New Orleans Brass Bands S/D

Saw Jordan cowbelling his heart out last night, twice. Getting psyched for the high school bands rolling with the bigger parades--O. Perry Walker in particular. They've been killing it since the storm.

Lil' Wayne did his recent New Orleans song on the Grammys with Robin Thicke and then they brought on Alan Toussaint, Dirty Dozen Brass Band, and Terence Blanchard. Lil' Wayne was chanting "Feet Don't Fail me Now". It was just the brass folks from Dirty Dozen not the expanded version w/ non-brass players they sometimes tour with

Unrelated to that, while walking to the DC Convention Center earlier to take my kid to the Auto Show, we walked past a United House of Prayer Church and you could hear the gospel 'shout' brass band from the sidewalk. Awesome.

oh dude, i didn't know you were still in town, i would've given you a call.

it was a good weekend, i spent my birthday with the stooges @ rock bottom, played at donna's on friday, and rolled with the free agents for krewe du vieux. we had to start driving back before the rebirth second line on sunday, which hurt me deep in my soul.

Sounds like a great birthday. How long does it take to drive from New Orleans to Wisconsin? Just curious. DC is too far to drive from to Louisiana if you ask me (though some people do it).

it was about 14 - 15 hours from new orleans to cedar rapids, iowa (where the crews from minneapolis, madison, and chicago met up) and then another few hours home. a long-ass drive, but we had enough drivers to get a good rotation going.

phil f. played the second line on sunday btw

He's on the mend. That's great.

From Offbeat e-mail thing:

The Soul Rebels will record their show Friday night at the Blue Nile for an upcoming live CD. That likely means the show will be a) hot, and b) long. Funk band Dr. Gonzeaux will open. The Soul Rebels will spend Saturday night with Sparta, rolling in the parade on float 12: "Uranus." I assume that means the parade's theme has to do with astronomy and not words that make 14-year-old boys chuckle covertly to each other.

i saw soul rebels at rock n' bowl on saturday and there was like no one there. they sounded great though.

might go see rebirth in chicago tomorrow...

jordan let me know if u go, i might be checking it out too

what time does it start, do u know?

website says 10:00 but there's an opening band i don't really want to see. i'll text you when/if i go down.

History of the Zulus on their 100th anniversary and a preview of the Mardi Gras parade 2-24-09

http://travel.nytimes.com/2009/02/13/travel/escapes/13Zulu.html?pagewanted=1&em

Louis Armstrong was a member

At 8 a.m. on Feb. 24, give or take an hour or so, the raucous Zulu parade will roll down Jackson Avenue from Claiborne Avenue, then make a left on St. Charles Avenue and head toward Canal Street. The parade consists of about two dozen colorful floats, each with up to 50 riders. But the raucousness isn’t what alarms visitors — this is, after all, New Orleans, and this is, after all, Mardi Gras.

Rather, it’s this: Many of those on the floats and marching with them are in blackface. What’s more, many also wear fright wigs and grass skirts and are handing coconuts to clamoring parade watchers.

The scene looks like something from an old social studies filmstrip about stereotypes and how to avoid them, the kind of thing that crops up today mostly in news accounts involving students being expelled from school.

Complicating matters, most of those in the parade are black.

Jordan or others, any of you ever see Snooks Eglin? He just passed away.

from the Snooks thread:
R.I.P. He was great and unique and the manner of his death as described below is very sad.

http://blog.nola.com/keithspera/2009/02/snooks_eaglin_19372009.html

New Orleans guitarist Snooks Eaglin dies at 72.Posted by Keith Spera, Music writer, The Times-Picayune February 18, 20092:30PM

Snooks Eaglin, the New Orleans rhythm & blues guitarist known for his dexterous finger-picking and boundless repertoire, died Wednesday afternoon.He was 72."He was the most New Orleans of all the New Orleans acts that are still living," said Mid-City Lanes owner John Blancher.Mr. Eaglin apparently checked into a hospital last week with high blood-pressure, then was released. He returned to Ochsner Medical Center on Tuesday, and went into cardiac arrest, Blancher said.

― curmudgeon, Thursday, February 19, 2009 3:38 AM (1 hour ago) Bookmark

Mardi Gras coming soon

free hot 8 download at tru thoughts: www.tru-thoughts.co.uk/

i'm just glad they've definitively hit the studio again!

Mardi Gras is today/Tuesday but there's some sad news with it.

Keith Spera article http://www.nola.com/news/index.ssf/2009/02/antoinette_kdoe_dies_on_mardi.html
Antoinette K-Doe, the irrepressible widow of rhythm & blues singer Ernie K-Doe who transformed the Mother-in-Law Lounge into a living shrine and community center, died early Tuesday after suffering a massive heart attack. She was 66.

"It was her personal mission to keep his memory alive," said Ben Sandmel, who is writing a biography of Ernie K-Doe. "But she also did so much for the community. It's a huge loss for the whole musicians' community of New Orleans."

Born Antoinette Dorsey, Mrs. K-Doe was a cousin of rhythm & blues singer Lee Dorsey. She had known Ernie K-Doe for many years before they became a couple around 1990.

At the time, the singer's best days were far behind him. After a string of hits in the early 1960s, most notably "Mother-in-Law," his career, and life bottomed out. By sheer force of will, she helped him return to the stage and transform himself into an icon of eclectic New Orleans. The couple married in 1994.

"She had him on a short leash," Sandmel said. "She cleaned him up and opened the lounge to give him a place to play."

Ernie K-Doe died in 2001. But thanks to his wife, he maintained a schedule of public appearances via a life-size, fully costumed, look-alike mannequin. Mrs. K-Doe referred to the mannequin as "Ernie."

As the mother hen of the Mother-in-Law Lounge, she presided over one of the city's most diverse, funky-but-chic watering holes. With its vibrant, larger-than-life exterior murals and adjoining gardens, the Lounge stood out on an otherwise rough stretch of North Claiborne Avenue.

As the Ernie mannequin looked on from its corner throne, Mrs. K-Doe served a mix of neighborhood regulars and hipsters from across the city. The Lounge was a favorite haunt of such non-traditional musicians as Mr. Quintron, the Bywater avant-garde keyboardist, inventor and marching band impresario.

The Lounge badly flooded in the wake of Hurricane Katrina's levee breaches. In advance of the floodwaters, Mrs. K-Doe dismantled the mannequin, stored the pieces in plastic bags, and stowed them in an upstairs closet. In the months after the storm, she revived the Lounge with the aid of an army of volunteers and financial support from contemporary R&B star Usher.

Mrs. K-Doe suffered a minor heart attack during Mardi Gras 2008, but recovered. On Thursday, she rode in the Muses parade with the Ernie mannequin. She served as the honorary queen of the Cameltoe Ladysteppers marching organization.

Today she had planned to don the traditional Baby Doll costume and parade through the streets of Treme before returning to the lounge for what is always a busy day. She helped revive the tradition of the Baby Dolls marching organization, and was happy to see others take up the mantle.

Michelle Longino, a founder of the Bayou Steppers Social Aid and Pleasure Club, received Mrs. K-Doe's blessing to costume as a Baby Doll and come out with Mardi Gras Indian Big Chief Monk Boudreaux on Mardi Gras morning.

"She told us that we needed to be proper Baby Dolls, not nasty Baby Dolls," Longino said. "Today we're going to call ourselves the Antoinette K-Doe Baby Dolls in her honor."

Around 3 a.m. Mardi Gras morning, Mrs. K-Doe awoke in her apartment above the Mother-in-Law Lounge and complained of feeling hot, said Gary Hughes, the husband of her adopted daughter, Jackie Coleman. She went downstairs and apparently suffered a heart attack on a sofa in the lounge.

Hughes, who was staying in the apartment at the time, said paramedics arrived quickly but could not revive Mrs. K-Doe.

Today's festivities at the Mother-in-Law Lounge will be in her honor.

"Mardi Gras was her holiday," Hughes said. "She loved Mardi Gras. We're going to run the lounge as if she was here and do it up this one last time for her."

Funeral arrangements are incomplete.

Writer Ned Sublette will be speaking at Hunter college in NY on march 25 -- Maybe about New Orleans (or Cuba or Afro-Latin-Caribbean influences).

in other news, my new book, the year before the flood, is set to come out at the end of august, from lawrence hill books, the same company that published my two previous books. i just finished uploading the pictures. we're going to have a full-color (!) glossy 16-page insert of pictures this time. i hope to be doing some traveling to support the book in the fall. -from Ned's e-mail list

Damn, another death-R.I.P. pianist/singer Eddie Bo.

http://www.google.com/hostednews/ap/article/ALeqM5jr0mEPawrhstiFM70aCUkgTkIA-gD9722CP00

so apparently john scofield just put out a new orleans gospel record with george porter, jon cleary, john boutte, and shannon powell.

They're busy touring for this--but no John Boutte on tour. Nice review in the NY Times.

Trombone Shorty's doing the jam band circuit now with his band Orleans Avenue. That means a Baltimore gig but not DC.

the main thing that bothers me about that scofield record is that shannon powell only plays drums on one song, and the other guy (bonnie raitt's drummer) is not a new orleans drummer, nor does he try to be. if i don't think of it as a new orleans album though, it's nice, i like all the other dudes on it.

just heard the hustlers brass band album. it's real stripped down, it's basically five guys from the soul rebels + wayne on bass drum (used to be with the stooges, plays percussion for trombone shorty now) playing non-soul rebelsy brass band music. there are a few hot cuts for sure.

Anybody go to the French Quarter Fest? I'm missing that, and Jazz Fest which of course starts next weekend and then the Ponderosa Stomp (not to mention that French-language music fest out in the Bayou that usually has lots of cool zydeco and African bands)

nope, going down this weekend for jazzfest though (playing two nights at donna's & possibly some other stuff).

btw i only recently realized that the woman who puts up all the best second line videos on youtube has a blog: http://blog.nola.com/notesonneworleans/

Cool

French Quarter Fest - it was a great festival this year - weather was awesome. We (The Jack Brass Band from Minneapolis, MN) brought a band down and we we're asked to play the festival (so we also lined up gigs on WWOZ, at Louisiana Music Factory, and a couple others). Problem being, we didn't get to see everyone we wanted (haven't perfected cloning technology yet). Some great acts we saw included portions of Forgotten Souls, Original Royal Players, Soul Rebels, Storyville Stompers, Treme, Original Hurricane, Leroy Jones, Trombone Shorty). Treme was without a lot of the regulars, as they were on the road - but they had some young guys playing that were barely teenagers, including a trumpeter (John Michael) that was very impressive. Weather and food were fantastic. We also went to a downtown secondline - where we saw the Hot 8 - and caught a club show with the Stooges as well. Now we're sleepy and back home in MN - missing the beautiful weather, food and music.

Someone who's down there for Jazz Fest (both weekends! I'm jealous, that means they can do Piano night; the Ponderosa Stomp and more) siad the new Rock n Bowl is an improvement over the old one.

Geoff Himes, longtime music critic and Jazzfest goer, is blogging Jazzfest for the Los Angeles Times. Here's a post on Rebirth.

http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/music_blog/2009/04/new-orleans-jazz-and-heritage-festival-the-rebirth-brass-brand-galactic-and-more.html

The Rebirth Brass Band, wearing identical green “Rebirth” T-shirts, stood in the bright Saturday sun on the second day of this year’s New Orleans Jazz & Heritage Festival. The front line of three trumpets, two trombones and a tenor saxophonist was backed by a rub-board player, a bass drummer, a snare drummer and a tuba player -- the giant golden bell of his horn emblazoned with the band’s name.

With no stationary instruments such as a keyboard or a trap-drum set, these musicians were ready to go marching off in a parade -- the job description for a New Orleans brass band.

The group, which first played the festival as teenagers in the mid-'80s, is as much a jazz band as a parade band. You could tell by the way the horn players peeled off one by one from the jaunty R&B vamp of “Gemini Rising” to blow adventurous solos.

Like jazz virtuosos everywhere, though, they faced the challenge of holding the attention of an audience that was less interested in virtuosity than in party music. When Phil Frazier, Rebirth’s co-founder and tuba player, noticed the focus of the scantily dressed, beer-can-clutching crowd leaking away, he cued the band to switch to the sing-along title chant of “Who Took the Happiness Out?”

This got the crowd bouncing to the original vamp. Eventually, however, the players started slipping off again into jazz solos against the party groove. But as soon as the crowd’s energy began to sag, it was back to the chant. Back and forth it went for the whole set, even when co-founder and ex-member Kermit Ruffins rejoined the band to add his trumpet to the mix. The danceable grooves and exuberant catch phrases kept the music from growing too cerebral, while the inventive improvisation kept it from becoming too repetitive.

As a solution to the challenge of jazz artists connecting to a non-jazz audience, the New Orleans brass band format is more aesthetically satisfying than, say, smooth jazz. Instead of diluting both the jazz and the R&B, these musicians complicated both aspects and still made them mesh. Rebirth didn’t invent this approach, but they’re doing it better than anyone else in the city right now.

They proved once more that people will dance to a jazz band if you give them half a chance.

I wonder if WWOZ archived the Jazzfest shows they streamed over the weekend?

http://www.wwoz.org/programs/live+events

New Birth April 30th.

AT & T is streaming some of the final weekend I think on a link off the official NO Jazz & H site

Sounds like the weather was good for the 1st weekend of Jazzfest. Piano night tonight, Ponderosa Stomp Tuesday & Wednesday.

Spent yesterday listening to Louisiana CDs, cooking a big pot of jambalaya and wishing I was at Jazzfest. Discovery of the day: The Wild Magnolias second album, "They Call Us Wild," which I picked up used several years ago but somehow never listened to. Deep jazz-funk grooves from Willie Tee and his brother Earl Turbinton (clavinet and ARP on this is wicked!) and Big Chief Bo Dollis at the top of his game.

I saw a sickly but trying Big Chief Bo last summer in DC with the latest version of the Wild Magnolias. I should seek out those old efforts.

Big Chief had just been in the hospital and many were surprised he was even there, is what I mean.

The first two Wild Mags have been repackaged as a 2-CD set with outtakes etc. I've heard Bo has not been in good health. One of the last times I saw him was when "Life Is A Carnival" came out, end of the 90s. Tiny room (Funky Butt on Rampart) packed like sardines; completely ass-kicking.

that rebirth writeup is kind of annoying.

i'm back from new orleans, i'll try to recap after i get a few hours sleep.

Yea, see what you mean about the Rebirth writeup. Maybe he was trying too hard to make the article accessible to an outsider.

yeah, it's no big deal. stuff like this bothers me but only as a brass band nerd:

When Phil Frazier, Rebirth’s co-founder and tuba player, noticed the focus of the scantily dressed, beer-can-clutching crowd leaking away, he cued the band to switch to the sing-along title chant of “Who Took the Happiness Out?”

no, that's their arrangement of the tune, that they play every single time.

anyway, i had a blast playing with mahogany brass band at the fest. we had other gigs fri and sat so i didn't get to check out many other bands on those nights, but caught a lot of tbc on sunday as well as shannon powell's regular gig (unfortunately there aren't any second lines scheduled until after jazz fest). here's a video i took of tbc playing some al green the other day:

Listening to New Birth Brass Band streaming live from Jazzfest as I type!

Aw man, I forgot about that even though I posted about it above. Doh!

Jon Pareles look back at this year's Jazzfest in the NY Times---the Andrews cousins, etc.

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/05/04/arts/music/04jazz.html?th&emc=th

He also blogged a bit from there

http://artsbeat.blogs.nytimes.com/2009/05/03/jazzfest-behind-threadhead-records/

Good news...
http://blog.nola.com/davewalker/2009/05/hbo_gives_david_simons_treme_g.html

Looks like HBO will be doing the "Treme" series. Should be a great opportunity for the culture and music - not to mention New Orleans - some attention. Part of the show's theme is about the musicians - and at least in the pilot they were using several brass band musicians.

Yea, David Simon's been making the rounds doing interviews about the state of journalism and his various projects and I heard him discuss this briefly on public radio WAMU in DC. He's a big fan of New Orleans r'n'b. He goes to jazzfest every year and flew a group up to play his son's Bar Mitzvah.

The series' first-season story will begin several weeks after Hurricane Katrina and follow its characters -- based on real-life models Kermit Ruffins, Donald Harrison Jr. and Davis Rogan, among others -- at least through the first Mardi Gras after Katrina. Each subsequent season of the series would advance the story one year further from the storm.

http://www.nola.com/news/index.ssf/2009/05/colley_photo_for_treme_story.html

I know they also used some local musicians in the "brass band" - including Trombone Shorty and Keith Frazier....not sure who else was included...but an article I came across also said Kermit plays himself in the show. This could have some great economic impact for NOLA in general, and the brass bands specifically...It sounds like they are trying to be as real as can be - it's always frustrating to see actors holding instruments with the wrong hands, etc - but they're doing the right homework and bringing in the right people to make it work....kudos to Simon and HBO.