New Orleans Brass Bands S/D

Sunday, February 17: For the 57th Annual NBA All-Star Game, Harry Connick, Jr. and Branford Marsalis has collaborated on the performance lineup. Connick is the musical director for the halftime show, featuring four original compositions performed by four pairs of pianists including Dr. John, Allen Toussaint, Davell Crawford, Art Neville, Ivan Neville, Jonathan Batiste, Ellis Marsalis, and Connick Jr. and his Big Band. Marsalis is the musical director for the All-Star Player introductions, featuring compositions by Marsalis performed by the Rebirth Brass Band. Trumpeter Kermit Ruffins and Trombone Shorty introduces the Western and Eastern Conference All-Star teams. Marsalis directs the U.S. national anthem performed by Stephanie Jordan and guitarist Jonathan Dubose. Deborah Cox performs the Canadian anthem.[14]

it is like mardi gras downtown this weekend

featuring compositions by Marsalis performed by the Rebirth Brass Band

this will probably be a little weird

so this is only on cable, huh? crap.

I wonder who that white guy guitarist trying to sing like a Neville brother was?

I didn't realize who Stephanie Jordan is---

Like other Katrina victims, Jordan is still rebounding from her losses," I had eight feet of water in my house, and lost everything - pianos, sheet music, my entire wardrobe, a singer's wardrobe." Shortly thereafter, she and her brother Marlon embark during the fall of 2005 as 'Jazz Ambassadors' on a European Tour sponsored by the U.S. Department of State and Jazz at Lincoln Center to thank the people of Europe for their support of New Orleans and the Gulf Region following Hurricane Katrina.

Jordan is the fifth performer to emerge from a family of New Orleans bred musicians. As the daughter of saxophonist Edward "Kidd" Jordan, Stephanie's musical roots run deep. Her siblings include flutist Kent, trumpeter Marlon, and violinist Rachel Jordan. from nola.com

by David Gladow Saturday February 16, 2008,

TNT cable tonight--Dwight Howard dunking and brass blowing

Kermit Ruffins & Trombone Shorty and Rebirth looked and sounded sharp playing in the background as the players were being introduced. They had this faux French Quarter backdrop with folks dressed up for Mardi Gras and dancing around...

i went over to a friend's house to watch. that was pretty tight, esp. when they gave trombone shorty some time to blow over 'do whatcha wanna'. kinda weird to see all those dudes in suits on national tv!

i guess they didn't air the rebirth halftime performance? that sucks.

Were they supposed to be on at the half also in addition to the pianos duets thing?

think i'm interviewing Glen David Andrews tomorrow morning.

He can be real friendly or real cranky. I like his Louis Armstrong like vocals as well as his horn playing. As you may know, he's part of a talented extended music family. Good luck

Hey, thanks for warning me about the possibility of a cranky subject. I've been listening to his music recently; lots of it sounds joyful. He's performing in a local parade, so I was going to talk to him about NO parades, particularly in a post-Katrina NO.

But I don't know how he'll feel about Katrina questions...I'm sure every post-Katrina interview has revolved around the aftermath. I just hope he's not sick of discussing it. If he sounds annoyed, I'll switch subjects, I guess.

2 minutes

Hope it went well.

oh, i misread what adam posted, i thought rebirth was supposed to be on during halftime too but i guess not.

longest 2 minute wait ever!

what happened?

Did he blow it off...

still blowing it off, pr guy feels bad, still waiting, etc.

i've never met the guy but one hears hilarious and disturbing stories. good luck w/ the interview.

He was nice and friendly to me at Jazzfest a few years back, but then didn't want to really talk a year later up here in DC. He had to be bleeped on that NPR piece I mentioned upthread, and somewhere I saw a posting from I think a former landlord of his badmouthing him.

I hung around with him a bit during his brief stay in Houston. We had some interesting times.

free agents album is out

I guess I will just have to pay Louisiana Music factory prices unless it is also available elsewhere for cheaper (or via paid download)

nice rebirth second line vid: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gLBsaStyGaw

Hot 8 are over in Dublin tonight, Glasgow tomorrow, and Edinburgh the night after that (28th through March 1st) and they just did a bunch of dates in France and England!

Well Glen David Andrews did speak to Offbeat, if not to ILXer Tapestore. There's an interview in the latest issue, not sure if it's available online at their website or elsewhere. The ever-opinionated Andrews while stating he likes Hot 8, badmouths without naming names the younger more hip-hop influenced brass bands, while talking about how important it is to know you brass band music history, and how he now plays at Preservation Hall. Gotta run, I'll mention more later.

The Glenn D. Andrews Interview by John Swenson in Offbeat is online:
http://offbeat.com/artman/publish/article_2941.shtml

Here's part of it:

A lot of the older people have been sidelined since Katrina. You didn’t have to drown to be kept from being able to do what you were doing before. It seems like a big part of the social infrastructure that kept the traditional brass bands going is just gone.
They ran them off. I used to talk to [Olympia’s] Doc Watson all my days. I would just call him and talk to him; he ain’t here to do that anymore. There’s no Tuba Fats left in the Sixth Ward. Tuba Fats taught everybody and not just about the music. He took us to London every year to play, and he took us to Amsterdam.
I talk to Irvin Mayfield a lot. He says, “They know what you’re trying to do. They don’t like people that speak out.” You go against the grain, they stay away from you. Everything’s a clique. That’s why the city’s in the trouble it’s in.

(Q)With so many of the older keepers of the flame out of commission or out of the city, it falls on younger guys like you not only symbolize the new blood in the brass band sound, but now you’ve got to uphold the old tradition, too.

(A)When I saw the Olympia Brass Band for the first time I was like six, seven years old. I knew I wanted to be a part of that. I knew when I saw James (Andrews) at the World’s Fair I knew I was going to be playing with him. I grew up with it in the Treme, it was all around me. Ironing Board Sam. James Black lived around the corner. I grew up with the Olympia, the Pinstripe band all my life, and I realize that’s my niche. I love to sing the old tunes. Every Sunday when I get on the stand at Preservation Hall, I get a chill.

What’s your ideal repertoire for playing there?
I always try to play some Bunk Johnson, some Punch Miller, some Red Allen.

At places like Fritzel’s they play traditional jazz like classical music, note for note reproductions.
I’ve only seen one black musician play there in the 27 years of my life and that was Gregg Stafford. The best place you’re going to get down there [on Bourbon Street] is the Maison Bourbon; Jamil Sharif is there to commemorate the traditional music. That’s the thing about the tradition. You’ve got to know “Sunny Side of the Street” before you can know “Gimme a Dime.” You’ve got to know the tradition. And that’s what’s happening with these new brass bands. It’s the same thing with these Indian chiefs. Everybody wants to be the Big Chief now. There’s like 23 chiefs now; nobody wants to start off being the Spyboy.

So you see your role now, at 27 years old, as an older guy passing along the tradition?
People don’t respect the tradition. The young people don’t seem to respect much. If I’m playing at the Rock ’n’ Bowl, everybody wears suits and ties. Suits and ties. At Preservation Hall, if you don’t come out there with a coat and tie, you can go home. You could be the tuba player, somebody I need. If you don’t come with a suit and tie, you can go home. Tuba Fats told me that’s the way you run a band. You’ve got to pay them, make sure everybody’s looking good and professional and sounding good. Otherwise it’s going to fall on you.

You were also part of the brass band new wave with the Rascals and New Birth.
I did the song “Gimme a Dime, I only got 8” with New Birth. But that ain’t what I want to do. I’m through with that. The new shit dishes the old folks.

So you put that aside.
It’s violence. It’s not music. It’s one chord over the same groove over and over. No offense to the Hot 8. My brother Derek started that band. No offense to the Soul Rebels. I like all those people as people. I don’t want to listen to that. “That’s the street thing,” they say. “I’m trying to do something new.” How the hell are you going to do that if you don’t know where it came from? Do you know “Palm Court Strut?” Do you know who Danny Barker was? You need to find out about some of these things. You need to go by George Buck and get you a couple of them records.

What do you think the future is for brass band music?
There’s not enough cooperation among the younger brass band players. All the white players stick together. All these so-called retro jazz bands, I don’t hear anything I like down on Frenchmen Street outside of Snug Harbor except if it’s John Boutte. It’s sad.

If you’re going to play the traditional music do it the right way. The Storyville Stompers. They’re doing traditional music the right way. Rebirth works so hard and travels up and down that road, so they’re going to survive. Them and the Dozen are all right. Not all the individuals in those bands are all right financially, but those bands are all right as far as work. But I’ve got to worry about myself.

Start w/ Dirty Dozen Brass Band, then maybe that SoulJazz comp of New Orleans funk. Lot of cross over I think. So far as current bands are concerned, not sure since the city barely exists anymore. Early Dr. John is worth checking too.

so rong

U-haul, try reading the thread and you will get ideas on the current status of things.

So far as current bands are concerned, not sure since the city barely exists anymore.

fuck you

btw i bought my ticket for april 25th, playing at donna's that night and at ray's boom boom room (w/bob fr3nch) on april 28th.

I wanna go and stick around for Ponderosa Stomp

I'm psyched about the Trombone Shorty / Lazy 6 double bill at SXSW Thursday night, especially after reading that interview with G.D. All I've ever seen him play is the street stuff.

And the Ponderosa Stomp folks are doing a bill at SxSW also

The official Ponderosa site says in two places that the show is happening on March 14, 2007. Oops.

Went last year at SXSW and it was a really good show; don't know if I will make it this time around because of its location. Once you head down to the Continental you are kind of there for the whole night.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ppv21Wzb_2s

stooges second line vid. is that big sam on trombone?

2008. Another year in which family and work is keeping me from the French Quarter Fest, Jazz & Heritage Fest, and the Ponderosa Stomp. Oh well.

thought y'all would be discussing this: the kid who killed dinerral shavers gets off scot free. ah, this broken ass city.

i heard about that, that's fucked up.

April 10, 2008

For many months now, we have found the motivation for an entire public awareness movement in one case that has meant a lot to us personally. Dinerral Shavers was our friend and our brother. His murder on December 28, 2006 inspired us to call on our leaders and our fellow citizens to do more for each other and for our city. For over a year now, Dinerral’s murder case has been the focus of our efforts to demand more from our criminal justice system in particular. During this time, we have seen a new Violent Offenders Unit formed at the office of the District Attrorney, and more experienced prosecutors take over murder cases. We have seen an ineffective District Attorney forced from office through public pressure. We have seen new levels of cooperation between police officers and prosecutors begin to slow the notorious revolving door at Orleans Parish Prison, in both directions.

This evening, we also had to watch as Dinerral’s murder case ended in what we must accept as justice, but can hardly embrace as resolution. The defendant in Dinerral’s case was found not guilty by a jury today. So ends the case that has focused us, inspired us, and channeled our energies for over a year.

But the end of Dinerral’s case cannot mark the end of our movement, or of the determination of all New Orleans citizens to raise our voices when we see injustice, inaction, and silence in the face of violence. We will continue to engage with our neighbors and our leaders: to hold our government accountable, but also, as Judge Jerome Winsberg wisely counseled at the conclusion of today’s proceedings, to look inside ourselves and hold ourselves responsible for the chaotic societal circumstances that are breeding violent crime, and which caused Dinerral’s death.

In his closing comments, Judge Winsberg expressed “shock” at what he witnessed during the trial. The way these children are living is not okay, he said, comparing inner-city New Orleans unfavorably with Baghdad. “It is appalling…it is shocking…” over and over said a judge who has presided over scores of criminal cases. The world our young people are living in came to terrifying light through the fearful testimony of witnesses, justifiably afraid; through the defendant’s assertion that he sells drugs in order “to help my family” (this forming part of the defense in this trial); through the repeated references to petty but clearly deadly turf wars being fought by children too young to drive from one neighborhood to another.

We should all heed Judge Winsberg’s call for citizen outrage at these situations, and at many other realities that were rendered more stark than ever over the course of this case:

That brazen intimidation of witnesses is such an ingrained part of the system that witnesses can be threatened while on the stand—and the juror who points out the threats removed.
That police investigations lack the rigor and thoroughness that can stand up in court.
That our standards for education and family are so low that our young people believe that living without parents, taking care of other people’s babies, and dropping out of school are normal modes of youth.

We are not satisfied to be leaving Dinerral’s case behind without a cleaner resolution. But at least we have seen real energy, real attention, and real concern directed toward an inner-city murder case. This, at least, we can take as a step forward—so long as our system commits to treating every murder case with this level of sincerity and seriousness.

“This is our system,” said Judge Winsberg today. “It’s the system we must live by.” We are asking each of you, on behalf of these confused young people, to get to know this system better so we can understand how to fix it. As painful as it is, go watch a murder trial. As reluctant as they may seem, reach out to a troubled young person in your neighborhood. As busy as you may be, take the time to attend a City Council meeting. Clearly, we citizens must continue the hard work of repairing our own city and creating a world for our children that makes some kind of sense.

Our anti-violence movement has been motivated by Dinerral Shavers’s death; many of our programs are influenced by the way Dinerral lived his life. One of these programs, our Youth Music Clinics, will have a final meeting for the spring this coming Tuesday evening, from 6 to 8pm at Sound Cafe. You are all invited to join us. Come show support for and solidarity with these young aspiring musicians as they try to find a positive path through the societal chaos around them.

www.silenceisviolence.org

holy shit:

Witness in Shaver's trial is shot to death
http://www.nola.com/news/index.ssf/2008/04/new_orleans_man_killed_in_iris.html

That's horrible

I read some online commenters blaming Shaver's son and wife. Saying stuff like 'they must know who did it.' What a sad mess.

Meanwhile its festival time and no matter how much money New Orleans makes, there's no guarantee that it will be anywhere near enough to help address the city's unending problems (without further support from elsewhere on the educational front, the economic front, the law and order and justice front) although it obviously can't hurt

on a lighter note, i'm looking forward to seeing a bunch of brass bands this weekend.

Have a great time.

http://offbeat.com/artman/publish/article_3058.shtml

this is kind of a weird article. there are a lot of little errors, and the premise is "why no new brass band cds?" when it ignores the free agents record, the pinstripes record, the original royal players thing that just came out, etc..

and since it even covers the new album that rebirth is releasing at jazzfest and the ones that hot 8 and the rebels are working on (and supposedly the stooges have a new album coming out for jazzfest too), it's kind of a negative approach to take for the article. i guess any brass band coverage is good, though.

It's kinda odd that he starts with this 'nothing was happening in '07' lede, but then reluctantly must admit that well, there is stuff happening.

Not New Orleans except in spirit and smarts(and studies, prob): a lotta good horns on Easy Beatles, a collection of wild Beatles covers from the Sixties (check forcedexposure.com)

Jordan, maybe you can give Offbeat writer John Swenson grief for his brass band overview Friday night down there at this Offbeat magazine event:

We're having a First-Day-of- Fest-Party at the Seahorse Saloon on the opening Friday of Jazz Fest from 7pm-9pm with music by the Free Agents Brass Band