Dirty Dozen Brass Band
The Dirty Dozen Brass Band is a brass band from New Orleans , Louisiana . It was founded in 1977 by Benny Jones from the remnants of the disbanded Tornado Brass Band and has been one of the most famous and versatile brass bands ever since.
The history
In 1972, Danny Barker founded the Fairview Baptist Church Marching Band to give the young people in the church an opportunity to express their energy and creativity. This formation became quite well known in the local area and turned into a professional band, the Hurricane Brass Band , under the trumpeter Leroy Jones . But as the demand for traditional street bands decreased in the late 1970s , Leroy Jones left the band to make more commercial jazz music, and after a brief period under the name Tornado Brass Band , the group eventually broke up.
The start-up
Some of the Tornado musicians , Gregory Davis ( trumpet ), Kirk Joseph ( sousaphone ), Charles Joseph ( trombone ) and Kevin Harris ( saxophone ) continued to rehearse together until 1977 when Ephrem Towns (trumpet), Roger Lewis (saxophone), as well as Benny Jones and Jenell Marshall (both drums). At the time, hardly anyone was ready to hire a traditional marching band. This dry spell, however, offered the opportunity to set up a fresh and unusual program regardless of commercial constraints. So there was no stopping at bebop numbers (Moose the Mooche) or TV topics (Flintstones) .
Benny Jones was asked one day to put a band together for a parade. He resorted to his rehearsal formation, and from this first appearance developed a weekly engagement at Daryl’s and later a permanent engagement at the Glasshouse.
The success
In Daryl's one day Jerry Brock, founder was the radio station WWOZ, aware of the band and then made the first real recording of the Dirty Dozen Brass Band , as the formation was called now. He also ensured constant airplay on his station and professional advertising material. In 1982 he organized the band's first appearance in a "white" club in New Orleans. This was followed by the first international appearance at the jazz festival in Groningen in the Netherlands , in which Kidd Jordan also took part.
In 1984 George Wein booked the band for a tour of southern Europe, and after engagements in Tramp's and Village Gate in New York City (which were extended to six weeks each) the band's career took off. In the same year the band was in California for four weeks and three more times in Europe. The first LP ( My Feet Can't Fail Me Now ) was recorded.
The style
The Dirty Dozen Brass Band always had its own style, which over time moved further and further away from the traditional marching bands. The music was planned, arranged, and notated to a far greater degree than was usually the case. In particular, the interplay of the sousaphonist Kirk Joseph with the two drummers Lionel Batiste (who had replaced Benny Jones) and Jenell Marshall provided a rhythmic foundation that was unique in its kind. So it was always this trio at the many live concerts that roused the audience to storms of applause.
The situation became all the more difficult for the band when, in 1991, Kirk and Charles Joseph left the band under the pressure of constant touring. Gregory Davis couldn't find a sousaphonist who could even come close to replacing Kirk Joseph and had to resort to a bass guitarist. When the two drummers left the band in 1994 and the original setup (drums worn by two drummers in front of their stomach) were replaced by a single conventional drum kit, the band had lost much of its originality.
The effects
Despite the band's unique style, which at first glance could only be associated with the traditional marching bands, the Dirty Dozen Brass Band sparked new interest in this type of musical performance, so that other bands no longer just as Understood tourist attraction and left its "reserves". David Byrne specifically named his 1985 album Music for the Knee Plays as being inspired by the Dirty Dozen Brass Band of New Orleans.
Discography
- 1984 - My Feet Can't Fail Me Now (Concord Jazz)
- 1986 - Live: Mardi Grass in Montreux (Rounder)
- 1987 - Voodoo (Columbia)
- 1989 - The New Orleans Album (Columbia)
- 1991 - Open Up: Watcha Gonna Do for the Rest of Your Life? (Columbia)
- 1993 - Jelly (Columbia)
- 1998 - Ears to the Wall (Mammoth)
- 1997 - This Is Jazz 30
- 1999 Buck Jump (Mammoth)
- 2002 - Medicated Magic (Ropeadope)
- 2003 - We Got Robbed: Live in New Orleans (Self-Released)
- 2004 - Funeral for a Friend (Ropeadope)
- 2005 - This Is the Dirty Dozen Brass Band (Shout Factory)
- 2005 - Jazz Moods: Hot
- 2006 - What's Going On (Shout Factory)
- 2008 - The New Orleans Album
