A brassy beginning for parade season
6th February 2017 · 0 Comments
By Geraldine Wyckoff
Contributing Writer
Most people know the feeling of standing on a sidewalk or neutral watching a Mardi Gras parade and it seems like the marching bands finish a tune a block away or start at tune a couple of blocks down. “Hey, play me somethin’ mister!”
That’s never a problem at the brass band loaded Krewe du Vieux parade that rolls on Saturday, February 11, 2016 starting at 6:30 p.m. at Decatur and Mandeville streets and heads to the Civic Theater via the French Quarter.
ALL FOR ONE BRASS BAND
“I was definitely honored,” says leader/trombonist Keanon Battiste when his group was asked to be at the head of the procession. The call came prior to one from the Krewe of Delusion with home All For One has rolled with for the last five years.
“I love the Mardi Gras experience no matter what krewe it is,” Battiste exclaims with enthusiasm. The Krewe du Vieux is kind of X-rated so you’re definitely going to remember Krewe du Vieux when they pass. They definitely push the lines. It started out being the only parade that highlighted the brass bands,” Battiste adds, saying that his band also rolls with Tucks, Chewbacchus, the Krewe of Oaks’ Mardi Gras and Mid-Summer parades and most likely Zulu.
The All For One Brass Band came out of Warren Easton High School and even made a tour to Europe in 2004. Then Katrina came along and dispersed the members and as it did with so many people, halted its plans.
Finally, about eight years ago Battiste put the name All For One back on the street though only he and trumpeter Terrence Foster remain from the original group. In the interim the trombonist was playing with other bands but for him it just wasn’t the same. “A musician said to me, ‘Man, you have to start All For One up again,’” remembers Battiste, who continues to also work with the Slow Rollas and New Creation brass bands.
Battiste comes from a very musical home environment though whether he’s related to others with that or similar names like the Batiste brothers or their offspring, he calls the “question of my life.” Since everybody asks him whether he’s kin, he has a ready reply. “No, but I don’t think it’s a coincidence. I heard my grandfather changed the spelling a long time ago and that it was one “T” and he decided to add an extra “T” because of how they pronounced it – it was Battiste.”
Battiste leads All For One from the trombone position though the multi-instrumentalist was a tuba player while attending both Warren Easton and McMain high schools. Unable to find a trombonist for All For One, he switched to tuba to “fill the gap.” He agrees that these days, trombonists are much more plentiful than back in the day. Perhaps, credit can be given to that in part because of the success of slide players like Troy “Trombone Shorty” Andrews, Corey Henry and the group Bonerama.
“My music career started real early for me maybe when I was two or three,” says Battiste. “I had a piano in my home so there was music always around me. I didn’t play piano too long; there was a clarinet in the house and I played that for awhile. Then one of my family members gave me a trumpet in elementary school. I played everything.”
The Krewe du Vieux boasts 17 sub-krewes the outlandish themes of which range from the aforementioned X-rated to that take swipes at politicians and political issues. Between them all are the brass bands. Sometimes this makes it difficult to identify one ensemble to the other. Not so with All For One. Some might recognize the band from their gigs at Café Negril and BMC or parades and others might be familiar with their original numbers like the soon to be released “Sticks.” Then again All For One is known for pulling out the crowd-pleasing oldie but goody, “Hey, Baby” that inspires audience response.
“We try to do different styles of music – pop, rock, reggae – instead of ust one genre – pop, rock, reggae. “We do a lot of singing, we do a lot of chanting – we don’t stay grounded. You have to cater to your crowd so we’re making some moves.
One thing is for sure, says Battiste, the members will be wearing T-shirts with the band’s name in full view so there will be no doubt who they are.
“I try to make sure we have those things on everywhere we go,” says Battiste wisely. “I try to make sure we stay clean and unified every time we move. We just want people to take notice of our movement.”
Drum Master Brian Blade – Triple Duty
Brian Blade, 46, a Shreveport native who moved back to his hometown some three and a half years ago, has been a member of the legendary saxophonist Wayne Shorter’s quartet since its inception in 2000 and has been leading his own ensemble, Brian Blade & the Fellowship Band, for 20 years. The master drummer, who studied at Loyola University and UNO in the late 1980s, make three rare appearances in New Orleans this week.
On Friday, February 10 he and the Fellowship will collaborate with the Loyola University Symphony Orchestra conducted by Dr. Jean Montes. On Saturday, February 11, and Sunday, February 12, at the Old U.S. Mint and Snug Harbor, respectively, Blade will be behind the drums with Davy Mooney’s band in celebration of guitarist’s new album Hope of Home.
The meeting between the Fellowship Band and Loyola’s Symphony stands as a first time experience for both ensembles.
“This is new territory for us,” says Blade of performing with an orchestra of some 60 pieces. “The bulk of the experience will be the fusion of the two ensembles,” Dr. Montes explains. “It will be pushing both groups to listen differently and interact differently in a setting that is basically fusing classically-based music into jazz and vice versa. We like that because it stretches us to think in terms of improvisation. It’s very gratifying and terrifying because they (the orchestra members) usually have a sheet of music in front of them.”
This article originally published in the February 6, 2017 print edition of The Louisiana Weekly newspaper.
