Balkan and Klezmer. He is featured on 9 CD's, three of which he produced.
For much of his professional career, Brian has used his public relations skills and training to market the bands for which he performs. It is no coincidence that any of the bands with which Brian either runs or has worked with have enjoyed success for so many years. Brian's influence transcends his musical skills. Through his hands-on support, guidance and instruction, these bands did not wait for success to knock-they went after it.
Exploring Ethnic Music, Jazz And Rock & Roll
In 1983, Brian won first prize at the Vienna International Music Festival for classical timpani. While in college, Brian studied with George Huttlin and Marshall Maley, drummer /percussionist, head of PAS VA. 1983 - 1985 Brian studied with the late drummer Buddy Rich in New York. From 1984 - 1989, Brian freelanced, playing shows and Ragtime in various bands and theatre groups, all while working with the Prince George's Philharmonic Orchestra. Interested in ethnic music, in 1985 Brian became the first drummer to play with the Capital Klezmers, at the time, one of the top three Folk bands in the country. Upon leaving this band in 1989, he joined the Machaya Klezmer Band as percussionist and set drummer. In 1992, Brian was selected to participate in the International Music Festival in Safed, Israel.
The Machaya Klezmer Band was not as well known when Brian first joined it, but he loved their sound and was confident that the band had the potential to attain national recognition. Just as in his first Klezmer band experience, this band also had never performed with a drummer, and Brian thought he might be able to add color to their sound by introducing some creative rhythms. This band had already cut one album before he joined the group. Brian produced the group's second CD (entitled "What A Machaya"), and is also featured on it. This CD became the number two selling Folk album for 1997 (on the folk charts) and was rated as such in the prestigious Moment Magazine (August, 1997). As a result of Brian's public relations efforts and recognition with record distributors, the Machaya Klezmer Band soon became one of the top billing Folk bands in the country.
From 1997 through 2001, while still playing as a member of Machaya, Brian joined Nexus, a highly respected local Rock Band. During this time he did a lot of traveling throughout the United States and to Israel, Austria, Germany and other European countries while on tour with his regular bands and as a guest musician with other ensembles.
As Brian became more and more interested in Jazz drumming, in 2001 he left Machaya, and after performing at the Lansing Michigan Jazz Festival that Fall and meeting many of the performers attending, he decided to work with some of them and start his own Jazz/Klezmer band, and the
Kol Haruach Klezmer Band (www.kolharuach.com and www.newklezmerquintet.com) was born. In 2003, following the success of this Klezmer band, with his continued intrigue with Jazz and classic Rock & Roll, he organized The Choper Jazz Project, The Jazz Connection, and The Nexus Rock Band. (Nexus is named after his 1997 Rock band, a group that has become one of his favorites.)
The Choper Jazz Project (www.choperjazzproject.com) plays more straight up Jazz, The Jazz Connection (www.the-jazz-connection.com) plays upbeat Swing, and Nexus (www.NexusRockBand.com) plays the Pop Rock and the complex Rock & Roll of the 70's and 80's, with a twist of improvisation. Brian is currently working on new releases for all of these groups.
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See Brian's personal website at www.brianchoper.com
To contact Brian directly call him at 301-441-8899.