New Orleans ensembles head from the streets and stages to the studios

9th September 2019   ·   0 Comments

By Geraldine Wyckoff
Contributing Writer

Big 6 Brass Band
Big Six
(Independent)

The Big 6 Brass Band really rolls on its debut album, simply titled Big Six, and definitely lives up to the huge reputation it has gained on the streets. It accomplishes that goal by offering a diversity of rhythms, melodies and themes and tonally fine musicianship on “100 percent original” material. The Big 6 Brass Band, which remarkably played at all but about five of the approximately 40 social aid and pleasure clubs’ Sunday afternoon parades in the 2018-2019 season, is simply the sound of the New Orleans streets today.

The 11-piece ensemble, which was founded in 2017, kicks off the release with the celebratory number “After Party,” that importantly boasts a memorable melody. It has a Caribbean tinge that is always popular with the crowds at the second lines and is accented by a wild trumpet solo.

One of several highlights on disc, which really doesn’t have any weak moments, comes from the pen of Eric Gordon, one of the Big 6’s three fine trumpeters. It’s an anthem of sorts, a “message song” called “Haters” that offers some good advice about avoiding trouble and in that respect is reminiscent is of the Soul Rebel’s 1995 classic “Let Your Mind Be Free.” It opens with the tuba of Clifton Smith and then the wall of sound, provided by the Big 6 horns, dramatically enters. The lyrics are at the core of the tune as the vocalist explains how he gets by in this often dangerous world. “I walk past my haters, I don’t got no time…I’m trying to get ahead and not behind.” It’s great that the Big 6 reminds folks how those wise words work in so many situations.

Just as the band does on the street, the Big 6 knows how to mix things up to keep their followers engaged. There’s the straight-up drive of trombonist Lamar Heard’s instrumental “Lamar Song,” and lots of singing on “Legs & Thighs,” that earned an “Explicit” warning, though it’s difficult to determine why. (Trombonist Heard assures listeners there is “no cussing” on the album.) Hip hop and funk also get some solid “air time.”

“Peedy Home” is the type of gentler tune that is often employed on a line or in a club when a band intuits its time to chill – smooth out the crowd and also give the band members a little break. It’s a strong song melodically and also offers several soloists the opportunity to really strut their modern jazz licks.

The Big 6 Brass Band brings the same energy and spirit to its debut recording that has made it so popular, particularly, with the next generation of young buckjumpers eager to party down. Big Six is all the way hip.

New Orleans Jazz Orchestra
Songs – The Music of Allen Toussaint
(Storyville Records)

Expect the unexpected from Songs – The Music of Allen Toussaint as the New Orleans Jazz Orchestra, led by artistic director Adonis Rose, interprets the master New Orleans composer’s classic tunes in a new way. Of course, some adjustments were naturally required to make the music that was designed for combos to suit a big band. Yet NOJO often takes it one step further. For instance, the first cut is Toussaint’s dreamy “Southern Nights” yet it opens with a tuba getting down on a street beat. Michael Watson brings it home when he steps to the microphone to sing the familiar lyrics and the band starts swinging the rhythm. Watson also provides a trombone solo followed by the vibrant saxophone of Ricardo Pascal on the tune arranged by Mike Esnault.

“It’s Raining” stays closer to the original hit made famous by Irma Thomas, the Queen of New Orleans Soul. Here, nationally renowned jazz vocalist Dee Dee Bridgewater succeeds in the challenge of taking on the much-loved song. She makes it her own by giving it an edge and bringing it down a bluesy road.

Rose heads to the drums to set the jocular rhythm of Lee Dorsey’s smash hit, “Working in a Coal Mine.” It’s amusing to hear this song performed with such sophistication, including a jazz-wise sax solo by Jeronne Ansari. The humor that was central to the original is, however, maintained as the guys in the band shout out the lyrics, “Lord, I’m so tired, how long can this go on?”

Nayo Jones, a featured vocalist with NOJO, does a fine job on another of Irma Thomas’ chart-toppers, “Ruler of My Heart.” It begins as a ballad with Jones bringing on the soul and adding her own vocal improvisations. Unexpectedly, the orchestra rhythmically takes it to the streets. When Nayo fervently sings the lyrics “I’ve had enough,” she sounds like she really means it. Perhaps Irma was more patient with her lover than her next-generation fellow vocalist.

“With You in Mind” teams the voices of Dee Dee Bridgewater and Phillip Manuel performing as a vocal duo. It’s a heartfelt rendition of Toussaint’s composition that is perhaps best known recorded by Aaron Neville. These two dynamic vocalists make the tune sound as if it was always meant to be sung by a duo.

It’s somewhat disappointing that three of the nine selections on the album are not written by Toussaint whose songbook bursts with great material. That this recording ends with a cover of The Champs’ 1958 hit “Tequila” just doesn’t seem to make much sense in this setting.

Songs – The Music of Allen Toussaint shines a bright spotlight on the talent-packed New Orleans Jazz Orchestra and the enduring strength of Toussaint’s composition in whatever setting.

This article originally published in the September 9, 2019 print edition of The Louisiana Weekly newspaper.