Celebrating Black Music Month, All that brass
20th June 2023 · 0 Comments
Part III
The late Earl King’s “Street Parade” is a timeless musical tribute to New Orleans’ brass band’s second-line tradition. Earl Silas Johnson IV was a guitarist, vocalist, songwriter, and record producer. The lyrics of “Street Parade” capture the feelings inspired by the street parade, a spontaneous event that New Orleanians can experience at any given moment: a brass band, complete with trumpet, trombone, saxophone, snare drum, bass drum, and tuba – sometimes clarinet – marching through a neighborhood.
Neighbors rush to their porches to watch or join the second line of people dancing in the streets. In New Orleans, brass bands march through the streets to celebrate a special event or funeral or to accompany a social & pleasure club’s annual parade.
Interestingly, King’s “Ode to Brass Band Parades” is a fusion of New Orleans’ rhythm and blues, funk and brass band music. The recording features other iconic New Orleans musicians, including Joseph “Zig” Modeliste on drums, Leo Nocentelli on guitar, Art Neville on piano (members of The Meters), and horn arrangements by Allen Toussaint, who also played tambourine on the track.
Brass bands emerged in New Orleans after the American Civil War and carried on the musical and dance traditions set by enslaved Africans. Newly freed men and women took to the streets dancing behind brass bands for funerals, mutual and benevolent society dances and parades, Mardi Gras, picnics, and other celebratory events.
The Excelsior Brass Band was founded in 1879 by Théogène Baquet, then was later led by George Moret and Peter Bocage. The band dissolved in 1931.
According to reports, there have been two Onward Brass Bands of significance in New Orleans. The original ensemble, founded by Sylvester Coustaut and George Filhe before 1877, was among the pioneers of brass bands. The band had three cornets or trumpets, two trombones, two clarinets, an alto horn, a baritone horn, a tuba, a snare drum and a bass drum.
Many legendary musicians played in the original Onward Brass Band. Lorenzo Tio Jr., Peter Bocage, George Baquet, Isidore Barbarin, King Oliver and Emanuel “Manuel” Perez formed the core of the Onward Brass Band, which disbanded in 1930 or 1931.
As mentioned previously, families of musicians kept the city’s music traditions going. For example, in the late 1950s, Paul Barbarin, Isidore’s son, and Louis Cottrell Jr. revived the Onward Brass Band. Barbarin led the group until 1969, then Louis Cottrell Jr. took over. Placide Adams took over the band after the death of Louis Cottrell Jr.
Louis Cottrell Jr.’s father, Louis Sr., was called the “grandfather of jazz drumming” and the best street drummer ever. He played in the Excelsior Brass Band with John Robichaux’s Orchestra, the Olympia Orchestra, and Manuel Perez in Chicago. He also performed with A.J. Piron’s Orchestra.
“When the Saints Go Marching In,” “Just A Closer Walk With Thee,” Paul Barbarin’s “The Second Line,” “Lil Liza Jane,” “Down By the Riverside” and “I’ll Fly Away,” are among classic songs played by brass bands.
“The Second Line,” played by Barbarin’s Onward Brass Band, typifies early New Orleans traditional music. Barbarin’s father, Isidore, was the leader of The Onward Brass Band, and all of his brothers were involved in New Orleans music. Paul Barbarin died in 1969 while leading The Onward Brass Band in a street parade.
“Joe Avery’s Piece,” known simply as “Second Line,” is the song that most people dance to at second lines for parties and celebrations. Joe Avery was a trombonist. The Tuxedo Brass Band’s version can be heard on the Preservation Hall Foundation’s website at www.preshallfoundation.org/joeavery.
In 1945, trumpeter Bunk Johnson assembled a brass band of “pickup” musicians to make a record for Bill Russell’s American Music label. New Orleans Parade was the first thorough audio documentation of a New Orleans brass band and was followed by landmark recordings by the Eureka Brass Band in 1951 and the Young Tuxedo Brass Band in 1957.
These marching band members also played in bands that played ragtime, traditional music (aka jazz), and blues.
The original Olympia Brass Band was formed in the 1880s. After its disbandment, Alto saxophonist Harold “Duke” Dejan left the Eureka Brass Band, another historical band, to form Dejan’s Olympia Brass Band in 1960.
“It Ain’t My Fault,” later covered by Rebirth Brass Band, was written by Olympia’s trumpeter Milton Batiste and drummer Joseph “Smokey” Johnson.
Danny Barker, the late guitarist and banjo player, who played professionally with Cab Calloway, Charlie Parker, and others, returned home to New Orleans at the height of the Rhythm and Blues movement in the 1960s and grew a new crop of brass band musicians. He launched the Fairview Baptist Church Marching Band in 1971.
Four musicians who had played in the Fairview and Hurricane bands – Gregory Davis, Charles Joseph, Kirk Joseph, and Kevin Harris – joined with Roger Lewis, Ephram Townes, Benny Jones, and others to form the Dirty Dozen Brass Band.
Jones later formed the Treme Brass Band, which included Dirty Dozen, Rebirth Brass Band members, and the revered bass-drum player “Uncle Lionel” Batiste.
Dr. Michael White & the Original Liberty Jazz, founded in 1981 to preserve New Orleans traditional music, performs as an orchestra and a marching brass band. White is also a Danny Barker protégé. He played in Barker’s Fairview Baptist Church Band. White also played in the Young Tuxedo Brass Band, founded by clarinetist John Casimir and led a band called The New Orleans Hot Seven.
White began his career playing for Doc Paulin’s Brass Band. He is also a close friend of Wynton Marsalis. The clarinetist can be heard on Wynton’s 1989 album, “The Majesty of the Blues,” and Wynton appears on White’s 1990 album, “Crescent City Serenade,” with Wendell Brunious and Walter Payton.
White is committed to preserving New Orleans’ traditional music. His performance in “A Tribute to Jelly Roll Morton,”’ at the Lincoln Center in New York City in 1989 led to a favorable review by Jon Pareles in The New York Times. White currently teaches African American music at Xavier University in New Orleans.
At least 19 documented Brass Bands are in the city’s history, but more emerge daily. There’s the Pin Strip Band; Chosen Few; Soul Rebels; The Hot 8 Band; Kinfolk Brass Band; New Breed Brass Band; Baby Boyz Brass Band; and many others.
And, of course, some band members are related to the grand tradition of New Orleans music.
One of the best-known bands is the Rebirth Brass Band, which won a Grammy in 2012. Band members included relatives from both the Andrews and Frazier families.
What was evident about the pioneering brass bands is still true today. Many New Orleans musicians are related; musicians work interchangeably in each other’s bands; they tour the world, influence others to start similar bands – like the “Excelsior Band” in Alabama and brass bands in Europe; and carry the legacy forward by teaching and mentoring to future generations of musicians.
This article originally published in the June 19, 2023 print edition of The Louisiana Weekly newspaper.
