New Orleans Brass Bands S/D

https://www.nola.com/entertainment_life/keith_spera/article_4cceb0b6-1e3e-11ed-ba03-57a0d74e293c.html

Music industry vets buy Chickie Wah Wah, embark on extensive renovation of Canal St. venue
They hope to reopen the club by October. Say they will book roots music and jazz

Will they book New Orleans brass bands

https://www.offbeat.com/night-time-economy/

Offbeat editor on changes New Orleans should make to improve the city for bands and the public

This was a solid Hot 8 lineup and set (with great sound, as far as filmed brass band sets go)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QlpjRV4cwBk

Really vibing on this Rebirth show from 2013 too, when Kabuki and Derrick Tabb were still in the lineup

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZKx54uxFX-o

I'll be playing a brass band festival in Asheville NC next weekend, looking forward hearing sets from Da Truth BB and Big Sam.

Cool.

September 24 in New Orleans Red Bull Brass band competition w/

The four competing brass bands are Kings of Brass, Big 6 Brass Band, Sporty’s, and Young Pinstripe Brass Band.
Southern hip hop artists Treety, Alfred Banks, Stone Cold Jzzle, and $leazyEZ will also perform with the brass bands.

here are a few highlights from Feed The Second Line. This year we were able to cover over $65,000 worth of groceries for elder culture bearers - ensuring food security amidst rising prices . . . This has been part of the safety-net since COVID began…. We also helped with a few situations: such as funerals, medical costs, and even a lighting-strike on Charmaine’s house…. The value of a safety-net in action!

Wolfman' Washington's funeral was a celebration: 'You’ve got to do it up for Walter'
Irma Thomas, Deacon John sang; second-line briefly closed blocks of Canal and N. Carrollton

the celebrations here used to happen organically: the trombone player trotting out of his house to join a second-line brass; the masking Mardi Gras Indians readying their feathers in back rooms and backyards; the ladies pulling out their parasols to join in the processions.

As a kid, Amy Stelly would watch revelers zigzag from one Black-owned bar to the next, up and down the streets of Tremé. It was the unofficial, year-round parade route. A community’s well-worn path for celebrating all types of joys and losses.

“Now there aren’t enough left to do that,” Stelly, 65, said as she surveyed the remains of a once-bustling commercial corridor.

The bars have nearly all vanished. Families who for generations could trace their lineage to the same streets have sold their homes. Others were evicted.

“Once upon a time, that was Tremé Market,” Stelly said, pointing. She turned, squinted, then pointed up again. “That used to be a lounge. Black-owned, of course. Now ….” She paused, her voice trailing off.

Today when a second line gathers to mourn the loss of a community member, it takes effort and planning for the musicians and artists, families and friends to make their way back to the old neighborhood. Parked cars crowd under the interstate overpass as people pour out of their vehicles instead of their homes. Many of the families Stelly used to know, she said, have left New Orleans for the suburbs, exurbs or another state altogether.

Spurred on by climate catastrophes, new development and a booming short-term rental industry, gentrification has remade the Big Easy and displaced thousands of Black families, a population that has been shrinking for more than 20 years.

In a city where the very culture is bound to African American tradition, the threat of erasure extends beyond the physical.

“Cultural annihilation is very real here,” said Cheryl Robichaux Austin, 68, executive director of the Greater Tremé Consortium, a neighborhood-based advocacy and community equity nonprofit. “It’s slowly decaying, and we see it … every day in the neighborhood. We see it when the city has special events and we don’t see Black bands, how there are all these White folks playing in the second line now. Things you never used to see before.”

https://www.washingtonpost.com/dc-md-va/interactive/2023/us-city-white-population-increase/?utm_campaign=wp_post_most&utm_medium=email&utm_source=newsletter&wpisrc=nl_most&carta-url=https%3A%2F%2Fs2.washingtonpost.com%2Fcar-ln-tr%2F390d53e%2F63e135bb1b79c61f877e7a15%2F5977ec549bbc0f6826c7a143%2F25%2F74%2F63e135bb1b79c61f877e7a15&wp_cu=d9f43e4379b7ee197738c3d4698832e7%7C9575ce4e-105e-11e0-a478-1231380f446b

Any good recent brass band footage for Mardi Gras that’s not in an IG story or Tik Tok?

A history of second lines at Jazz Fest article

https://www.hnoc.org/publications/first-draft/streets-fairgrounds-social-aid-and-pleasure-clubs-carry-second-line

The state of schools and marching bands and changes since New Orleans got so many charter schools rather than going to neighborhood ones

https://www.hnoc.org/publications/first-draft/keeping-beat-past-glories-and-present-challenges-new-orleans-marching-bands

Sporty's Brass Band IG live clips continue to wow me

I was at one of those nights at Bullet's bar and the energy was insane.

Hearing that Jeffrey Hills (tuba player on Lil Rascals 'Buck It Like a Horse', frequent sub for Rebirth and everyone else) passed away???

Yeah just saw that on Facebook. So sad

They rolled today for Mr. Jeffery Hills pic.twitter.com/DhVjmBpgZv

— Shawniece👑🐝 (@ShawnieceQB) April 11, 2023

Come out tomorrow y’all pic.twitter.com/DLP5oVOsK6

— Shawniece👑🐝 (@ShawnieceQB) April 13, 2023

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aLx4dxurbdQ

Truly some all-stars out there - Derrick Tabb, Corey Henry, Eric Gordon, Chad Honore, Terrence Andrews, Stafford Agee, etc

Great to hear all those Lil' Rascals tunes done with the original drummers & Corey Henry in the lineup. Damn.

Did I spot Donna Poniatowski, or just someone who looks like her?

Yep, that was her! Got some pics of the second line from her too.

Cool! Good to see her.

Seeing on Facebook that 97 year old Peter Chuck Badie who played bass with a who's who of r'n'b greats has passed away.

Here's a 2017 article that touches on some of his accomplishments

https://louisarmstrongjazzcamp.com/news-events/events/scholarship-fundraiser/peter-chuck-badie-receives-the-jazz-pioneer-award-at-the-noachc-2017-scholarship-fundraiser/

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ugOhN0YObr4

https://www.offbeat.com/music/new-breed-brass-band-made-in-new-orleans-525-worldwide/

A review of album by New Breed Brass Band

Old-school me was hoping to see website news obits for New Orleans music greats Jeffrey Hills , Sr and for Peter Chuck Badie. But I never did.

https://www.nola.com/entertainment_life/music/drumming-for-treme-brass-band-or-driving-his-famous-orange-truck-benny-jones-sr-is/article_cec1bfe2-e9da-11ed-ac1c-db40cc19cc0e.html

Long profile of percussionist Benny Jones Sr

So Nola.com gave New Orleans bass player legend Peter Chuck Badie this standard obit. He played with Dave Bartholomew r’n’b sessions in the 50s and on Sam Cooke “A Change is Gonna Come” plus with Lionel Hampton, and more.

https://obits.nola.com/us/obituaries/nola/name/peter-badie-obituary?id=51734149

Heard some Alabama brass band on that American Routes show that sounded good

Melissa A. Weber (a.k.a. Soul Sister), D.J. and scholar
“Right Foot” by Rebirth Brass Band

A special characteristic of New Orleans jazz is its function as dance music. It invites audience members to not spectate, but participate. In the New Orleans brass band jazz tradition, the pioneering Rebirth Brass Band has specialized in making people dance since the group formed 40 years ago, while its founding members were teenagers. In 2008, they rerecorded their original song “Put Your Right Foot Forward,” first released in the mid-1980s as a 45 on the local SYLA label. It’s a classic that other brass bands have added to their repertoires, whether on the stage or in the second-line streets. (Listen on YouTube)

From https://www.nytimes.com/2023/06/07/arts/music/new-orleans-jazz-music.html

YIL that "Didn't He Ramble" was written about a goat.

https://syncopatedtimes.com/the-curious-history-of-oh-didnt-he-ramble/

https://www.nola.com/entertainment_life/keith_spera/new-orleans-drummer-russell-batiste-jrs-st-aug-funeral/article_8655a294-67b3-11ee-a45b-c34a8115590e.html

Russell Batiste jr , New Orleans drummer Dead at 57 from a heart attack.

For four decades, he was a stalwart of the New Orleans music community. In the late 1980s he applied his powerhouse style to a latter incarnation of the Meters, then spent years with that band’s successor, the Funky Meters.

Batiste also powered George Porter Jr. & Runnin’ Pardners, Dumpstaphunk, Bonerama, Papa Grows Funk, the Wild Magnolias, the Joe Krown Trio and his own Orkestra from da Hood and Russell Batiste & Friends.

Yeah, I saw that the other day, sad. Younger than I am.

RIP.

I thought he played on a couple tracks on Maceo Parker's Southern Exposure record, then realized that was Herman Ernest III, who died in 2011 at age 59. :(

Every Grammy Awards nominee for best Regional Roots music Album for the February 2024 Grammys is from Louisiana:

New Beginnings
Buckwheat Zydeco Jr. & The Legendary Ils Sont Partis Band

Live At The 2023 New Orleans Jazz & Heritage Festival
Dwayne Dopsie & The Zydeco Hellraisers

Live: Orpheum Theater Nola
Lost Bayou Ramblers & Louisiana Philharmonic Orchestra

Made In New Orleans
New Breed Brass Band

Too Much To Hold
New Orleans Nightcrawlers

Live At The Maple Leaf
The Rumble Featuring Chief Joseph Boudreaux Jr

I should listen to these Grammys nominees but will any of them wow me the way Sporty’s Brass Band Instagram Live’s do ?

Probably not, but I do like that Buckwheat's, Rockin' Dopsie's and Monk's offspring are all carrying on the tradition.

Yes , and the Lost Bayou Ramblers are a very creative Cajun band . Louis Michot from that group has done some cool solo stuff and the group was did nice music on the Beasts of the Southern Wild soundtrack

https://www.offbeat.com/news/frenchmen-street-club-d-b-a-new-orleans-is-sold/

D.b.a. Club owner retiring and selling club to locals who already own other clubs

Thank god for this woman and anyone else who's uploading full second line footage, rather than IG clips:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=paLacuoI5Iw

Yes, thanks !

St. Mary’s Academy’s skirt-wearing band first formed in 1937, making it the oldest Black girls band marching in the city. Today, it is one of just a handful of all-girl bands to regularly appear in Mardi Gras parades...This Mardi Gras season also marks the first time Raynice Crayton, 27, will be at the band’s helm. A St. Mary’s alumna who joined the band as a seventh-grader, Crayton has already more than doubled band membership during her short tenure as director..The group’s 52 players have varying levels of experience, from novices to passionate musicians, and they range in grades from fourth to 12th. In New Orleans East, where the school’s campus has been located since the 1960s, Crayton spends hours teaching girls the 10 tunes they will perform this Carnival, ranging from traditional music to a Janet Jackson song to the group’s favorite this year: “Talking in Your Sleep” by the Romantics..

https://www.washingtonpost.com/style/of-interest/2024/02/12/mardi-gras-girls-marching-band/?pwapi_token=eyJ0eXAiOiJKV1QiLCJhbGciOiJIUzI1NiJ9.eyJyZWFzb24iOiJnaWZ0IiwibmJmIjoxNzA3NzE0MDAwLCJpc3MiOiJzdWJzY3JpcHRpb25zIiwiZXhwIjoxNzA5MDk2Mzk5LCJpYXQiOjE3MDc3MTQwMDAsImp0aSI6Ijk5OGU2NGM1LTg2NDktNDUyYS1hNTE4LWZlZTI3ZWNjOGJlZiIsInVybCI6Imh0dHBzOi8vd3d3Lndhc2hpbmd0b25wb3N0LmNvbS9zdHlsZS9vZi1pbnRlcmVzdC8yMDI0LzAyLzEyL21hcmRpLWdyYXMtZ2lybHMtbWFyY2hpbmctYmFuZC8ifQ.v-dFiptu0EAVbzwspUbkiE3UJD4SNps-CIPtXTNLnZs

Happy Mardi Gras!

Seeing sad news on Instagram that snare drummer Kerry “Fatman” Hunter was killed by a car ( reportedly a drunk driver) on North Claiborne at Pauger Monday night

https://www.nytimes.com/2024/02/13/arts/music/new-orleans-rapper-flagboy-giz.html

37 years old rapper & Black masking Indian merges the 2 cultures on “We Outside “ 2022 song and newer album, and a remix project

I heard that, so sad. He was never the flashiest player but had a huge and unmistakable sound, deeply rooted in the tradition. The groove on 'D-Boy' is fathoms deep. Unfortunately a lot of the best parts of New Birth Brass Band's (his main band) discography are not streaming or even on youtube, but here are some of my favorite Kerry Hunter recordings.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GQELLw2A_nw
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=verTSC200Ls
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LDuwGU_cB5g
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vUtJAsp28WQ

I am not going to be there and so hope the Friday 1 pm pacific time Pop Con presentation by USC professor Josh D Kun on the Mexican musical legacies of New Orleans will be streamed or recorded

WWOZ is streaming some of French Quarter Fest