New Orleans Brass Bands S/D

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

https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/article/2024/may/04/african-caribbean-artists-new-orleans-music-jazz

African and Caribbean musicians moving to New Orleans