Editor’s Note: The new series, “New Orleans: Soul of A City,” reveals that 20 years after Katrina, will reveal how New Orleans is even more resilient than ever before. The series premieres at 10pm ET/PT on Sunday, October 5th.
New Orleans
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The bowtie is adjusted. The trombone is wound up. Two motorcycle police officers block the intersection at the corner of Dauphine and Toulouse.
The trumpet brings up an opening note saying, “Along with a walk just close.” The melody is carried with the saxophone and Sousaphone participating. The band travels down the streets of New Orleans, with crowds just behind them. At first, the tempo rises and the hymns swell. Each block will be a respectful version. Ardent, and fun.
The second line parade at a funeral is an emotional experience. This is a shared, shared expression of sadness that evolves to celebrate life. It is a custom-made product that was born from West Africa and the Caribbean culture, and is now a completely new Orleans.
The term “second line” refers directly to the people behind a musician. So, in the second line, the merrymaker of dancers, crowds and generals. Overall, it is the name of a particular parade in the city, celebrating important opportunities. Some are some blocks, but for large events they may march the miles.
The Second Line Parade marks funerals here, but also weddings, social gatherings and important events. New Orleans is a town where trombones can cause traffic jams, and Sousaphone could seduce a thousand people into the streets.
In the center of the second line is a brass band in black pants, in which musicians in pitch-dark shirts carry heavier weight than instruments. They carry the community.
To lament in New Orleans, you need a brass band. To celebrate? That too.
“If you grow up here, African drumbeats, dances will go back to slavery and Congo Square. That kind of thing is in our DNA.”
He wears a crisp paisley shirt and speaks with his hands, as if he is looking for an instrument to latch.
Lewis, from New Orleans, is an original member of the Dirty Dorse Brass Band. He still plays baritone and soprano saxophone and provides vocals to groups formed in 1972 by the Church Marching Band. The Dirty Dorses are the most famous brass band in the world today.
They toured five continents from Amsterdam to Bangkok, Istanbul and London, performing a huge stadium and a small recording booth with the dizzy Gillespie, Elvis Costello and the Black Crows. The members won a Grammy Award in 2023 and appeared in several films. And I can’t spend my day here without hearing the hit “Foot can’t make me fail now.”
However, after the interview, Lewis will not fly due to the exotic locale. He plays in Bywater’s warehouse. A nonprofit organization seeking small donations at the door.
That’s how it is in New Orleans.
Jazz legend Ellis Marsalis once said, “In New Orleans, culture doesn’t come down from the highs, it’s bubbly from the streets.” The streets remain the most deeply rooted and emotional place to find brass music.
Brass bands first formed in the United States in the late 1800s and early 1900s. It is a musician whose marriage took place between soldiers with military equipment, currently played in social and civilian environments, and has knowledge of African and Indigenous tribal beats.
As Bebop declined and funk and rock music arrived, the 1970s and early ’80s saw a shift not only in sound, but in the way onlookers behaved. As music and dance styles across the United States changed, so did the second line attendance.
The social assistance and pleasure club organization was also formed at the turn of the century, initially providing insurance and financial support to freed slaves. By the 1920s they covered funeral costs, community events and parades. These clubs began hiring brass musicians, with top acts including the Olympia Brass Band, Eureka Brass and the young Tuxedo Brass.
The song was influenced not only by the gospel, but also by improvisation and bebop jazz.
“I think we’ve changed history,” Lewis says that Dirty Dorses will be on the scene in the 1970s.
“When I look at the 1950s, people were listening to the streets and sashaya politely. We played similar traditional songs, but we chose that beat hit. In other words, “I wear tennis shoes and jogging suits.”
The Rebirth Brass Band will perform at Rabbit Hole in New Orleans on September 30th.
The dance became wild, the parties expanded, and the eager young musicians noticed.
In the 80s, Kelmit Ruffins, Keith Frazier and his brother, Philip, known as the “Tuba Philharmonic,” were classmates of Joseph S. Clark Sr. High in New Orleans, and although now closed, they were previously located in the Trem district. Too young to play in the bar, they took the sound down the street. Some members were only 13.
The group settled on the name Rebirth Brass Band in 1984. Despite fame and its hard touring schedule that produced 17 albums and Grammy Awards, it can be watched play every Tuesday for $30.
“We performed a Tuesday show at Maple Leaf from 1992 until Covid Hit. The place fits in about 100 and stuffed at 300,” laughs Keith Frazier of Bass Drummer. “Now our Tuesday is in the Rabbit Hall in Central City. In terms of sound, we continued what a dirty dozen sets and added our own influences. Hip-hop and jazz and reggae… with these instruments, you can do anything.”
Of the dozens of established brass bands in New Orleans, some focus on second line parades, while others prefer bars and festivals.
It can be seen at bars such as Stooges, Hot 8, Soul Rebels, Treme, Kinfolk, The Young Fellaz, and spotted cats, Blue Nile, DBA, or all on French streets, or at both North Clayborn Avenue at Tremé Mother-in Launge in Kermit, and The Town at Maple Leaf and TiTitina’s.
“What’s cool is that the neighborhood influenced the sound,” Fraser continues. “The guys in Uptown play a little faster. Trem loves more traditional sets. On the other hand, New Orleans East has hip hop fans. I came from the Upper 9 Words, which is traditional mixed with modern. I think that’s the beauty of brass music.
One of the things that has historically defined brass? It is dominated by men. But even that has evolved over the years, but only a few.
Christie Jourdain is the bandleader and snare drummer of the original Pannett, the city’s first female brass band formed in 1991. “I came out of the 80s/MTV generation,” she laughs. “I was listening to Peter Gabriel and the Prince, not tradition or the gospel.”
She also listened to Jeffrey Herbert, high school band director at St. Mary’s Catholic School in Uptown. Herbert, a member of the original Pinstripe Band, used his connection to help the teenage woman find a foothold.
“He took us a chance,” Jorden says. “I remember those who call us ‘cute’. Then I kicked the door down as I played. ”
The original patent made the crowd wild at the 2013 Red Bull Street Kings competition, held under the Claiborne Bridge. They won and forced their sponsors to change their name to Red Bull Street Queens. They currently conduct the stage at almost every city festival, including Jazz Fest, Thatchmo Summer Fest, and French Quarter Festival.
“The original Panett paved the way,” agrees Maude Caillat, leader of the Brass Band, a women’s group formed in 2021.
This is a common occurrence in the brass music scene. There is a group of 20 members, and only six people play in certain shows and parades. For musicians in the current economy, one band or one residency is not enough for a full-time salary. In New Orleans, musicians have diversified, stepping into open slots when needed and signing up for countless parades and cruises. Cruise is a social organization that not only hosts the parades, parties and glass that make up Mardi Gras, but also builds members on holidays such as Christmas, Easter and Halloween.
From Dolly Parton’s crew at Easter Parade to Fleur Debra, you can see the bra band at events hosted by women. This is the October costume fashion show to support breast cancer research.
When asked why women aren’t playing brass in the same number, Jorden says that it’s not just plain, not only stealing the tuba while marching for miles under the sun, but also facing additional burdens, including the duties of mothers and wives. Health issues are a real concern.
“As you get older, the parade will hit your body,” she says.
Now, her group is playing more festivals.
“French Quarterfest is my favorite,” she says. “They recruit homemade talent and pay a lot. I want others to do the same. We all have a second job. So there may be 12 members in a seven-piece band, so people can schedule work. Pay is something that needs to be dealt with as a city.
It’s an unanswered question and hopefully it won’t.
In the words of Ron Lona, who served for 20 years as artistic director of the Preservation Hall, a music group and venue dedicated to protecting and promoting New Orleans music, the city’s musical culture is “really unique on the world stage.”
He explains how the woven brass bands are caught up in the structure of New Orleans’ life, ensuring they can withstand years to come.
“Many brass bands emerge from high school marching band relationships, and through a wider circle of local schools and communities, these musicians often get to know their bandmates for most of their lives,” says Rona. “Then, whether organic or formal, it serves as a musical leader for children who come, which many people come. It’s cyclical and familial, and that’s not something other cities can claim so much.”
That’s how it is in New Orleans.
It is likely that a new bride is currently peeking through the doorway somewhere in the French district.
A Kinfolk trumpet player may ask, “Are you ready?”
She nods, goes outside, the umbrellas are rolled up and her new husband is by her side. The band can win a celebratory take on the 1917 song “Li’l Liza Jane.” The wedding party takes off and the first century New Orleans tradition lies right behind.
