New Orleans Brass Bands S/D

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Though they don't have to be from New Orleans. Does anyone listen to this music much? Who are your favorites?

― Jordan (Jordan), Wednesday, 4 September 2002 01:51 (fourteen years ago) Permalink

I know very little about the subject, but I wanna see some answers!

― charlie va, Wednesday, 4 September 2002 02:10 (fourteen years ago) Permalink

Rebirth Brass Band is definitely classic, they were probably the first brass band music I heard (initially on Maceo Parker's record I believe). Lately some friends have hipped me to Soul Rebels (there is no such thing as too many hip-hop brass bands) and New Birth, and I just heard some Treme Brass Band that's are on the more traditional tip.

I can't go without mentioned the (however unlikely) on the level Wisconsin brass band scene, Mama Digdown's and Youngblood. I'm sure I've hyped up Youngblood on other threads, but they really are something these days, the new Def Jux album will be tight. It wasn't until after I started listening to a lot of other brass band music that I realized how unique their sound is, clean and precise instead of greasy and raucous (both are great in their way of course).

― Jordan (Jordan), Wednesday, 4 September 2002 02:39 (fourteen years ago) Permalink

Jordan, you're not supposed to answer your own question! But thanks for the primer. I did hear the last Rebirth Brass Band album, and it was really great. I think our station's copy came with a parental advisory sticker, which was sorta weird, 'cause I can't imagine too many minors buying that album.

― charlie va, Wednesday, 4 September 2002 02:52 (fourteen years ago) Permalink

I just wanted to get things rolling. :> I think my main intent was to see if anyone else was into this music and hopefully get some recommendations for bands I haven't heard.

Speaking of which, what about brass bands from neither New Orleans nor Wisconsin?

― Jordan (Jordan), Wednesday, 4 September 2002 03:17 (fourteen years ago) Permalink

The Dirty Dozen Brass Band blows the roof off just about every joint they play -- i've only heard a couple of their recordings, but they translate well, too. ¥

― christoff (christoff), Wednesday, 4 September 2002 11:44 (fourteen years ago) Permalink

Hey, Jordan, cool thread. I know nothing about this stuff, but I'm curious as hell now. why are there all these bands from wisconsin? know of any good websites where I can get an overview of brass band stuff? any compilations you'd recommend?

― Fritz Wollner (Fritz), Wednesday, 4 September 2002 22:29 (fourteen years ago) Permalink

I'm from Madison, Wisconsin, and I know those bands. You can't find a Southern accent in Madison, but you got all these brass bands and New Orleans restaurants popping up. Youngblood and Mama Digdown's even go down to Mardi Gras and perform, though I don't know how seriously they're taken.

The parallel in Minneapolis (where I live) is the Jack Brass Band. I'm all for this kind of thing, but these groups are to Rebirth what Antibalas is to Fela.

I lived in New Orleans for a year and my favorite Rebirth album is still Take It To the Street. Ex-Rebirth member Kermit Ruffins has his own band which is pretty great, too. I find Dirty Dozen boring on CD and in concert, sorry.

My favorite Rebirth story was seeing the guys perform in the bywater one night when members of the Afghan Whigs were in the audience, then seeing the band again in the Zulu parade the next morning. Turns out Rebirth had literally performed all night and went straight to the parade without rest. A float got stuck on a tree, and Rebirth were still energetic enough to challenge a high school band to a battle while the parade stood still. Guess who won.

― Pete Scholtes, Wednesday, 4 September 2002 23:50 (fourteen years ago) Permalink

The Rebirth Brass Band are indeed genuinely great. The Nutley Brass, probably from somewhere like Yorkshire, did at least one punk cover - Gimme Gimme Shock Treatment - that was fun.

― Martin Skidmore (Martin Skidmore), Thursday, 5 September 2002 17:55 (fourteen years ago) Permalink

two months pass...

Saw the Dirty Dozen Brass Band a few years ago and they were superb.

I still listen to 'New Orleans Album' quite regularly, but it's the only one I've got.

I don't suppose anyone's heard the new one (Medicated Magic)?

― James Ball (James Ball), Tuesday, 12 November 2002 17:18 (fourteen years ago) Permalink

I haven't heard Medicated Magic, but some of the brass band guys I play with weren't too up on it (they would have admittedly picky tastes about this sort of thing). I do wish they would still use a bass drummer and a snare drummer, even though their drummer is great. I'm going to see them here soon, with Youngblood Brass Band is opening up which is cool.

I've been listening non-stop to the New Birth Brass Band record, it is HOT SHIT. Totally on Rebirth's level or more so, and it's probably the most spontaneous, live sounding studio album I've ever heard.

― Jordan (Jordan), Tuesday, 12 November 2002 22:21 (fourteen years ago) Permalink

i'm gonna start talking out of my ass because i've never listened to new orleans brass bands nor have i listened to Lester Bowie's Brass Fantasy, but wasn't he doing this sortsa stuff. brass interpretations of popular songs like madona and marilyn manson.

or was it not so brass band-y?

― JasonD (JasonD), Wednesday, 13 November 2002 00:48 (fourteen years ago) Permalink

I've only heard one track by Brass Fantasy (on a brass band comp, heh), but it was very brass band-y and very fantastic.

― Jordan (Jordan), Wednesday, 13 November 2002 04:42 (fourteen years ago) Permalink

two years pass...

REVIVE!!!

Recommend me some New Orleans funeral jazz, please!

And I know this is rockist of me, but the older and more authentic, the better..

thanx

― Adam Bruneau (oliver8bit), Tuesday, 23 November 2004 11:05 (twelve years ago) Permalink

Um, I don't really listen to much of the old stuff, but I've heard it. Get the Eureka Brass Band, the "This is the first authentic recording of a New Orleans Black brass band that was active at the time of recording. Recorded in New Orleans on August 25, 1951 by Alden Ashforth and David Wyckoff. This compact disc is the best example of the music at a jazz funeral and it defines tradtional brass band music." There are older recordings, like the country brass band from the turn of the century that fills out the Baby Dodd's "Talking and Drum Solos" disc, but really, it's shit.

Other than that, just go to Louisiana Music Factory and check out anything by Treme Brass Band (the most well-known band playing in a really trad style that's still around) or Dejan's Olympia Brass Band.

― Jordan (Jordan), Tuesday, 23 November 2004 15:12 (twelve years ago) Permalink

I really liked the song that Jess put on his blog, from your Rough Guide, Jordan.

― Sanjay McDougal (jaymc), Tuesday, 23 November 2004 15:31 (twelve years ago) Permalink

Thanks, Jay. I put another song from that Rebirth album up here along with a couple of other things for some friends.

I'll send you a mix if you want to e-mail me, I'm always happy to spread the gospel. Also my brass band should be playing at the Green Mill again in the next couple months.

― Jordan (Jordan), Tuesday, 23 November 2004 17:50 (twelve years ago) Permalink

i just wanna say that the mix that Jordan sent me is probably one of the most listened cds i've gotten this year

― JaXoN (JasonD), Tuesday, 23 November 2004 17:57 (twelve years ago) Permalink

That's great to hear, Jason. I just listened to the Liquid Liquid disc before work today, btw.

― Jordan (Jordan), Tuesday, 23 November 2004 18:07 (twelve years ago) Permalink

Just sticking in another vote here for the ReBirth Brass Band album that has the song on Jordan's comp -- it's called Hot Venom, and it's fantastic. It definitely deserves the parental warning sticker, though (many f-bombs; "Pop That Pussy"). Live, at least here in the North, they are much less hip-hoppy, more of an old-school soul party vibe ("Let's Do It Again / One Love" on the album is representative of that).

― Vornado (Vornado), Tuesday, 23 November 2004 19:18 (twelve years ago) Permalink

True, they stuck all the street-est stuff on that one album. It also has my favorite production job of any brass band album, not to mention the four 'bone lineup.

I really hope their 20th anniversary show dvd comes out, the show was sort of a mess but Cheeky Blakk came out and did Pop That Pussy for 15 minutes, humping trombone cases, Kabuki riding on her back, etc. :>

― Jordan (Jordan), Tuesday, 23 November 2004 19:26 (twelve years ago) Permalink

I played some trumpet in school but disdained the marching band (late summer, they're getting ready for football season, marching around in the mud in red wool uniforms, ughh). Have long regretted that, but garage soul/preppy-frat rock was good."Soulfinger" and "Grazin' In The Grass" my faves. Buckinghams' "Mercy Mercy" led me back to Adderley & Zawinul's original, yclept "Mercy Mercy Mercy", and from there to other Blue Note (the cliche of jazz and pop parting ways WWII never otm). Much liked (first albums of) Electric Flag, Blood Sweat & Tears (pre Clayton Thomas), and Chicago. Now collect high school marching band records, which is among what ("lab bands, stage bands" also) gets LANGLEY SCHOOLS equiv, except for the acclaim, on SCHOOLHOUSE FUNK, compiled by Motorcycle John (AKA DJ SHADOW). From the 70s. Uneven, but amazing. Something I'd heard and thought it was the Dirty Dozen 'til I got it: David Byrne's MUSIC FOR THE KNEE PLAYS. TKP being a segment of Robert Wilson's intercontinental stage/satellite TV cycle, "the CIVIL warS" (broadcast live in sequence, but the Reagan Admin pulled plug on our part). Turns out this music was "inspired by the Dirty Dozen Brass Band." Involving old pros like Chuck Findley, Ernie Watts, Pete Christlieb, and Fred Wesley, and, even though it's got some of that one-size-fits-all ECM train station echo, here it does fit (boomin' in the gloom, and after all it's about life going on during wartime). Also Lester Bowie Brass Fantasy's AVANT POP and others; even getting to recastings of hiphop and that big parade drum for "Beautiful People, Beau'ful PeePUL" on ODYSSEY OF FUNK AND POPULAR MUSIC, his last album (which I reviewed for villagevoice.com; put your Search subject in quotes if you go there)I've always wondered about Mike Westbrook's settings of Blake, and his Drinking Gasoline review, with singer Kate Westbrook. Were those good? (Regis Brass Band is one from New Orleans I've heard live, but never knew of any records. They were really young and firey when I saw 'em.)

― don, Wednesday, 24 November 2004 07:22 (twelve years ago) Permalink

Also my brass band should be playing at the Green Mill again in the next couple months.

Yeah, remind me! I've missed you guys a few times now!

― Sanjay McDougal (jaymc), Wednesday, 24 November 2004 07:36 (twelve years ago) Permalink

Wow Don, it sounds like you've heard a lot of stuff on the periphery of/influenced by N.O. brass band. You should jump into the real shit, I bet you'd be into it (NB: I don't really like the Dirty Dozen for the most part, and I haven't heard of Regis) --

New Birth Brass Band, D-Boy
Rebirth Brass Band, Hot Venom
Stooges Brass Band, It's About Time
Soul Rebels Brass Band, No More Parades
Lil' Rascals Brass Band, Buck It Like a Horse

Also a word about Derrick 'Kabuki' Shezbie - he's the main trumpet player for Rebirth, and he was in New Birth as a teenager (he's all over D-Boy). He's SO MUCH LOUDER than any trumpet player I've ever heard, not to mention the fire. His sound is completely wide-open and really sums up the brass band sound for me (he takes the solo on the Rebirth tune I posted above).

― Jordan (Jordan), Wednesday, 24 November 2004 16:45 (twelve years ago) Permalink

What I mean to say is, he can blow eight notes on one note and suddenly every other trumpet player and every tricky run becomes irrelevant.

― Jordan (Jordan), Wednesday, 24 November 2004 16:46 (twelve years ago) Permalink

oh yeah, that David Byrne "Music for the Knee Plays" is great

― JaXoN (JasonD), Wednesday, 24 November 2004 17:48 (twelve years ago) Permalink

and how great is The Ying Yang Twins new song "Halftime". are brass bands and marching bands at all related?

― JaXoN (JasonD), Wednesday, 24 November 2004 17:49 (twelve years ago) Permalink

I shy away from the comparison just because it makes people think of their bad Midwest high school pep band and assume that they know what it's about. I'm also sick to death of people saying "oh, you guys must have been in the UW band" or "what drum corps did you march in?" when no one in the band comes from that background at all.

HOWEVER, yeah, they take marching band pretty seriously down south and a lot of those kids have incredible chops. We were standing outside of Tipatina's during a parade last Mardi Gras and this high school trumpet line came by blowing high F's and we were like WHAT?! I think that a huge majority of New Orleans brass band musicians came up in those bands and always check them out during parade season, etc.

― Jordan (Jordan), Wednesday, 24 November 2004 18:05 (twelve years ago) Permalink

jordan -- is that yr actual email addy? (I'll do a trade for a copy of that mix).

― Julio Desouza (jdesouza), Wednesday, 24 November 2004 21:01 (twelve years ago) Permalink

Yep (change gmale to gmail obv.). That sounds good Julio, I'm sure you have some stuff I'd love to hear.

― Jordan (Jordan), Wednesday, 24 November 2004 21:05 (twelve years ago) Permalink

Jordan is 100% otm re: high school bands. New Orleans has like the Delta Force marching bands--all the best music during Mardi Gras can be heard by avoiding the clubs (most of which are hosting jam bands anyway) and hitting the parades further Uptown (before the kids playing are all worn out).

I am also interested in Jordan's mix.

― adam (adam), Wednesday, 24 November 2004 22:21 (twelve years ago) Permalink

by avoiding the clubs

But still go to Donna's and the Maple Leaf and Le Bon Temps and Cafe Brasil!

most of which are hosting jam bands anyway)

Oh god this is so horribly OTM.

I am also interested in Jordan's mix.

Send me your address.

― Jordan (Jordan), Wednesday, 24 November 2004 22:37 (twelve years ago) Permalink

Dude, Le Bon Temps has the crunkest quesadillas in the city.

― adam (adam), Wednesday, 24 November 2004 23:32 (twelve years ago) Permalink

Yas yas, that's what I like about the South. Alabama's Public TV used to broadcast an annual marching band contest, live from Bessemer High School's football field. That sound, across the stadium (and airwaves), not just horns but the drums, it moves me man. Reminds me that Bessemer is the disembarkation point of Sun Ra (and my father). As far as non-high school, don't forget Mississippi's late (and maybe last of a kind) Othar Turner. And I always suspected that those early N.O. parade bands, "soloing" in different keys simulanteously for *one* thing, were an influence on free jazz (Ornette Coleman had played in proto-R&B bands in his native Texas, and toured in a medicine show band, according to A.B. Spellman, and also lived in New Orleans in 1950 or so, when he could have heard some of those guys live, although there was no revival then, was there? And old guys don't usually have the wind to flip out, I know from my own brass, but his wife Jayne Crotez was known to have a killer collection of 78s.Think also of ASCENSION, esp. the better version, eventually relaesed with the *relatively* tamer, more familiar take. And Gary Giddins said that his Jazz History students hit a wall when they got to Air, etc. but loved Henry Threadgill's JELLY ROLLS, which I think was one of the earliest Free-to-Ur foldovers. And some of them got intoFree per se, with JR as their gateway. I was always fascinated by Archie Shepp & Horace Parlan's albums of spiritual and gospel, and notice elements of these primogen. influences in Ayler (listening to the boxset single-disc promo, for inst). Reminds me: don't know how widespread this trend is, but in the CD store where I was working last year, noticed a jazz X gospel trendette, coming from "Jazz" section *and* from gospel (and of course the latter's had crossover from Blind Boys of Alabama and Robert Randolph and the Family Band, but that's getting away from horns altogether)

― don, Thursday, 25 November 2004 01:06 (twelve years ago) Permalink

Erm, that would be Jayne Cortez, not "Crotez." Charlie Haden said that before anybody could borrow one of her records, they had to promise to learn to play the songs on it. (She eventually put out her own albums, like the killer early jazz-rap MAINTAIN CONTROL, with mebers of Prime Time, and Ornette as special guest on "There Are No Simple Answers." Again, off-topic, but great[and o course he does play a horn])

― don, Thursday, 25 November 2004 06:25 (twelve years ago) Permalink

Fixed the link above for that Rebirth & Slim tune.

― Jordan (Jordan), Friday, 26 November 2004 13:56 (twelve years ago) Permalink

We have People TV in Atlanta, and last year I spent a lot of time taing random things off it, marshing band videos being one of them. The beats truly were crunk, and the dancing that accompanied them was straight out of the club.

― Adam Bruneau (oliver8bit), Friday, 26 November 2004 17:47 (twelve years ago) Permalink

Marching band videos? You mean like single songs, like pop videos? Whole concerts? Never heard of People TV, is that local to Atlanta?

― don, Friday, 26 November 2004 21:34 (twelve years ago) Permalink

Thanks for the links, Jordan. Also, on Public Radio's "Beale Street caravan," I just heard NRBQ with horns, live from Coney Island (the one in Cincinnati, not NY). They kept adding extra beats to "swing"; pretty funny. I'd forgotten, they used to have the Whole Wheat Horns, or maybe they're playing horns themselves, like Z Z Top. Reminds me of HIP-BOP-SKA, by the Skatalites, with guests like Lester Bowie and David Murray. Lester does some of this approach on James Carter's COVERSIN' WITH THE ELDERS, which also has Harry Sweets Edison on trumpet, Buddy Tate on clarinet, Hamiett Bluiett on baritone, and JC plays various reed instruments from his storied collection. It ain't Storyville but it ain't bad. Chicka-boom!

― don, Saturday, 27 November 2004 06:43 (twelve years ago) Permalink

three months pass...

Revive.

In Tower Records I noticed in the new Downbeat magazine a nice article on New Orleans brass bands and more. The Stooges Brass band, Hot 8, and Soul Rebels are all here. I haven't checked to see if the article is online.

As a contributing supporter of afropop.org I get a weekly e-mail thing from them. This week they have a nice photo-essay by Ned Sublette(musician, musicologist and author of that immense book on Cuban music) on New Orleans. Sublette is living there for awhile and studying the Caribbean roots of New Orleans. He's got an interview with Donald Harrison and some others. I think you can check it all out at afropop.org

― steve-k, Saturday, 26 March 2005 17:48 (twelve years ago) Permalink

Brass Bands - C/D

― steve-k, Saturday, 26 March 2005 17:53 (twelve years ago) Permalink

I wish I had time to go down to Jazzfest at the end of April and into early May and check everybody out. Plus that other fest with swamp pop and Blood Ulmer and more is going on at the rock n bowl.

― steve-k, Saturday, 26 March 2005 20:34 (twelve years ago) Permalink

Kermit Ruffins is now on tour...
http://www.basinstreetrecords.com/
http://www.satchmo.com/nolavl/kermit.html

― Pete Scholtes, Sunday, 27 March 2005 02:00 (twelve years ago) Permalink

He's got a new cd with Rebirth I believe. I doubt they're together on tour though

― Steve-k (Steve K), Sunday, 27 March 2005 02:34 (twelve years ago) Permalink

I downloaded a ton of stuff for free online a while ago. It is great stuff. Can't remember any names, though. I just filled two cds and labelled them New Orleans Jazz 1 and 2. It sounds drunk and it sounds happy and sometimes it stumbles along like a sad drunk but still manages to sound fun. Right after I saw "Wild Man Blues" I decided I should have some of that.

I think one was called Yarl River Blues Band.

― Lemonade Salesman (Eleventy-Twelve), Sunday, 27 March 2005 04:08 (twelve years ago) Permalink

http://www.yarl.org/mp3s.htm

― Lemonade Salesman (Eleventy-Twelve), Sunday, 27 March 2005 04:10 (twelve years ago) Permalink

Thanks for the heads up Steve! Hot 8 in Downbeat, who knew.

I'll be going down to Jazzfest the first weekend to play with Mama Digdown's and see brass bands, can't wait.

― Jordan (Jordan), Sunday, 27 March 2005 13:07 (twelve years ago) Permalink

It should be great.

From the April issue excerpt on Downbeat's website:

Next Generation New Orleans Brass Bands
Brass Beyond The Streets

By Jennifer Odell

Philip Frazier honks his sousaphone on a chilly January Sunday on the corner of Daneel and 3rd streets. Musicians start to shuffle away from the crowd milling outside the Bean Brothers Bar and strap on horns and snare drums, ready to get their roll on. Dancers for the Undefeated Dicas Social Aid and Pleasure Club come around the corner and tubas, sousaphones, saxophones and bass drums fall in line as the Divas belt out The Staple Singers’ “I’ll Take You There.”

Winding past Mary’s Nightowl Bar, Candlelight Bar, Sandpiper and The New Look, the parading community group hits all of the Uptown neighborhood’s brass band stops. Ostrich plumes fan the air above the Divas in time with Frazier’s non-stop vamps. When the dancers slow down and form a circle, trading moves with kids, the band plays even harder, echoing braay swueals off the projects across the street. This is how brass band music was born.

But it’s growing up. And while playing the second lines and funerals remains important, many of today’s hottest brass players are concentrating more on polishing their CDs and getting national recognition than on stealing the show on Sunday afternoons. The current generation is following the successful business model created by the Dirty Dozen and Rebirth brass bands; updating a traditional sound to make the music relevant to a larger audience. And with each step forward, another cross-breed of the brass band sound is born. Mardi Gras Indian bands like Big Sam’s Funky Nation are based in funk, the Soul Rebels are purveyors of hip-hop and the Hot 8, New Birth and the Stooges hold down the street scene with their bebop-heavy takes on the traditional style.

― Steve-k (Steve K), Sunday, 27 March 2005 16:07 (twelve years ago) Permalink

From afropop.org

MARDI GRAS 2005: a photo essay by Ned Sublette
Also Check out Interviews with Joseph Roach, Donald Harrison, and Vicki Mayer by Ned Sublette

― Steve-k (Steve K), Sunday, 27 March 2005 16:14 (twelve years ago) Permalink

there was some sorta Folkways record i checked out in Fredericksburg, Texas, and it dirged and dirtied heaving heavier than a mule cry, as syrupy and sun-stroked than just about anything i could think of (though that recent Sub Rosa Tibetan ceremony thing is sorta close). one of those New Orleans series ones. don't know if a single tortoise tune clocked in under eight minutes...

― imbidimts, Sunday, 27 March 2005 16:30 (twelve years ago) Permalink

Skipping 1531 messages at this point... Click here if you want to load them all.

I was at the second line but left before anything went down, thank god. The parade itself ran further past the scheduled end time than any other I've been to, and it kinda fell apart at the end - two of the three bands, some of the parading club members, a few of the floats and many of the spectators who'd been walking with it simply peeled off in the last half hour. A friend I was with today - a lifetime Treme resident and Yellow Pocahontas Indian - told me most of the police escort left at 4, too, and suggested both the SA&PC and the police deserved some of the blame. Another friend who's a photographer and was also at the parade told me the events were in no way connected, and that a lot of people are angry the event and the social club are getting blamed for a totally unrelated crime. But I think he left at the same time I did, so I don't know.

― Futuristic Bow Wow (thewufs), Monday, 23 November 2015 21:01 (one year ago) Permalink

Everyone on Facebook saying that it's totally unrelated, happened three or four hours after the second line passed through.

― expertly crafted referential display name (Jordan), Monday, 23 November 2015 21:05 (one year ago) Permalink

Right, and from all reports, the shooting would have happened whether or not the second line had taken place.

― Futuristic Bow Wow (thewufs), Monday, 23 November 2015 21:14 (one year ago) Permalink

Or ran overtime, etc.

― Futuristic Bow Wow (thewufs), Monday, 23 November 2015 21:14 (one year ago) Permalink

It's certainly possible that more people were in the park at that time than would have normally been the case. But I just looked at google maps, and Bunny Friend Park is over a mile from where the second line dispersed.

― Futuristic Bow Wow (thewufs), Monday, 23 November 2015 21:24 (one year ago) Permalink

I don't think they were blaming second line participants for the shooting, I think they were blaming the second line, rightly or wrongly, for soaking up police attention in the 9th.

― Comprehensive Nuclear Suggest-Ban Theory (benbbag), Tuesday, 24 November 2015 01:39 (one year ago) Permalink

Yeah, the police escort was pretty much gone by the time the parade ended, and that was an hour before the shooting, so that doesn't wash either.

― Futuristic Bow Wow (thewufs), Tuesday, 24 November 2015 05:09 (one year ago) Permalink

one month passes...

http://lens.blogs.nytimes.com/2015/12/30/black-marching-bands-jules-allen-lens/?action=click&contentCollection=Blogs&pgtype=imageslideshow&module=RelatedArticleList®ion=CaptionArea&version=SlideCard-1&_r=0

NYC photographer Jules Allen has been taking pics of black marching bands for 30 years

http://www.nytimes.com/slideshow/2015/12/29/blogs/for-black-marching-bands-its-about-rhythm-precision-and-flair/s/20151229-lens-jules-slide-5PWW.html

― curmudgeon, Thursday, 31 December 2015 00:22 (one year ago) Permalink

I should see that Morgan State band

― curmudgeon, Thursday, 31 December 2015 22:46 (one year ago) Permalink

one month passes...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y2RJoRKYWdc

― sam jax sax jam (Jordan), Tuesday, 2 February 2016 18:24 (one year ago) Permalink

That's excellent! Love this pic from their website (tho may be hueg)

https://static.wixstatic.com/media/bc6d82_765cc195a7624f03a0e24ab6f8ace82e.jpg/v1/fill/w_948,h_524,al_c,q_85,usm_0.66_1.00_0.01/bc6d82_765cc195a7624f03a0e24ab6f8ace82e.jpg

― Retro novelty punk (Dan Peterson), Tuesday, 2 February 2016 18:51 (one year ago) Permalink

happy mardi gras yall. wanted to take this opportunity to express my gratitude to jordan and everyone else who makes this thread awesome and periodically alleviates my homesickness. a visiting friend brought me a king cake from hi-do's bakery in gretna which also helps.

and here's some new birth

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zITFvYUjMTE

― adam, Tuesday, 9 February 2016 16:19 (one year ago) Permalink

happy mardi gras man.

Glenn David released a little Mardi Gras single backed by TBC: http://www.cdbaby.com/cd/tobecontinuedbrassbandfe

i kinda love that even in 2016 it's still relatively difficult to get new brass band recordings, like you still have to get cds (or cd-rs) at shows for some bands, or go through Louisiana Music Factory. it's not like everyone just set up Bandcamp sites (because that's just not how music is passed around the local scene, i assume).

― sam jax sax jam (Jordan), Tuesday, 9 February 2016 17:36 (one year ago) Permalink

btw, i should share the bootleg i have of the greatest brass band set ever played, Soul Rebels at the Club Onyx brass band battle in 2000 (as an exhibition set). i wasn't there, it was a few years before my time, but it was recorded by someone in our crew, and has been passed around and listened to constantly ever since. email or PM me for the link.

― sam jax sax jam (Jordan), Tuesday, 9 February 2016 17:39 (one year ago) Permalink

the amount of cell phone video second line footage is pretty impressive tho (even if the audio is often not great). the advent of youtube was a big deal for brass bands, i used to work with a dude who spent tons of time sifting through brass band and marching band videos. the marching bands are a whole other genre that we've never really gotten into but they definitely play a huge role in brass band players' development.

― adam, Tuesday, 9 February 2016 18:08 (one year ago) Permalink

totally, totally. for awhile Deb Cotton was responsible for that almost single-handedly, at least in terms of consistent and high-quality footage imo. i know that personally it was the biggest factor in being able to play this music confidently, because i could (and did) immerse myself in second line footage every day. before that i'd have to come to New Orleans and absorb as much as i could in a few days, then go back and try to hold onto that.

― sam jax sax jam (Jordan), Tuesday, 9 February 2016 18:13 (one year ago) Permalink

just got around to putting up a free live EP my band recorded last year, i like this one: https://digdown.bandcamp.com/album/vol-1

― sam jax sax jam (Jordan), Thursday, 11 February 2016 20:28 (one year ago) Permalink

three weeks pass...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e36gSnf8mgE

― sam jax sax jam (Jordan), Monday, 7 March 2016 15:12 (one year ago) Permalink

Everything about that video is so New Orleans awesome-- the brass, the dancing,

― curmudgeon, Tuesday, 8 March 2016 16:26 (one year ago) Permalink

one month passes...

not sure if this will work, but i'm watching this long live video from the Stooges, who have recently sorta reunited as a brass band.

― sam jax sax jam (Jordan), Friday, 8 April 2016 14:13 (one year ago) Permalink

just ordered their new cd from Louisiana Music Factory because it gives me a warm sense of nostalgia to pay $20 for a brass band disc that's not available digitally.

― sam jax sax jam (Jordan), Friday, 8 April 2016 14:30 (one year ago) Permalink

― curmudgeon, Friday, 8 April 2016 14:33 (one year ago) Permalink

four weeks pass...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aRdiHQ1f7Ag

― sam jax sax jam (Jordan), Friday, 6 May 2016 20:40 (one year ago) Permalink

It's been a year since Trumpet Black has been gone.

― curmudgeon, Sunday, 8 May 2016 21:30 (one year ago) Permalink

nice to see Leroy Jones getting some love here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Aq0Mt-jro18

― sam jax sax jam (Jordan), Friday, 20 May 2016 18:05 (one year ago) Permalink

one month passes...

http://www.nydailynews.com/news/protests-erupt-baton-rouge-police-fatally-shoot-alton-sterling-gallery-1.2700968?pmSlide=1.2702887

A brass band in a Baton Rouge vigil march

― curmudgeon, Wednesday, 13 July 2016 04:58 (eleven months ago) Permalink

three weeks pass...

http://www.offbeat.com/articles/last-sixth-ward-treme-brass-bands-benny-jones-sr-new-orleans/

Nice profile of this 70 something percussionist who's still at it

― curmudgeon, Friday, 5 August 2016 02:02 (ten months ago) Permalink

three months pass...

Just saw a video clip DJ Soul Sister posted on Instagram of a recent second line parade. New Orleans brass bands remain awesome

― curmudgeon, Monday, 21 November 2016 16:40 (seven months ago) Permalink

two weeks pass...

Hot 8 Brass Band - Can’t Nobody Get Down

Saw someone put this 2016 ep on a best-of list for the year.

― curmudgeon, Monday, 5 December 2016 18:33 (six months ago) Permalink

one month passes...

2017 Jazzfest scheDule is out. MegHan Trainor!!!

http://lineup.nojazzfest.com/

― Fake posts from a failing poster (Dan Peterson), Friday, 27 January 2017 19:59 (five months ago) Permalink

Awesome. Fest has no interest it seems in adding Ponderosa Stomp type acts to smaller stages. Haven't perused it closely to see if all brass bands are playing. Old-timer big name New Orleans r'n'b acts are still there at least.

― curmudgeon, Friday, 27 January 2017 20:33 (five months ago) Permalink

TBC and the Stooges are not listed, just Rebirth, Hot 8, and Pinettes (and Soul Rebels backing Nas).

― change display name (Jordan), Friday, 27 January 2017 20:43 (five months ago) Permalink

http://www.npr.org/event/music/513038608/hard-living-in-the-big-easy-housing-costs-push-musicians-out-of-new-orleans

Rising housing costs are pushing many musicians and service workers — the backbone of New Orleans' tourism economy — further and further outside the city limits. This suburbanization of the working class poses more than an inconvenience: It's fraying the culture of New Orleans and splintering the very neighborhoods that have nurtured the city's music for decades.

― curmudgeon, Thursday, 2 February 2017 18:00 (four months ago) Permalink

That's interesting, thanks for sharing. Gentrification is always a double edged sword. Much of Treme, Central City etc. needed repairing, though. I'd rather see St. Roch Market open than boarded up.

― Fake posts from a failing poster (Dan Peterson), Thursday, 2 February 2017 18:25 (four months ago) Permalink

wrong

― adam, Thursday, 2 February 2017 18:34 (four months ago) Permalink

st roch market is one of the most despicable culprits in the ruin of new orleans. millions of dollars in grant and city money went into opening a food hall for yuppies. the promised produce stand in the vast food desert that is downtown new orleans was just fuckin heirloom parsnips and shit

― adam, Thursday, 2 February 2017 18:35 (four months ago) Permalink

Singer John Boutte, who grew up in Treme, couldn't afford to buy there after gentrification

― curmudgeon, Thursday, 2 February 2017 19:44 (four months ago) Permalink

and that neighborhood has some of the strongest and most vocal community organizers in the city--even then, hard to keep out carpetbaggers and airbnb speculators and other disaster capitalists.

airbnb has really done a number on the city, especially in historic neighborhoods. for the last 7 years of my time there i lived in bywater. if i go on airbnb now there are literally a dozen listings in a one block radius of my old address. each one of those is a working family pushed into the east or marrero or jeff parish.

― adam, Thursday, 2 February 2017 19:48 (four months ago) Permalink

Adam, are you no longer in NO? Sorry, I didn't mean to seem dismissive of people being priced out of their neighborhoods, and I make no claims to being an urban planning expert. I don't know how you best handle something like the market, which is historic and was already in rough shape before Katrina closed it entirely.

I was just looking on Google Earth and it showed renovations in progress on the Dew Drop Inn.

― Fake posts from a failing poster (Dan Peterson), Thursday, 2 February 2017 20:22 (four months ago) Permalink

The Dew Drop Inn owner is looking for donations

http://dewdropnola.squarespace.com/revitalization/

http://www.nola.com/entertainment/index.ssf/2016/02/dew_drop_inn_owner_envisions_1.html

The legendary Dew Drop Inn where such greats as Allen Toussaint, Irma Thomas, Deacon John Moore, and B.B. King performed, has been closed for more than four decades. But owner Kenneth Jackson, who inherited the historic club from his grandfather, has grand plans to make the joint swing once again, Vice reports.

"Jackson's working with Harmony Neighborhood Development, Tulane City Center, and the Milne Inspiration Center to raise $1.5 million for the repairs," according to the story. "Last month they secured a modest $6,000 grant from the city of New Orleans, which they aim to use to host a fundraiser in March. They're largely depending upon donations made through their website to get the Dew Drop up and swinging again. If all goes as planned, it will reopen in April 2018."

http://www.npr.org/2015/08/24/434209433/will-the-dew-drop-inn-swing-again-attempts-to-revive-new-orleans-hot-spot

― curmudgeon, Thursday, 2 February 2017 21:13 (four months ago) Permalink

sorry didn't mean to be so snippy dan. i lived a couple blocks from the st roch market and seeing its potential totally wasted like that was infuriating.

(we moved to nyc, where my wife's family is, about two years ago. miss new orleans terribly.)

― adam, Thursday, 2 February 2017 22:26 (four months ago) Permalink

RIP Charlie Simms, of Donna's Bar & Grill. Memorial & second line on 3/3 I believe.

― change display name (Jordan), Wednesday, 8 February 2017 16:45 (four months ago) Permalink

Spent some of the best times in my life in that bar. RIP Charlie.

― Fake posts from a failing poster (Dan Peterson), Wednesday, 8 February 2017 16:59 (four months ago) Permalink

Just posting this pic here because it makes me happy.

http://donnaandcharliesbarandgrillnola.com/images/Charlie_Donna.jpg

― Fake posts from a failing poster (Dan Peterson), Wednesday, 8 February 2017 17:04 (four months ago) Permalink

two weeks pass...

It being Mardi Gras, someone tweeted this long 2015 article about a Mardi Gras Indian cultural center being planned for Lasalle Street. I wonder if they've made progress?

http://www.citylab.com/design/2015/08/new-orleans-secures-a-place-for-the-mardi-gras-indians-katrina/402208/

― curmudgeon, Tuesday, 28 February 2017 17:07 (three months ago) Permalink

My band is driving down this weekend to play Charlie's memorial service/second line.

― change display name (Jordan), Tuesday, 28 February 2017 17:18 (three months ago) Permalink

two months pass...

We released a bootleg of a show I was really happy with: https://digdown.bandcamp.com/album/bootleg-series-vol-1

― change display name (Jordan), Tuesday, 2 May 2017 19:08 (one month ago) Permalink

Will check that out.

I somehow had conflicts for both Hot 8's and Stooges Brass recent gigs in W. DC area. Stooges one was at Kennedy Center Millennium Stage so I can look for that on their video archive at least. Hot 8 was the one I wanted to see more. I just saw 2014 movie "Chef" that has the characters in it bopping around to Hot 8's take on Marvin Gaye. Have seen them before, just not in awhile.

― curmudgeon, Tuesday, 2 May 2017 20:25 (one month ago) Permalink

The first episode of the new season of Fargo had a super random Rebirth BB placement.

― change display name (Jordan), Tuesday, 2 May 2017 20:33 (one month ago) Permalink

two weeks pass...

http://www.villagevoice.com/2017/04/12/the-hot-8-brass-band-and-trombone-shorty-fight-for-the-heritage-and-future-of-new-orleans/

Right now, one cause for concern is the city’s recently proposed $40 million security plan. A statement from the Music and Culture Coalition of New Orleans, a nonprofit advocacy group, noted that “many locations studied to create the plan, including Times Square, Beale Street [in Memphis] and London’s Soho, are widely seen as culturally ‘sanitized’ and ‘homogenized,’ packaged for easy and unchallenging consumption by visitors.”

http://www.cbsnews.com/news/new-orleans-security-plan-bar-curfew-3-am-concerns-business-owners/

One that is still being decided is whether bars should be forced to close their doors at 3 a.m. and make everybody come inside.

The proposal includes adding 200 high-definition cameras in 20 hot spots around the city and big signs that make it clear you’re being filmed. There are barriers, which are meant to stop a maniac with a vehicle from driving onto Bourbon Street

― curmudgeon, Thursday, 18 May 2017 18:33 (one month ago) Permalink

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