New Orleans Brass Bands S/D

There sre still many folks just discovering how the young brass bands incorporate hiphop and funk, and don't wear white dress shirts and caps and play Preservation Hall style (not that there's anything wrong with that).
I forgot to mention that Clarence Frogman Henry still sounded nice. Whille he joked around with it a bit, "Ain't Got No Home" took on a new poignancy. Not too many other New Orleans old-time r'n'b singers performed (some are no longer with us). I loved bluesman and more Snooks Eglin when I saw him down there years ago, but was less wowed this time. I had seen Walter Wolfman Washington in the DC area ages ago and enjoyed him. At jazzfest he was kinda uneven--too bluesrocky sometimes, but othertimes he nicely took advantage of his horns and organist.

I have vague memories of seeing Lee Dorsey opening for the Clash in 1979 in Philadelphia. The Ponderosa Stomp folks get slightly younger soulman Rockie Charles to appear at their events plus folks like Al Carnival Time Johnson and others.

I just saw the Offbeat magazine weekly e-mail description of that accident you referred to. How terrible:

"We’re saddened to hear that Hot 8 Brass Band
trumpeter Terrell Batiste lost his legs in
an accident in Atlanta. He was putting up cones on
the highway to alert drivers that his truck had broken
down when he was hit. . . ."

The wizards of 'OZ
While showcasing New Orleans culture, radio station WWOZ became a cultural icon itself. General Manager David Freedman and his colorful collection of music devotees are hellbent on saving it.
Wednesday, May 03, 2006
Dave Walker http://www.nola.com/search/index.ssf?/base/living-6/114663642483370.xml

"With WWOZ mostly returned to task -- broadcasting live from Jazzfest and Monday's annual Piano Night concert -- Freedman continues to ponder the station's larger role in cultural restoration.

Mostly, he worries about the city's "living culture" as created by its high school marching bands, church choirs, second-line clubs and Mardi Gras Indian tribes.

Without restoring those, "this city is going to be a museum of its past," he said.

Recalling seeing kids carrying their school-issued instruments through the Treme neighborhood, Freedman wonders where the next generation of New Orleans musicians will come from.

"We'd watch those kids blasting their trumpets and trombones on the sidewalk as they walked home," he said. "We were watching New Orleans re-create itself in front of our eyes. Until we can see that again, we think that the culture of New Orleans stopped on Aug. 27, as living culture.

"I'm as focused right now in the future of marching bands as I am in the future of the radio station. I think (the station has) landed. We're on our feet and . . . we're going to make it. I am concerned that the marching bands won't make it.

"We know those rhythms will cease in this city in a generation."

To be taught, he said, only in music conservatories. If then.

"As corrupt as the school system was, the one function it could handle beautifully was as a carrier for our culture," Freedman said. "If we don't somehow redevelop that, we're going to be without that culture in the future."

. . . . . . .

Thanks, The Edge! We couldn't have done it without you.

'So much of my life, well, drowned' -A depressing article by Edna Gundersen on brassmen Dr. Michael White and Irvin Mayfield. Jazz clarinetist and music professor Michael White lost his huge collection of recordings, sheet music, books and instruments at his home in the Gentilly section.

by Steve Hochman

"On that note, leave it to New Orleans to overcome the cancellation of not just one but two of the final JazzFest 2006 day's headliners and still go out partying.

And it wasn't Lionel Richie, who moved over from another stage to headline the Acura in Fats' place after Simon, that made the concluding magic. It was the replacement for Nicholas Payton, the trumpeter scheduled for the closing Jazz Tent slot who was also injured and unable to appear. With that opening, a gaggle of stars of the ever-vibrant brass band scene here took over the stage for what was billed as "Takin' It To the Streets JazzFest Finale Jam 2006." There were a couple of Andrews, some of Rebirth Brass Band and the Lil' Rascals, some New Orleans Nightcrawlers, a fraction of the Dirty Dozen, trumpeters Christian Scott and Maurice Brown, two sousaphones, singer John Boutte and we lost track of the rest. Morgan Freeman was spotted in the crowd looking on as everyone danced to funky cutting sessions of "Caravan" and, of course, an ending "When the Saints Go Marching In." The only thing that would have made it better would have been for them to really take it to the streets, leading the audience out the gates with a second-line. So we'll just pick it up again next year where we left off, then."

If celebrities want to help they need to go up to the 17th street canal and FIX THE MOTHER FUCKING LEVEE. I haven't seen the Industrial Canal lately so it might be in just as bad shape but as of two days ago at the 17th they are NOT DOING SHIT. There was like one dude smoking a cigarette surrounded by idle machinery. Hurricane season starts in 3 weeks.

Sad news. When I saw him just a couple years ago he was using his big ol' belly to bump his piano-on-wheels across the stage and didn't look frail at all.

They don't have a record or a website, but here's the website of the people that did the documentary, and it has a pretty hot clip on there.

http://images.citypages.com/articles/0000/CallingAllMyPeople.mp3

Calling all the people
Come back home
New Orleans
Where you belong

On a brighter note, I see that the Smithsonian Folklife Festival in DC is going to include 3 special free concerts with Louisiana artists under tents down near the Washington Monument. Hot 8 are gonna be playing Saturday July 8th along with Chief Monk's Mardi Gras Indian troupe.

Hot 8 at SXSW. In the first clip they're doing Word on the Street, a Digd0wn/Youngbl00d tune.

Also looks like there's a new S0ul Rebels joint, live in the studio.

Crowd goes wild. Band goes batshit. playing like an all-brass Funkadelic on crystal. Amazing.

Friday June 30

BEEN IN THE STORM SO LONG
Jubilee Stage
6:00-8:00 p.m.

Friendly Travelers (gospel)
Dr. Michael White and the Original Liberty Jazz Band (jazz)

Friday July 7

BEEN IN THE STORM SO LONG
Jubilee Stage
6:00-8:00 p.m.

Hot 8 Brass Band
Big Chief Monk Boudreaux and the Golden Eagles Mardi Gras Indian Tribe

Saturday July 8

BEEN IN THE STORM SO LONG
Jubilee Stage
6:00-8:00 p.m.

The Dixie Cups
Davell Crawford

THE 22nd ANNUAL KENNEDY CENTER OPEN HOUSE ARTS FESTIVAL:
Featuring Sounds Along the Gulf Coast Highway

Sat., Sept. 16
12 p.m.-7 p.m.
Throughout the building
FREE (some events may
require free tickets)

The 22nd annual Kennedy Center Open House Arts Festival celebrates the Center’s 35th birthday with more than 30 performances, activities and events for the whole family presented throughout the building. A parade featuring a marching band, The Wild Magnolias, Tremè Brass Band, ArcheDream, and DC dance company Step Afrika, kicks off at noon near the Hall of Nations entrance and progresses along the Center’s main plaza. This year’s festival highlights the arts of the Gulf Coast region—following fabled U.S. Route 90 from San Antonio Texas, through Louisiana, Mississippi, Alabama, and Jacksonville, Florida. The festival also presents programming selections from the 2006-2007 Season at the Kennedy Center and Washington, D.C. area artists.

NOTE: Complete Open House Schedule to be issued later.

From the Los Angeles Times

New Orleans Endures the `New Normal'
Sure, Mardi Gras and Jazz Fest came back. But everyday life in the city remains shattered.
By Ann M. Simmons, Times Staff Writer
July 15, 2006

excerpts:
"At the end of the school year, 25 of 128 New Orleans public schools had reopened; and just 12,000 of the city's 60,000 students had returned. By September, 57 schools with space for up to 34,000 students are expected to be open, although according to school officials, there only will be staff to handle 22,000."

"The low-income workers lived in public housing units, most of which are still closed. Meanwhile, house prices and rents have skyrocketed.
Public housing residents have been clamoring to return, and over the last few weeks, hundreds have been coming home for the first time since the storm. Residents of St. Bernard Housing Development in the 7th Ward, who had erected a "Survivors Village" outside the city's largest public housing complex, recently learned the units are among hundreds slated for demolition under a federal plan to rid New Orleans of obsolete public housing in favor of modern developments.

The tenants said they planned to fight the decision, but housing officials, citing safety concerns such as collapsing lumber and mold, said the demolition would move ahead."

As the world starts documenting the one-year anniversary of Hurricane Katrina, WDSU gets in the game locally this Thursday at 6:30 p.m. with "A Song for New Orleans."

The film focuses on the Rebirth Brass Band,
their experiences and losses due to Katrina, and the
return of the band and their music to New Orleans.
The feature will be aired this evening in New Orleans,
and will be repeated twice during the week of the
Katrina Anniversary. The Executive Producer,
Emerson Coleman, VP of Programming for Hearst-
Argyle Television in New York, had seen Rebirth and
was interested in using the story of the band as a
hopeful symbol for the rebirth of New Orleans’ music
and culture. The film includes interviews with
OffBeat publisher Jan Ramsey, Tipitina’s
manager Adam Shipley, and interviews and
performances with Charmaine Neville, Kermit
Ruffins, Donald Harrison, Jr. and, of course, the
members of Rebirth Brass Band. "A Song For New
Orleans" will also be broadcast on Hearst-Argyle
stations throughout the US in the coming weeks.
Check your local listings for air times.Check out the links here for information on "A Song"... - http://rs6.net/tn.jsp?t=kka5txbab.0.kg6vuxbab.ks58lun6.3064&ts=S0198&p=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.wdsu.com

www.katrinadinner2006.com

Oh! HBO is showing Spike Lee's New Orleans/second-line documentary on Monday and Tuesday night. Some dudes from my band might be in it. I need to get friends with cable stat.

New Orleans bands that rarely traveled before Katrina, continue to hit the road. The Treme Brass band are coming to DC in September to get a National Heritage Award, and will be playing at the award ceremony out in the Maryland burbs (Strathmore) and 2 shows at the Kennedy Center.

Not sure about other New Orleans brass bands--Stooges, Hot 8, Treme, etc. They all have been playing some gigs around the US over the summer it seems, but nothing too regular back home...

One New Orleans Procession
Free
One New Orleans Procession in the tradition of a Jazz Funeral from the Convention Center to the Superdome. Lieutenant General Russel L. Honoré will be the Grand Marshall of the One New Orleans Procession. Also Honoring 1st Responders, the lives lost in Katrina, and the rebirth of New Orleans. Everyone is invited to participate.

And for those with money to spare:

Wynton Marsalis : Rebuilding the Soul of America Katrina Anniversary Events
August 27, 2006 : August 30, 2006
Visit website for more info
http://www.celebratejazz.org
Various Locations
More details to follow...
Admission: $50.00 : $2500.00
Wynton Marsalis will return to New Orleans to produce a television special marking the hurricane’s anniversary. Wynton and his production partner Lisa Marie Hoggs will team with producers John Cossette and Don Mischer to helm “New Orleans: Rebuilding the Soul of America One Year Later,” a live television special taking place at the New Orleans Morial Convention Center. He is also planning a three:day tribute to New Orleans, from August 27 through the anniversary of Hurricane Katrina on August 29, to include in the television special. The event will feature the Ambassador of Swing Talent Search at Harrah’s New Orleans Theater, including performances by Wynton Marsalis, jazz vocalist Cassandra Wilson and some of the hottest local talent in Louisiana and Mississippi; and Cooking with Music, an event featuring Lagasse and Marsalis to welcome back New Orleans school children.

Branford Marsalis is the guest editor, so I guess it was up to him, although it is interesting that he (rightfully so, I think) downplays the Marsalis reputation as the "first family of New Orleans jazz".

Part of a Reuters syndicated Billboard article

By Chris Walsh

NEW YORK (Billboard) - Before Hurricane Katrina hit, Tanio Hingle lived in a house in the Treme section of New Orleans with his wife and three kids, gigging around town with the New Birth Brass Band. The eight-piece played four or five times a week in places like Joe's Cozy Corner, Donna's Bar & Grill, Tipitina's and House of Blues.

Since Katrina, Hingle and his family have been living in an apartment in Houston; he drives back to New Orleans to repair the house when he's not playing shows. "We're still not back to normal. We're trying to get there," he says. "The insurance money wasn't enough to cover house repairs."

Today the band mostly plays shelters, schools and churches -- sometimes the airport. Hingle's been able to get one or two gigs a week, which come mostly as referrals from Bethany Bultman, co-founder and executive director of the New Orleans Musicians Clinic. Bultman set up the NOMC Emergency Fund last year, after Katrina.

"We're hoping to create opportunities for the musicians to play in shelters and schools," she says. "We want to keep the culture alive."

Support directly to NOMC includes approximately $80,000 from Bruce Springsteen, about $25,000-$30,000 from Bonnie Raitt, plus contributions from Huey Lewis, Pearl Jam and others. "Gig fees" from donors go directly to musicians. One goal: to save the traditional music of New Orleans.

NEW INSTRUMENTS

And NOMC's not alone in that mission. On Tuesday (August 29), the one-year anniversary of Katrina, the Tipitina's Foundation will host a ceremony at the legendary Tipitina's Uptown venue to hand over $500,000 in new instruments to 11 New Orleans school music programs. The ceremony will feature performances by Ivan Neville and the Original Uptown Allstars with the Dirty Dozen Horns, Trombone Shorty and Orleans Avenue, the Rebirth Brass Band and other locals [Soul Rebels]
Terence Blanchard is a Blue Note recording artist who wrote the soundtrack music to Spike Lee's four-hour documentary, "When the Levees Broke," which premiered in two parts on HBO August 21-22. A New Orleans native, Blanchard moved back to the city in March.

"It's not alive and well -- it's alive," he says of the state of music in his hometown. "Many of the musicians are still not home. Many are in Dallas and Houston. They actually travel from Dallas and Houston to New Orleans to play.

"When Spike (Lee) came to my old neighborhood, I wanted to show it off. But there was nothing alive there. No insects, rodents, birds, nothing. It was all dead. There's my house and the street where I used to play football with my friends and the picture window that I used to look out from while practicing my piano lessons."

Reuters/Billboard