New Orleans Brass Bands

[papsrus]

Eureka Brass Band – Jazz at Preservation Hall 1 (Atlantic) A joyful noise. More abandonded than either of the Eureka’s earlier albums. Reissued on the Mosaic New Orleans set and on Collectables from Oldies.com.

Young Tuxedo Brass Band – Jazz Begins (Atlantic) Also reissued on Collectables. Even wilder than the Eureka album above. The last few choruses of “Lord, Lord, Lord” or “Bourbon Street Parade” will take the top of your head off.

Oldies just happens to have these two on sale, the first as a two-fer, Vols, 1 & 2, and the second here.

Thanks Jeff for your insights and recs.

[mgoodwin]

Good stuff, Jeff! I heard a "version" of the Hurricane Brass Band at the 2010 French Quarter Fest. Leroy was there, and remembered that Danny explained the name as follows: "When you come down the street you better be blowing like hell!" Anyone wanting more information about current and traditional New Orleans brass bands will find it in my new book, "Heaven Before I Die -- A Journey to the Heart of New Orleans," available on Lulu and (in ebook format) on Amazon. Best, Mike

[jeffcrom]

I meant to add for anyone who just wants a taste of this music - the N.O. brass band album I would take to a desert island is Jazz at Preservation Hall 1 by the Eureka Brass Band. As papsrus pointed out, it's on sale at Oldies.com.

[jeffcrom]

Just listened to a 10" LP that I bring out a couple of times a year - Marching to New Orleans by Ken Colyer's Omega Brass Band on British Decca. It amuses me that the fourth New Orleans-style brass band to record was a bunch of Brits - they beat everybody except Bunk's Brass Band, the Original Zenith, and the Eureka Brass Band to records. Of course, Colyer spent time in New Orleans, and probably played plenty of funerals and parades while he was there. He learned his lessons well - the music is good, but somewhat more staid and predictable than that of the New Orleans bands. Still, a pretty cool album.

[kenny weir]

Inspired by this thread, this is what I've been digging over the past coupla days:

Bunks' Brass Band (American Music). As already assessed here, just fantastic! The band tracks are great, too, with better sound than some of the other Bunk/Lewis outings.

The Dirty Dozen Brass Band Plays Jelly Roll Morton (Columbia). They've never really done it for me, but I automatically picked this up on release because of the Jelly theme. This was at the time they were moving away from a purer BB sound, using a drum kit and so on. I don't have a problem with that, but this still sounds wooden to me. Although I do like George French's vocal on Milenberg (sic) Joys. Narration by Danny Barker.

Maceo Parker - Southern Exposure (Novus). On two cuts - Mercy, Mercy, Mercy and Walking Home Together - Maceo is backed by a sizzling ReBirth. On the rest he's good, too, with his regular team of the time (Larry Goldings, Rodney Jones, Bill Stewart, Pee Wee Ellis, Fred Wesley) on board.

ReBirth Brass Band - Rollin', Kickin' It Live, Take It To The Street (all Rounder). Given that almost all my jazz/blues/country listening in recent years has been of the vintage variety, with po/rock from the '60s/'70s, it's no surprise that with BBs I prefer the older stuff! They'll keep 'til the time is right.

Danny Barker - Save The Bones (Orleans). Not brass band but notable anyway. The guru/mentor/inspiration for the BB revival plays standards - just vocal and guitar. Sweet!

Baby Dodds - Talking And Drum Solos (Atavistic Unheard Music Series). The Dodds component is of minimal interest to me. But the second half of the disc - 20 tracks - features 1954 recordings of what are referred to as "country brass bands". Some cursory Googling didn't turn up the location of the Laneville-Johnson Union Brass Band or the Lapsey Band. Maybe Mississippi or Alabama? In any case, this is some wild stuff. And for all the shared repertoire with New Orleans bands (Precious Lord, Sing On, Gloryland and so on), the difference is stark. You know that sound of buzzing mozzies that is driving everyone watching the World Cup mad? That's what these dudes sound like - except maybe they're a little more tuneful. But only a little! But taken in small doses, and amazing insight into a non-NO aspect of the BB tradition. I suspect an anorak like Jeff has this tucked away somewhere!

And in my shopping basket at cdconnection are:

Eureka Brass Band - New Orleans Funeral And Parade

Olympia Brass Band Of New Orleans - Olympia Brass Band Of New Orleans

Young Tuxedo Brass Band - Jazz Begins-Sounds Of New Orleans Streets: Funeral

I'm also thinking about ordering this on Rounder:

I had this on vinyl back in the day when I was hot for this stuff. I recall it as being a beaut compilation featuring the ReBirth, DDBB, the Chosen Few Brass Band and Dejan's Olympia Brass Band

Edited June 14, 2010 by kenny weir

[Neal Pomea]

Thanks for this thread and its wonderful reviews and suggestions! It helps to get an orientation since I don't know hardly anything about this musical style.

Does anybody remember the episode of the TV show Frank's Place that prominently featured a brass band funeral? If I remember right, through a series of misadventures they had the corpse sitting up at his own wake! That was a short-lived but funny series!

[jeffcrom]

Danny Barker - Save The Bones (Orleans). Not brass band but notable anyway. The guru/mentor/inspiration for the BB revival plays standards - just vocal and guitar. Sweet!

Fantastic album! It shows, among other things, what a great rhythm guitarist Danny was. A little while after this came out, I spent the morning in the Barkers' living room - Danny and Blue Lu played and sang many of these songs for my first wife and me.

Baby Dodds - Talking And Drum Solos (Atavistic Unheard Music Series). The Dodds component is of minimal interest to me. But the second half of the disc - 20 tracks - features 1954 recordings of what are referred to as "country brass bands". Some cursory Googling didn't turn up the location of the Laneville-Johnson Union Brass Band or the Lapsey Band. Maybe Mississippi or Alabama? In any case, this is some wild stuff. And for all the shared repertoire with New Orleans bands (Precious Lord, Sing On, Gloryland and so on), the difference is stark. You know that sound of buzzing mozzies that is driving everyone watching the World Cup mad? That's what these dudes sound like - except maybe they're a little more tuneful. But only a little! But taken in small doses, and amazing insight into a non-NO aspect of the BB tradition. I suspect an anorak like Jeff has this tucked away somewhere!

Yes, I've got it. Like you, I can only take it in small doses, but it's fascinating. The bands were from Alabama and were recorded by Frederic Ramsey, but beyond that, I don't know much about them.

I had this on vinyl back in the day when I was hot for this stuff. I recall it as being a beaut compilation featuring the ReBirth, DDBB, the Chosen Few Brass Band and Dejan's Olympia Brass Band

This was one of the first N.O. brass band albums I had, too. It's got some great stuff on it - a good sampling of four bands. The personnel listing for the Chosen Few tracks is not accurate, for what that's worth. I bet that when Tuba Fats gave the producer the tape, he gave him a personnel list from memory.

Thanks for this thread and its wonderful reviews and suggestions! It helps to get an orientation since I don't know hardly anything about this musical style.

Does anybody remember the episode of the TV show Frank's Place that prominently featured a brass band funeral? If I remember right, through a series of misadventures they had the corpse sitting up at his own wake! That was a short-lived but funny series!

I'm slowly burning my homemade Frank's Place VHS tapes to DVD, but haven't gotten to that episode yet. Like at least one other person on this board, that's my all-time favorite TV show.

Edited June 14, 2010 by jeffcrom

[papsrus]

Interesting article on Bunk Johnson.

When writers Bill Russell and Fredric Ramsey tracked Bunk Johnson down in New Iberia, Louisiana in 1938, they found him toothless and out of music. ... Johnson offered them a drink, had one himself, and proceeded to gallop through the story of jazz as likely no one ever heard before. ... And, he told them all about the beginning of jazz. He knew the story so well, he told them, because he had been there from the start.

What Johnson didn’t exactly tell them was the truth.

[Christiern]

Since Bill Russell's name keeps popping up in this thread, I thought a brief post on my blog might be mildly interesting to some of you.

Here is a direct link.

[papsrus]

Since Bill Russell's name keeps popping up in this thread, I thought a brief post on my blog might be mildly interesting to some of you.

Here is a direct link.

Thanks for that. Sweet story. It ends rather abruptly though, which can only mean you're about to post another?

[Christiern]

Indeed.

[Guest Bill Barton]

Very cool thread, jeffcrom!

It's also very interesting how many "beyond category" marching-type bands have sprung up over the past years, many of them strongly influenced by NOLA. Last year at HonkFest West I got a heaping helping of that stuff (missed it this year, darn it.)

One that springs immediately to mind is Ken Field's Revolutionary Snake Ensemble.

[papsrus]

Now this is some seriously outrageous music.

(Young Tuxedo Brass Band)

Gave it a first listen tonight. Absolutely wailin' stuff.

Edited June 21, 2010 by papsrus

[brownie]

Absolutely wailin' stuff

Yeeeeeeeeeeeeeeessssssssss!

Kickass music!

A larger scan of the front cover (illustration by Morton Roberts):

The foldout cover

Edited June 21, 2010 by brownie

[papsrus]

Can I get an AMEN from the congregation?!

That foldout, enlarged a little, looks kind of nice for framing.

[jeffcrom]

The new Offbeat magazine (the premiere monthly guide to New Orleans music), has several brass band articles this month.

First up is an oral history of the early days of the Dirty Dozen Brass Band.

Next is an article about about three of the newest NOLA brass bands: the TCB, the Baby Boyz, and the Young Fellas Brass Bands. I don't know any of these, but I'm going to make it my business to hear them.

And this last one - I'll just say that I absolutely hate that I can't be there.

[papsrus]

Thanks Jeff.

Love the last line in the first linked article, re all the touring: "My daughter told her teacher that I worked at the airport."

[jeffcrom]

I have ordered Modern Times by the TBC BB and The Assassination of American Pop by the Young Fellaz from the Louisiana Music Factory. I'll report back when they arrive. I already love the title of the the Young Fellaz album.

[jeffcrom]

Just wanted to reiterate my opinion that this CD,

A New Orleans Visit Before Katrina (Arhoolie), contains 20 minutes of the best New Orleans brass band music recorded in recent years - three tunes by the mighty Treme Brass Band. The Treme consists of Benny Jones on snare drum, Uncle Lionel Batiste on bass drum, and whoever they could get for the gig. On this occasion, they put together a great group, including Kermit Ruffins on trumpet, Corey Henry on trombone, Stack Callier on tenor, and British clarinetist Sammy Rimmington. The music was recorded in 2005 on parade, and is much more exciting than anything from the Treme's three studio albums. This is what a New Orleans brass band really sounds like on the street, down to the the grand marshall's whistle trying to clear the dancers out of the street ahead of the band.

The rest of the album is pretty good Louisiana music, too.

Edited October 20, 2010 by jeffcrom

[jeffcrom]

As promised, I've acquired these two albums by young New Orleans brass bands - Modern Times by the To Be Continued Brass Band and The Assassination of American Pop by The Young Fellaz. Both are on producer Ben Coltrane's Blue Train label. After a couple of listens to each, I'm pretty impressed with the TBC Brass Band. They're good young musicians, and the band is very tight. The trumpet section is particularly impressive. There are a few old-school R & B tunes on the album, and they're okay, but the originals are really fierce. The closest thing to a brass-band standard is the Meters' "Hey Pocky Way," which a lot of bands play. The only vocals are group vocals; the vocal on "Ray Nagin" is worth mentioning: "Wanna talk to Nagin and give him a piece of my mind." Of course, I'm an old guy, and I would have loved to hear "Over in the Gloryland" or "Whoopin' Blues" thrown in among the funk. But this is really good band.

The Young Fellaz seem kind of unfinished by contrast. They're just not as good a group of musicians - their sound and intonation are immature, and they don't play with the assurance and intensity of the TCB guys. They also play a lot of current R & B and pop tunes - by John Legend, B.O.B., Lady GaGa - which might mean this album will sound much more dated in five years. And there's a pretty forgettable female singer on several of the tracks.

The Young Fellaz might get better with experience, but To Be Continued is already very good. Recommended for folks who want to want to know what's going on right now in New Orleans brass band music. You'll probably only find it at the Louisiana Music Factory, though.

[jeffcrom]

Right now I'm listening to my LP, on Ewing Nunn's Audiophile label, of The Olympia Brass Band of New Orleans. This has got to be one of the best recorded performances by the sometimes maddening Olympia - they could be really trite and "touristy" at times, but this is one of the best New Orleans brass band sets I've ever heard. And it's one of the best-sounding records in my collection. It's been reissued on CD, paired with another session. It probably sounds good on CD, but it couldn't possibly sound better than this LP, which makes my hair stand up.

Edited to say that when it's been awhile since I've spun this record, I wonder if it's really as amazing, musically and sonically, as I remembered. It always is.

Edited January 6, 2011 by jeffcrom

[jeffcrom]

There's a brand-new New Orleans brass band album that I'm really excited about: 17 Days by the Panorama Brass Band (PR). The PBB is the street version of Ben Schenck's Panorama Jazz Band, one of my favorite New Orleans bands. The Panorama BB plays New Orleans brass band standards like "Lily of the Valley" and "Grazin' in the Grass" (yes, all the brass bands in NOLA play that), but also klezmer, Balkan brass band music, and Caribbean tunes. And Ornette's "Lonely Woman!"

This is a really good album, recorded during last Mardi Gras season. I might have a new favorite brass band version of "Nearer My God to Thee"; this one rivals the Olympia BB's version from their first recording session. The twelve well-recorded tracks are followed by a "Lagniappe Track": a lo-fi version of "Grazin'" recorded on the street. It captures the atmosphere of a brass band parade really well - down to the passing of a police car. The title refers to the fact that the Panorama Brass Band only exists during Carnival season each year.

Beyond being slightly acquainted with Ben, I have no connection with the Panorama or this CD. I just like this band and the Panorama Jazz Band a lot. The CD is available at CDBaby and the Louisiana Music Factory.

[papsrus]

That looks good Jeff. Nice heads-up. Listening to samples now at CD Baby.

[papsrus]

Have had the Young Tuxedo BB on pretty steady rotation in the car lately and it has kind of got me back in the mood. Very nearly picked up the Baby Dodds disc Kenny described above as sounding a bit like those horns at the World Cup. He's right. Maybe another time.

Just snagged this one over at amazon.

[Neal Pomea]

Hearing the Eureka Brass Band NO Funeral and Parade cd right now! Powerful stuff. I am thankful this music was recorded.