New Orleans Brass Bands S/D

Thanks. I'm gonna have to look back through this thread, the New Orleans on ILE one and elsewhere to plan for the trip--music, food, etc.

When I saw Poncho Sanchez at JF he was at big stage #2, not in the jazz tent. I went expecting pretty standard "latin jazz," but they leaned heavy on boogaloo, James Brown and New Orleans R&B covers and it was one of the best dance parties ever. I wish I could find an album by him I love that much.

I have not heard his recent one with Terrence Blanchard (my Dad has the cd and I keep forgetting to borrow it)

Haven't heard that one either. Youtube doesn't have his cover of "Goin' Back Home To New Orleans" but here's a Louis Jordan tune I remember him doing.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aMaTHr4CJSM

For those there this weekend (from Offbeat):

Sunday is one of the biggest days on the Mardi Gras Indians' calendar, when the Uptown-based Indians meet for the Super Sunday Parade. The day starts at A.L. Davis Park (Washington & LaSalle) at 11:30 a.m., and the parade starts at 1 p.m. It heads down LaSalle to Simon Bolivar, turns left on Martin Luther King Boulevard to S. Claiborne Avenue, turns left on Claiborne Avenue to Washington Avenue, turns left on Washington Avenue, and ends back at the park. The Hot 8 Brass Band and the Soul Rebels will be a part of the parade, as will the Lady Buckjumpers and the Young Men Olympian Benevolent Association. BRW, Jo "Cool" Davis, DJ Captain Charles, DJ Jubilee and more will provide entertainment at the park.

interesting that the rebels are starting to do more parades

http://d.yimg.com/ec/image/v1/release/45273183%3Bencoding%3Djpg%3Bsize%3D300%3Bfallback%3DdefaultImage

http://image.allmusic.com/00/amg/cov200/drg700/g751/g75182t7dwi.jpg

Just read in the NY Times about this movie doc at SxSw:

The brothers Bill Ross and Turner Ross brought their first feature, “45365,” to SXSW in 2009 where it won the grand jury award for best documentary feature. They returned this year with “Tchoupitoulas,” a whimsical ride through the city of New Orleans with three young boys acting as a guide. It’s a look at the the lives and places that keep the city vibrant.

“These aren’t issue based films or narratively structured films,” said Turner Ross. “We’re trying to allow people to experience something we are also experiencing. Pieces of the truth to tell a greater truth.”

The filmmakers consider New Orleans like a second home and have spent time there since they were children. They aimed to capture the childlike wonder of the city they had when they were young. “To be a kid and see New Orleans with child’s eyes, to have that kind of wonderment and illusion was like a dream. So basically, we tried to make a dream.”

The Ross brothers shot for several months before they began to see their film taking shape, namely by meeting the boys who they ended up using as their guide to the city. “We went in with a broad idea of what we hoped it would be, but we always allowed ourselves to be open to new possibilities,” said Bill Ross.

http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/378525271/the-whole-gritty-city-new-orleans-marching-band-fi?ref=city

Here's another movie doc

The Ross Bros. one is in the French Quarter but that's all I know. The Gritty City one has Rebirth and high schoolers and there's another one

http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/1139507346/tradition-is-a-temple-a-film-of-new-orleans-music?ref=city

about New Orleans jazz musicians like “The King of Tremé” - Shannon Powell, Jason Marsalis, Topsy Chapman, Lucien Barbarin, and the Tremé Brass Band. Many of these musicians learned to play music while growing up in the 1950s, ‘60s and ‘70s. Now they’re working to ensure that their tradition survives. They’re passing their music to the next generation - just like the Masters before them.

In addition to being paid a fee for their time, all of the featured musicians own a percentage of the film.

so many movie stars and rich ppl all "oh yes new orleans is my second home" why don't yall make if your first home and pay some taxes you fucks?

the whole gritty city one looks cool tho, high school marching bands are where it's at

Yup, definitely going to check that one out.

all 3 of these documentaries (and I think all the filmmakers are begging via kickstarter and elsewhere for funding)

Both Kickstarter sites mentioned above said they had already reached their fund-raising goal.
Here's another NOLA music film project, although not brass band-related:
http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/jessycale/a-warehouse-on-tchoupitoulas

Seems to be a ton of recent indie films about NOLA out there right now. Saw some filmmakers working in the business district during our visit in late September, early October. I think we walked through one of their shots, in fact. Would love to know what that was about.

Sunday March 25 (2nd day of fest at Congo Square in Louis Armstrong park) bands start earlier than those listed below, but this looks most relevant to this thread:

4:15 pm to 4:45 pm The Stooges Brass Band
4:45 pm to 6:00 pm Radio 504: A Message In the Music Hip Hop Summit featuring:
Dee-1
Truth Universal
Nesby Phips
6:00 pm to 7:15 pm The Rebirth Brass Band with Partners-In-Crime and the Big Easy Bounce Band
Plus special guests:
DJ Jubilee
The 8-9 Boys
Ricky B.

As a special feature, we'll host the finals of our Class Got Brass?, a high school brass band competition with a second-line parade/contest. The winning three bands will take home gift certificates worth $20,000 in instruments for their school music programs. For details, see www.ClassGotBrass.com.

http://www.nytimes.com/2012/03/25/magazine/the-lower-ninth-ward-new-orleans.html?pagewanted=1&ref=magazine

long New York Times magazine cover story by a New Orleans based writer on how some of the 9th ward has gotten covered in vines and overgrowth over the last 6 years

This was a Sunday March 25 panel at the EMP Pop Conference

New Orleans
Venue: KC 804/5
Moderated by: Blake Leyh(music supervisor for Treme tv show)
Featuring:
Ben Sandmel, "Ernie K-Doe: The R&B Emperor of New Orleans ('Mother-In-Law,' 'Ma-Naughahyde,' and Grassroots Surrealism)"
Larry Blumenfeld, ""Treme" and the Abstract Truth: Fact and Fiction in New Orleans"
Zarah Ersoff, "Treme's Aural Verisimilitude"
Shawn Macomber, "We Hated God BEFORE the Storm: New Orleans Sludge Metal in the Post-Katrina Years"

saw a few tweets raving about Ben Sandmel's presentation. He is apparently working on a book about Ernie K-Doe

yeah that nytimes mag piece is some mike daisey-level truth-stretching as far as the lower 9 goes

i mean hooray for continued media coverage but ppl across the canal aren't living in some asshole's magical realism mfa thesis

http://6thfloor.blogs.nytimes.com/2012/03/26/behind-the-cover-story-nathaniel-rich-on-new-orleanss-changing-landscape/

The NY Times blog interivew with the author of the article

But I might not be the right person to ask this question because my general view is that in 50 years most coastal American cities will be minimally inhabited and completely overgrown.

There was an item in the local paper about how residents of the Lower Ninth were afraid of leaving their homes for fear of being attacked by armadillos

omfg

i mean i know this girl who lives in holy cross, she was leaving for work early one morning and this armadillo ran up on her with a gun and took her keys, shit is fucked up down there. also the armadillo was a metaphor for america's changing relationship with its own urbanization.

new tbc mixtape is the best brass band record in years. apparently they're dropping the real record during jazzfest.

ysi?

link? name of latest mixtape?

'sorry 4 the weight'

no link, i just got it in a bunch of emails. can forward later.

is awesome

Not brass band news but re the shooting on the bridge and coverup after Katrina:

http://www.nytimes.com/2012/04/05/us/5-ex-officers-sentenced-in-post-katrina-shootings.html?_r=1&nl=todaysheadlines&emc=edit_th_20120405

The former New Orleans police officers were sentenced to prison terms ranging from 38 to 65 years for their roles in the deadly shootings of unarmed residents and for a cover-up afterward.
...
But while the sentences were long, they were not nearly as long as prosecutors were seeking — in one case less than a third of the sentence the government recommended — and for the most part were either the mandatory minimum or a few years more than the minimum.

21st Annual Jazz Fest Shabbat, Touro Synagogue, April 27, St. Charles Ave. 7:30pm to 9:30pm. Get there early. Starring John Boutte’ (Jazz and blues vocalist from HBO’s “Treme”) along with Panorama Jazz Band, Sophie B Wright Charter School, Touro Synagogue Choir, Director Terry D. Maddox and Cantor Jamie Marx.

free, but patron priced dinner beforehand

http://www.tourosynagogue.com/events/jazz-fest-shabbat/

Publicist email for a new book:

The Threadhead Cultural Foundation announced today the release of Up Front and Center: New Orleans Music at the End of the 20th Century on Threadhead Press. The book is the first in-depth account of this very important era in the history of New Orleans music. It is filled with vivid descriptions of many of the most significant musical performances in the last two decades of the 20th century. Jay Mazza is an outstanding writer who was a constant presence in the clubs, concert halls, and festivals of the period.

The book begins with a foreword by iconic New Orleans trumpeter and personality, Kermit Ruffins. The first chapters set the stage for a thrilling ride through history by describing in rich detail the New Orleans milieu of the late 1970s and early 1980s. Musicians, bands, and clubs come to life as Mazza skillfully weaves the story. The New Orleans Jazz and Heritage Festival serves as the thread tying the tale together. Three chapters discussing the Jazz Fest’s adolescence, developing years, and emergence as the world’s premier music festival bookend the text.

Mazza also provides the reader with a thorough socio-economic and cultural analysis of the myriad changes in the music community and the city at large. The rise of Frenchmen Street, the revival of the brass band community, the expansion of the music educational system, the saga of the 1984 World’s Fair, and the development of the music media are among many of the topics considered in detail.

Fittingly, the book centers on the legendary and the under-acknowledged-until-now musicians who defined the era. The careers of such important artists as the Meters, Galactic, the subdudes, Kermit Ruffins, the Rebirth Brass Band, and Troy “Trombone Shorty” Andrews are discussed at length. Lesser-known musicians and bands that had a major impact on the music of New Orleans, including All That, Theryl DeClouet, Tribe Nunzio, the percussionist Michael Ward, Royal Fingerbowl, and Anthony “Tuba Fats” Lacen, are given their due.

Mazza’s scintillating stories put the reader “up front and center” grooving to the music at many of the clubs that defined the time period. Sorely missed hot spots that had a direct role in the development of New Orleans music at the end of the 20th century, such as Benny’s Bar, Dorothy’s Medallion, the Rose Tattoo, and the Glass House, are featured prominently.

hmmm.

i thought i wasn't going, but ended up finding an amazingly cheap plane ticket for the end of april. looking forward to seeing some brass bands.

also my brass band is releasing a free live EP this weekend, will post once it goes online.

(xpost) Benny's was the only one of those I ever made it to. That place was a trip! I've read and re-read the chapter on Dorothy's Medallion Lounge in I Hear You Knockin' though, and imagined myself in this photo:

http://spikep15.files.wordpress.com/2010/12/big-l-1-j.jpg?w=500

new + free live record: http://digdown.bandcamp.com/releases

Dr. John's 3 week stint in NYC involved a number of New Orleans musicians including Donald Harrison and brass band vets Dirty Dozen:

writer Larry Blumenfeld argued the following:

Might as well begin with the Dirty Dozen, who began and ended the show. Though the Rebirth and Hot 8 Brass Bands may own the streets of New Orleans for four-hour parades, though bands like the Soul Rebels may be stretching brass-band tradition anew, in a concert or recording studio setting, no one touches the Dirty Dozen, not least for the authoritative dance of Kirk Joseph's sousaphone. (Among its pleasures, this concert featured two great baritone saxophonists, the Dirty Dozen's Roger Lewis and Ronnie Cuber, a longtime Dr. John sideman.)

http://blogs.villagevoice.com/music/2012/04/dr_john_funky_but_its_nu_awlins_bam_april_12_review.php#more

There's more discussion of Dr. John's NYC stint on the Dr. John thread.

dirty dozen have been terrible for years imo, sorry

I just remember reading about them adding a guitarist and stuff (and wondering why) and listening to a song or 2 online and not being wowed, but since I haven't really checked them out thoroughly, I thought I would just throw that out there.

I guess the "need" for a guitarist, or CD guests like the Widespread Panic singer, are debatable (I find their guitarist less intrusive/more listenable than the guy from Big Sam's Funky Nation) but imo DDBB kicked all kinds of ass the last time I saw them. YMMV.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oXSf4GwNfhY&feature=related

eh, i just don't think their jam band thing has anything to do with second line music. the drummer is great though. ugh @ playing two trumpets at the same time.

to me what rebirth/hot 8/tbc/stooges/etc. do has sooo much more fire and musicianship and larry blumenfeld doesn't get it, but i have Opinions about brass band music, don't let me stop you from enjoying DD.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z1ujQvpZCcA

I'm guessing Dr. John won't have any guests with him at Jazzfest, but who knows.

I finally listened to the Pancho Sanchez and Terence Blanchard cd from last year. They cover Chano Pozo numbers. Not bad, but not amazing.

Looking forward to being there for Jazzfest. The evening brass band choices look tempting:

Wed - Free Agents Brass Band @ Vaso
Thurs - Stooges Brass Band @ Hi-Ho Lounge, Brass Band Blowout (Rebirth/Hot 8/TBC @ the Howlin' Wolf)
Fri - Stooges & some other bands (Slavic Soul Party etc) at the Blue Nile. TBC busk outside of the festival during the day/early evening.
Saturday - Shamarr Allen, Stooges Brass Band, Mannie Fresh DJ set @ Maison (!). Or Rebirth Brass Band @ Republic New Orleans.

As do some other choices--singer John Boutte, maybe hornman/vocalist Glenn David Andrews... Plus lots of food to eat!

And that's not even mentioning the acts and food at the Fest

that looks familiar. :)

thinking of going to see tbc tomorrow night at hot east daquiri shop, way out of town.

Sounds good. Hopefully, me, my gf and pals will run into you somewhere.

I saw pianist Davell Crawford with a drummer and bassist do a fun show in DC this past weekend. He's on the road and won't be back playing in New Orleans till May 1st. And I read that Big Chief Donald Harrison will be with his band in NYC this friday (27th) at Symphony Space, with guest appearance by Christian Scott.

The differing points of view on Dirty Dozen circa 2012 have been expressed upthread. I see NPR has a 30 minute live show

http://www.npr.org/2012/04/23/151212120/the-dirty-dozen-brass-band-on-mountain-stage

Jordan, was looking for you when I arrived during TBC's last song of the 3 band brass set at Howlin Wolf on Thursday. Oh well, another time. Then saw Hot 8 who started off slow but got tighter and better as their set went along. Sadly, was fighting a bad cold/flu and was tired from having flown into Louisiana earlier that day, so I missed headliner Rebirth. Kind of a small crowd for that gig. Saw various brass bands, mardi gras Indian troupes and traditional players at the Fest. Only disappointment was a late starting Pancho Sanchez set (billed as with Terrance Blanchard). After a few good but convention Afro-Latin jazz songs with no mention or sighting of Blanchard, we moved on to another stage. Really enjoyed Irvin Mayfield NO big band orchestra with guest Kermit Ruffins and with Shannon Powell and Evan Christopher and others.