New Orleans Brass Bands S/D

Just curious, why the honk hate? A friend of mine went last year (has connections with Bread and Puppets,) and it seemed interesting to me.

this is my own problem, but i'm a hater when it comes to "wacky" brass bands, especially when they play new orleans brass band tunes. the real bands have such a deep connection to the music and the level of musicianship is so high, it seems really lame and borderline disrespectful when 20 people put on silly hats, pull out their high school instruments, and play shitty & funkless versions of rebirth songs. even though it's fun music, it's something i take seriously, so i don't have time for bands to whom it's a joke.

Fair enough. That linked band didn't do much for me, either. I was thinking more along the lines of Minneapolis' Brass Messengers, a group I like a lot, silly hats and all.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N70ghC4mxcY

yeah, they're obviously going for something totally different. i'm not especially interested in that kind of brass band music, but it's cool. i know the clarinet player, he plays in a traditional jazz band in the cities with the sousaphonist from my band.

i could keep linking awful honk! bands but what's the point, when there are so many good second line videos:

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

Not exactly a New orleans brass band event, but this New Orleans happening is related sorta:

From author/musician Ned Sublette's e-mail:

Leading scholars on African and Caribbean culture, and their impact on New Orleans, will gather on Saturday, Nov. 14, for a symposium entitled “Congo
Square: Crossroads of the Afro-Atlantic World.”

The symposium, which is free and open to the public, takes place at the Jazz & Heritage Center (1225 N. Rampart Street), from 1 p.m. to 6 p.m.

...The day following the symposium, the Jazz & Heritage Foundation will present the third annual Congo Square Rhythms Festival in nearby Armstrong Park. The festival is free and open to the public. It will feature music, food and a large crafts area. Performers include Ensemble Fatien (featuring Ivorian multi-instrumentalist Seguenon Kone, Dr. Michael White, Sunpie Barnes and others), the Kumbuka African Dance Ensemble and many more.

Congo Square: Crossroads of the Afro-Atlantic World” features Ned Sublette, author of “The World That Made New Orleans,” Yale University African culture scholar Robert Farris Thompson, musician Alex LaSalle of the Puerto Rican group Alma Moyó and others in a day-long series of discussions and workshops.

The final hour of the symposium will feature a drum workshop and a cocktail reception.

The schedule of events is as follows:

1:00 p.m. Welcome and Introductions
Presentation by Ned Sublette, “Rocking the City, Cracking the
Code: Bámbula at Congo Square”
2:30 p.m. Presentation by Robert Farris Thompson, “Kongo with a ‘K’”
3:30 p.m. Break
3:45 p.m. Panel Discussion: Perspectives on Congo Square Freddi Williams Evans: “Congo Square Through the Years”
Connie Zeanah Atkinson: “Place Publique: The Historical Congo Square”
Herreast Harrison and Robert Farris Thompson: A Dialogue Luther Gray: “Advocating for Congo Square”
5:00 p.m. Drum Workshop (featuring Alex LaSalle and Luther Gray) and Cocktail Reception

Ballou High School Marching Band represent! This band from one of the poorest neighborhoods in DC has been chosen to appear in the Macy's Parade in NY and to do an outdoor lunchtime appearance at Lincoln Center

http://www.balloumovie.com/trailer.html

There's some nice drumline footage from them on Youtube. Oh, and the Lincoln Center Atrium gig is at night.

The Offbeat Magazine December issue is out and they highlight some of their fave Louisiana albums for the year. But I don't see any brass bands or hiphop.

I can't believe Offbeat thinks that Tom McDermott trad r'n'b piano cd is the best Louisiana album of the year.

Anyone got Rebirth Brass Band's _Rollin'_? Any good? I heard "Shake them titties/Mercy mercy mercy" recently and it made me really want to start looking into this music. Figure I might as well start with the album it's on.
Still, I see Jordan and Vornado praising _Hot Venom_, so perhaps I should go for that. (Greed will probably win out and I'll get BOTH, if I can!)

Been playing _25th Anniversary_ on Spotify and digging it. Wtf @ me not knowing any brass music beyond, uh, Fanfare Ciocarlia. Love the enthusiasm in this thread!

imo rollin' is the best of their old-school albums, the one where second line funk (or whatever you want to call it) sound is really getting defined. the first three tracks are fire, but i prefer the albums after kabuki (trumpet) got in the band, like 'the main event: live at the maple leaf' and 'hot venom'.

also highly recommend new birth brass band's 'd-boy' as an intro.

Jordan, is the TBC Brass Band's '09 effort your fave new Orleans release of '09? Or at least fave studio release? Or is it by someone else? Or have none of this year's studio efforts matched up to live things you've heard?

well, nothing really lives up to live stuff when it comes to this music, but 'modern times' is definitely my favorite new orleans release of '09, yeah.

btw my band is having our cd release party next weekend. it should be out digitally by the end of the year.

jordan, give us a top ten of awesome brass band things to look at. pretty please.

ok, i posted it on the brass band blog i started a year ago and never did anything with: http://chickenintheback.wordpress.com/

from Offbeat.com

SAD FAREWELL

On Monday, clarinet player Ralph Johnson died at 71. In addition to (performing with fellow) locals Dr. John, Johnny Adams and Chuck Carbo, Johnson played with Jerry Butler and the Impressions. Services will be held Friday at St. Peter Claver Church (1923 St. Phillip St.). The viewing will take place from 9-11 a.m., and at 11 there will be a Mass.

Y'know, I was just spinning Chuck Carbo's Barber's Blues CD recently and wondered what happened to him since. Never heard that he had passed away last year. I don't recall him ever playing Jazzfest when I was down there either.

Apparently in July '08. I was just reading about a Carbo reissue in Offbeat and thinking why don't I have any music of his. I wonder if his old stuff has been reissued--this is the stuff I want to hear (though the subsequent stuff sounds of interest too)--

http://www.wwoz.org/new+orleans+community/chuck+carbo+memoriam

In the early '50s Carbo, his brother Chick and two friends joined the local Zion City Harmonizers, which eventually became the Delta Southernaires.

When they were offered a recording contract by Dave Bartholomew for Imperial Records, they changed their name to the Spiders and eventually became the best known R&B vocal group out of New Orleans. Their initial release of "I Didn't Want to Do It" paired with "You're the One" brought the group national fame. Their biggest hit, "Witchcraft," which came out in 1955, climbed to number five on the R&B charts.

But you probably already know that

Honestly, those might be the ONLY two Spiders songs I know. There's a spendy and typically awesome-looking Bear Family set I probably need.

The two Rounder Carbo CDs are pretty good, and dirt cheap on Amazon. His vocals are a little the worse for wear, but there's a lived-in quality to them that gets me, a bit like Snooks Eaglin. Also in the changer that day, Tommy Ridgley's Since The Blues Began and Johnny Adams' Walkin' On A Tightrope: Songs Of Percy Mayfield.

RIP Ernest Skipper. Here is what Dan Phillips said about this obscure hero at Dan's awesome Home of the Groove blog

http://homeofthegroove.blogspot.com/2008/01/here-come-da-indians.html

Ernest Skipper's "Shot Gun Joe" with Flag & The Boys is a rave-up of a record. There are some whistling synth drum flourishes; and the snare and kick drum may even be electronic, too, as their simple pattern doesn't change much; but there is plenty of percussion in the mix to funkify things nicely. Everybody's rippin' and runnin', especially the Dirty Dozen. That would be Kirk Joseph pushing the bottom on sousaphone; and the tenor sax solo is wicked. If this record came out in 1982 or 1983, it may also be the Dirty Dozen's earliest appearance on record, as their first LP (on Concord Jazz) came out in 1984. Despite it's title, the song bears no resemblance to the Golden Eagles "Shotgun Joe" that appeared on the Lightning and Thunder CD in 1988. Instead the song seems to be a precursor to "Let's Go Get 'Em" as done by Dollis, Boudreaux and the Rebirth on that Super Sunday CD. Papa Mali also used the same groove and riff from the verses on "Early In The Morning", an Indian-inspired track on his CD, Do Your Thing, that came out last year and was featured here.

I still don't know anything about Ernest Skipper* * *. Was he a part of the Yellow Pocahontas? They are an old line Indian gang that operated out of the Treme neighborhood, just West of the French Quarter (and still may - though neighborhoods have changed post-Katrina). If you have any more details, please let me know. Anyway, whoever the heck he is, props to him for making an undeservedly obscure Mardi Gras record that demands spontaneous trance dancing as long as it is possible to remain vertical. Hoombah! Fire by the bayou!

* * *[UPDATE: NolaFunk NYC has infomred me that one Ernie 'Shotgun Joe' Skipper will be DJing on Mardi Gras Day at the Backstreet Cultural Museum in the Historic Treme District. See the Comments to this post for all the details - sounds like a fantabulous holiday with mucho Mardi Gras Indians and other assorted revelers, plus the New Birth Brass Band funkin' it up. Thanks for this huge heads up. I'm on the trail of Mr.Skipper now!]

[12/18/2009 - R.I.P Ernest Skipper, Jr. I was saddened to learn last week in the comments to this post of the passing of Mr. Skipper. According to a notice by Ben Berman at Offbeat, he served as Grand Marshall of the the Young Tuxedo Brass Band and also fronted the Thunder Blues Band. Services are today with a second line to follow. Hope they play "Shotgun Joe". You can still hear that great contribution to Mardi Gras music in rotation at HOTG Radio.

soul rebels released their live cd: http://louisianamusicfactory.com/showoneprod.asp?TypeID=72&ProductID=6635

the liner notes there are pretty bitter, wow.

Yes indeed. Speaking of the Rebels, I see in a recent Keith Spera article that REM just went to see the Rebels perform in New Orleans. REM is recording in New Orleans

For the Music Shed sessions, Buck, Stipe and Mills called in local trombonists Mark Mullins, Craig Klein and Greg Hicks of Bonerama -- Mills joined Bonerama on stage at Tipitina’s in November 2006 for a Friends of Music Coalition benefit -- plus Shamarr Allen and Leroy Jones on flugelhorn. A bearded Stipe shot brief iPhone videos of the New Orleans horns in action, which he posted on R.E.M.’s Web site.

The visiting rock stars did not confine themselves to the studio. One or more popped up at shows around town, including Son Volt at The Parish of the House of Blues; the last entry, following dozens of names, on the guest list for a sold-out Neko Case gig at Republic New Orleans was “R.E.M.” Allen also escorted R.E.M. to see the New Orleans Moonshiners on Frenchmen Street and the Soul Rebels Brass Band at Le Bon Temps Roule on Magazine Street.

http://www.nola.com/music/index.ssf/2009/12/rem_records_in_the_garden_dist.html

going hard: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b2jCXevArhs

i like that new soul rebels cd btw, most of it is slamming.

Their membership has changed a bit over the years, right?

yeah, sax and sousaphone have changed up, and i know there were other brass players (like big sam & andrew baham) in the band over the years, but the drummers & most of the frontline have been solid.

http://www.nola.com/music/index.ssf/2009/12/new_orleans_saints_tribute_son.html

Who Dat? Songs about the New Orleans Saints via the NO Times-Picayune.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L9v6-dnHtAE

going to new orleans this weekend...playing with the stooges for krewe du vieux, then digdown @ donna's afterwards

Man, that's gonna be a magical atmosphere to play in.

Well, it's up to music fans and bands to save New Orleans now...

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/harry-shearer/obama-to-new-orleans-reco_b_439759.html

the administration is letting the Office of Gulf Coast Recovery quietly die.

does anyone love the Eureka Brass Band? I'm trying to find old footage and have material that I can't source. Any clues, hints, pointers welcome....

Jordan's the expert around here but I wonder if even he knows real old-school groups like that. Maybe he knows people who do though

Saw Trombone Shorty playing on ESPN this morning (pre-Super Bowl hype in effect)

A number of schools have canceled classes for Feb. 8, the day after the Super Bowl. A civil trial has been postponed. Mardi Gras parades have been moved. Commander’s Palace, the 130-year-old grand dame of New Orleans restaurants, will close on game night, the first time the restaurant has closed for a one-time event in memory, possibly ever. From the NY Times

I bet they're second-lining now

http://www.nola.com/superbowl/index.ssf/2010/02/kermit_ruffins_bar_ground_zero.html

Free Agents are playing our festival later this month--they're good, i gather?

i don't know much about the old pre-revival bands, but i know people who know people who do.

free agents get it done, yeah.

I'd love to be there this week.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GQY0FFR0rMU

"Who Dat say they gonna beat them Saints" chant and Young Fellows Brass Band and more and a few quick shots that are kinda not safe for work

January 2010 Treme Brass Band footage

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6nEWAh130lA

Jordan:

Do you which bands are getting to march in the Super Bowl parade tonight? They've got floats from all the Krewes.

I may have to hunt around on the Nola.com site and youtube and see what I can find

http://www.nola.com/superbowl/index.ssf/2010/02/saints_super_bowl_parade_inclu.html

“I think that this is the first time that you’ll ever see all these floats together at one time, and very well could be the last time you ever see all these floats together,” said Barry Kern, president of Blaine Kern Studios, which is overseeing the event.

Included will be the signature floats of Endymion, Bacchus, Rex, Zulu, Alla, Caesar, Tucks, Muses, Orpheus and Babylon, he said.

Caesar parades in Metairie and Alla travels along streets on the West Bank from Algiers to Gretna. The others follow routes in New Orleans.

In Tuesday's parade, more than a dozen local marching bands, a horse-pulled steam fire engine, modern fire trucks from New Orleans and Jefferson Parish, and the Budweiser Clydesdales and wagon will be sprinkled among the floats.

Saints owner Tom Benson, Saints players and the team’s staff will be toasted at Gallier Hall by a wide array of public officials, led by New Orleans Mayor Ray Nagin, acting Jefferson Parish President Steve Theriot and Gov. Bobby Jindal, and including several of the state’s congressional delegation, other local elected officials from the New Orleans area, and several from neighboring Mississippi.

While stopped at the reviewing stand, the Saints also will be serenaded with a rendition of “Halftime (Stand Up & Get Crunk)” by the Ying Yang Twins, said Ceeon Quiett, communications director for Mayor Ray Nagin.

“How could you have this parade and not have this group that’s coined the theme song that everyone loves,” Quiett said.

Hot 8 buckjumping before the Super Bowl sometime

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TQZT2Xxu2Vk

Hot 8 coming to the DC area soon

Rebirth too. But today's Fat Tuesday...who's marching...

For those who will be in New orleans this Sunday (from Offbeat's e-mail):

The New Orleans Mardi Gras Indian Council and R.E.A.L. present Super Sunday 2010 featuring the New Orleans Mardi Gras Indian tribes and special guests including the Hot 8 Brass Band, Big Al Carson, Stooges Brass Band, Young Men Olympian, Lady Buckjumpers, Lady Divas, DJ Jubilee, The Troop, Jo "Cool" Davis, DJ Captain Charles, King Fashion and more. The festival begins this Sunday at 11 a.m. at Taylor Park located at Washington Avenue and S. Derbigny Street.

After the festival, the parade will begin at 1 p.m. at Washington Avenue and LaSalle Street, roll onto Simon Bolivar, turn left onto Martin Luther King Boulevard, and head left onto S. Galvez Avenue. From S. Galvez, the procession will move back onto Washington Avenue and culminate at Taylor Park with more activities and performances.